Blogs from Jamaica, Central America Caribbean - page 15

Get up early this morning to shower, which I normally do the night before b/c the water pressure is better at night. The water pressure is FANTASTIC! (The best I've seen it since we've arrived!) Put shampoo in my hair. NO WATA. I remember that I'm suppose to call "0" to tell them to turn the water pump on. Get out of the shower -- dripping every where -- nearly slip and break my neck twice walking out of the bath around the room to the phone. Get back in the shower, nearly slipping again. Great way to start the day! Get breakfast. Keith is running a lil late. Rocky is running a little early. I've been awake for nearly two hours and already had a couple of close calls. Get to work. Arrange transport to ... read more

Got up this morning, and had breakfast -- Keith and I decided that it is ground up corned beef and cabbage (it most closely resembles raw ground beef -- which I am a HUGE fan of) -- this is actually the second time we have had this meal, and its one of my top two favorites for breakfast! I try to focus on the flavor not what it looks like. We eat breakfast with the other guest we have become friends with, Jeff (a late 50's American born in Pittsburg, PA that works IT and has spent the last 20 years living in Bermuda). I sit uncomfortably at the table while he recounts tales of the weekend that might include a night at the strip club(?)/lack of employment/history of depression/insomnia/and advice seeking on IT jobs in ... read more

So Keith and I decided that living in Kingston isn't enough of an adventure for us...we decided Saturday afternoon to rent a car and just drive east. Now mind you, in Jamaica they drive on the left side of the road, which I have done in Scotland...so we decide that I'll drive and Keith will navigate (using this brilliant $5 map from the rental car place). In an effort to stay out of the reeeaalllyy bad ghetto we decide to take the longer route through the Blue Mountains and then back down to the coast. We did see some very beautiful landscapes up in the Blue Mountains, and coffee fields. Turns out that despite the efforts -- or lack there of on the maps behalf -- we got lost multiple times, because funny story -- in ... read more

Get up early, Clifton will be here between 7:30 and 7:45am to pick us to to be at the office at 8am. He arrives at 7:35am. The woman that runs the guesthouse asks if she can speak with our driver because when he picks us up so early we miss breakfast. We tell her no. Go into work at 8am (as we were told to), and NO ONE is there. Get locked out of the PAHO/WHO office b/c our security badge only gets us through one set of locked doors. Wait until our driver comes in and gets us in the second set of doors. Work. Email. Eat lunch (cup o' noodles -- keith has the Jamaican version that comes with the fold-up fork -- I am super jealous. Again we discuss the brilliance behind the ... read more

Let me preface this all by saying, It's been a long day. Got up early and rushed to breakfast to try to eat before our 8:30am pick-up time. Breakfast is running late, and the driver is running early. See a car accident. Get to the office -- go to the Children's Hospital for meetings all day to determine what projects we can work with the Ministry of Health on. Try to figure out where all of the pieces/projects/me/keith fit into everything. It's 3:30pm and Keith and I still have not had breakfast -- so hungry. Talk about food for a while. Our driver picks us up and takes us back to the office -- we grab lunch (KFC is the only place open -- I HATE EATING AMERICAN when I'm overseas but the hanger (hungry anger) ... read more

Wake up in the morning to take a shower, I get to sleep in 45 minutes later than usual because we are not getting picked up until 9:30 by Clifton. Turn on the shower and hope for good water pressure (this has been a slight issue since we arrived, but I have thus far faired better than Keith) -- decent water pressure -- GREAT! I still have conditioner in my hair -- water pressure drops to a TRICKLE. drop. drop. drop. Nothing. Are you kidding me? I get out of the shower and rinse my hair in the tiny sink. Laughing the entire time. Meet Keith for breakfast -- make bets on whats for breakfast -- swap water pressure stories (Keith had the same problem this morning). Then I watch Keith try to put the foil ... read more

Wake up early in the morning to get ready for the internship, we are told Clifton will arrive at 8am to pick us up, it's a big morning down at the MOH/PAHO because it's World Blood Donor Day and it's lots of festivities down at the office. In an attempt to eat breakfast before our ride, I make a soy drink from powder I bought at the market the other day (Bannana and Pineapple flavor) -- looks like cloudy yellow in my water bottle -- tastes like -- interesting -- drink it down. Wait out on the porch for our ride. 8:00am. 8:05am. 8:10am. 8:15am -- Clifton arrives, the woman who runs the guesthouse realizes our ride is here and tells us we need to eat the hotel breakfast before we go -- she talks to ... read more

I made it to Jamaica but not without adventure... Keith (my travel buddy and fellow Intern) nearly missed our flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Kingston -- I was planning on stalling the plane as long as possible. Then we are waiting to depart and are told that our plane has mechanical difficulties -- It's okay though, we're still going to fly! (Comforting!) We land in Kingston, and are clearly directed to go to the "Visitors" side as we were two out of five white people on the flight. I get through customs fine and Keith on the other hand looks suspicious so they hold him there for a while. He finally gets through and we go to claim our bags only to find out they couldn't get one of the baggage compartments open so we don't ... read more

When I decided to return to ships for another contract, I made some clear goals for myself. Experiences I wanted to have that I could accomplish during this time at sea. The biggest one was getting my dive certification. Done. I also wanted to go parasailing. Also done. With less than 2 weeks left on the ship, there was one more I had to do: go horseback riding in the ocean. I rode horses as a kid. Took lessons at a farm up the road. Would ride at different friends' houses. Did a 4-H horse club. Tried to convince my dad to get a horse (it didn't work). I loved riding. But I haven't been on a horse in years. There are various horseback riding tours offered in the different ports. For some reason, riding in ... read more