Blogs from Jamaica, Central America Caribbean - page 13

Central America Caribbean » Jamaica March 10th 2010

From this title, some might think I'm going to refer to some Jamaican incident that occurred while here, like some misrecognition of Patois (which everyone here speaks and all of us can barely understand, if at all--for more info on Jamaican Patois, visit here or here). Indeed, I'm not. You just get two for one, today, friends--I failed to write in my journal on March 9, so lucky you, you get to have the low-down on two days in one awesome blog entry. (Can you tell the semester's almost over here?) Notes from yesterday: *Went to school again and did construction work all day. We didn't think they'd have the supplies for us, but somehow they managed it, so we worked with a bunch of upper-level students to make a sidewalk that evidently they needed (particularly ... read more

Back to School

Central America Caribbean » Jamaica March 8th 2010

Petersfield High School Student Assembly

Lexy925

9:42 p.m. Only 9:42 p.m.? I thought I got in the shower at 9:42... hmmmm... Two kids stole my only two pens today. I'm using Jessica's now Today began with another early rise and breakfast--dumplings and... some salty, beefy meet . Helped Miss Marjorie make sandwiches for lunch. After breakfast, we carpooled to Petersfield High School, a school just across the road from the AOC. We were lost (metaphorically) at first--anyway, long story short, there was a log of disorganization about our arrival, what we were supposed to do, etc. Perhaps the high school wasn't really expecting us...? Dr. Kenney went into leader mode, though, and tried to get a plan for us, and we ended up with a great day observing and participating in classes. I talked to a lot of teachers and got th ... read more

Nescafe is not quite what I was expecting...

Central America Caribbean » Jamaica March 7th 2010

Negril Beach

Lexy925

Let me just say that my day started out with a surprise--Nescafe. Yes, in a land of delicious coffee, my day begins with instant. I'm not completely surprised, though. The same thing happened to me in Peru. Anyway, I really just begin with that anecdote because I wanted a more interesting title than "Petersfield, Day II." So, there we go. This morning, my host mom woke us up at 7:00 a.m. for breakfast, though I'd heard her and her husband up since about 6:00-ish. I think this might be a long week, as I am by no stretch of the imagination a morning person. We got ready for church and then ate together--eggs, hot dogs, beans, bread, plantains--quite tasty all around. Plus, of course, the infamous instant Nescafe, which, to be quite honest, was not as ... read more

Jamaica - go to come back

Central America Caribbean » Jamaica » Montego Bay March 7th 2010

Blue-green sea

Silvana Mautone

Há exatamente um mês eu estava desembarcando em Montego Bay, na Jamaica. Começava ali uma estadia de seis dias diante de um mar imensamente verde-azul. Fui por "obrigação". Tinha de conseguir um novo visto para permanecer aqui nos EUA. O que obtive quando cheguei, de seis meses, venceria no final de fevereiro. Primeiro pensei em ir para Reykjavik, na Islândia. O preço era bom. Seria a chance de conhecer um lugar que dificilmente iria partindo do Brasil. Mas após ver um anúncio no jornal sobre a ilha caribenha, mudei radicalmente os planos. Fui parar num resort daqueles ao estilo "all inclusive". Confesso que achei meio brega. O clima me lembrou o de shopping centers - que eu não gosto nadinha... Aquele mundo de gente indo e vindo, o zum zum zum de crianças e adolescentes, adultos ... read more

First Day in Petersfield

Central America Caribbean » Jamaica March 6th 2010

Making a plan!

