Jamaica - Blog #6 - Back to Negril

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Hi Everyone!! We arrived safe and sound in Jamaica on Saturday afternoon after some bizaar overnight flights. Oh well, coming back to Jamaica is worth a few red eye flights!! A funny thing was that we had to circle Jamaica for 30 minutes while they repaired a pot hole on the runway!! But we landed safely and our friends Gary and Carol from Edmonton arrived a few hours later and soon we were on the shuttle van on the way to Negril with a red stripe in hand!!! Our driver, Carlton gave us a little commentary along the way which was great.

To us, Negril is like paradise!! As we set our eyes on the white sand beach and crystal clear blue aqua water we knew why we wanted to return again. As well, the vibe is intoxicating with reggae music pumping out of every bar and restaurant and the friendly greetings and big smiles from the locals - Yeah Mon, Respect!! and No Problem just Situations!! Another great thing about Negril is that there is a law forbidding any structure higher than a palm tree, hense there are no high rise hotels.

We were here 25 years ago with some friends who had taught here for a few years. They took us on a total island tour and we vowed we would be back. We returned in 2005 for a month and again in 2006 for Lindsay and Brett's wedding at Couples Swept Away. And here we are in 2012 and enjoying every minute of it.

We had a busy and fun first day. We walked into the town of Negril and got our supply of groceries. We zipped around the aisles, took our groceries home and headed for the family fun donkey races!! We had seen posters advertising the event and thought we would check them out. It's not everyday you can attend donkey races!! Lots of Jamaican families enjoying face painting, music, rides and food. The donkey races were hilarious! We watched the semi finals where two riders and their dressed up donkeys circled the track twice. The riders were bounced off and sometimes the donkey just stopped. So that's one for the books.....donkey races in Jamaica!

The food is simple but tasty in Jamaica. Seafood, snapper, chicken, rice and peas, pumpkin soup, conch, patties, jerk chicken and steamed veggies are some of our favourites. The road and beach is lined with 45 gallon drum barbecues cooking up jerk chicken and pork. We have found the restaurants to be quite expensive but eating patties and jerk chicken along the beach is very reasonable. We had a special treat on Valentines Day enjoying a 5 course fine dining dinner at our resort. We were very impressed with the conch fritters, chicken lollipops, pumpkin soup, salad, bird of paradise, surf and turf and finished off with chocolate cake.

Our condo is great - a little dated but it's very clean, spacious, witih a pool, a/c, and the best feature right on the beach. Considering that Negril is in general quite expensive our place is very reasonable. We have a studio with a lock off for Gary and Carol. It's nice in that we can share the patio and kitchen. We leisurely enjoy toast, fresh orange juice and blue mountain coffee every morning on the patio. Then it's off to the beach or for a long walk along the beach or up to the cliffs.

We're already looking forward to our next 3 weeks here. Hopefully I'll get another blog off next week. Take Care Everyone.

Yeah Mon

Mallory and Warren

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