Lexy925

Today was our first full day in Jamaica. We woke up around 10:00 a.m. to partake in the hotel breakfast. I, for some reason, got the traditional breakfast rather than the full-on Jamaican one, but I suppose it's probably because I know we'll be getting real Jamaican food all week at our homestays. I must say, though, the coffee was awesome. Hopefully I'll get some more while I'm here...? After lunch, some people wandered about, I just chilled, and then we gathered our things, checked out, and hopped on the bus provided for us by the Association of Clubs (or the AOC, the local community organization we're working with). The program provider for the trip is an organization called Amizade, which has a relationship with the AOC locally. The AOC, thus, has planned all of our ... read more

Arrival in Montego Bay

Central America Caribbean » Jamaica » Montego Bay March 5th 2010

Lexy925

I recently returned from a service-learning trip to Jamaica, courtesy of a program led through the place I work (Preston College--a residential college (ie, super special dormitory) at USC). The following entries are from that trip. We spent 9 days in Jamaica, mostly working at a local high school. Hope you enjoy! -- We got to the Charlotte airport today at an ungodly hour (pre-7:00 a.m.) after convening in Columbia at an even ungodlier hour (pre-5:00 a.m.). Things went smoothly at first, which should've made me suspect something amiss immediately. Our plane should've taken off at 9:30 a.m. Alas, when we got through security with no problems or hangups, we found our plane had been delayed to 10:10 a.m. And then it was 11:30 a.m. And then it was... Two more hours, and two more hours, ... read more

Week 2 in Maranatha Villa

Central America Caribbean » Jamaica » Runaway Bay February 25th 2010

Bye bye

Sheryl and Steve

So last Saturday four of the crew left the villa leaving just five. Life calmed down quite considerably along with the consumption of rum. We've been making the most of our private beach which is around a ten minute walk down the road. The beach is petty much emtpy most of the time, sheltered by a natural breakwater, the water is calm and the sand is soft. Trying to remember the sequence of events is tricky so here's what we've been up to in no particular order. The beach has a bar which has superb jerk chicken and a very odd looking and tasting local rum punch, which lives up to it's punch name. Red Stripes are a refreshing way to cool down especially after a mammoth snorkel, which Steve and I did off the rocks ... read more

Week 1 in Maranatha Villa

Central America Caribbean » Jamaica » Runaway Bay February 19th 2010

Waves

Sheryl and Steve

Bonjour, sorry about the delay in a blog. We've been a bit swept away in relaxation that getting up and making a drink seems a bit of a chore. The Villa met our expectations and more. It's huge, with too many bedrooms to count, it has a pool table which requires a great deal of skill to rack up the balls let alone pot anything, but all good fun none the less. We have a bar that we stock daily, but we keep getting through the rum like it's juice so daily trips to the supermarkets have been on the cards. A favourite drink is rum and Ting. Ting is wicked, I also drink it with gin just so I can say 'can I have a gin and Ting please'. Little things. Steve's birthday went with ... read more

Final couple of days in Mobay

Central America Caribbean » Jamaica » Montego Bay February 13th 2010

Someone had a nice feed!

Sheryl and Steve

The last couple of days have been very chilled. We went to Doctor's Cave, a beach on the Hip Strip for an afternoon with a couple of neighbours from where we're staying. Two German student doctors who are working in the Mobay hospital and our room mate, Jon from Canada. The Docs had some interesting facts, the most crazy being that the most common cause of burns in Jamaica are acid burns. Women who are fighting over a man will throw acid in the other's face to disfigure them so that they're not attractive anymore. I've gradually started to notice over the past week that women are not considered equals. I am ignored by Jamaican men in conversations in taxis and on excursions. For someone like me who is used to talking, some might say a ... read more

Jamaica

Central America Caribbean » Jamaica » Montego Bay February 11th 2010

Perfect Day

girlonfoot

Needing sun, beach and good food and swaying from China jet lag, I head off to Jamaica.... read more

Brief history of Jamaica

Jamaica gained full independence within the British Commonwealth in 1962. Deteriorating economic conditions during the 1970s led to recurrent violence and a drop off in tourism. Elections in 1980 saw the democratic socialists voted out of office. Pol...more history

Forum Topics for Jamaica

SANDCASTLES, Ocho Rios,...Posts: 1

Prayers for Haitian peo...Posts: 3

Must GoPosts: 1

Jamaica!Posts: 11

Ladies...ever had a hol...Posts: 7

Carnival Shore excursio...Posts: 12

Negril AvailablityPosts: 1

Tot: 0.175s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 6; qc: 76; dbt: 0.0948s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb