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Published: October 7th 2005
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Dunn's River Falls
Dunn's River Falls is in Ocho Rios, and is a wonderful time. Sr. Jorhna and I climbed the falls (it takes about 30 min). The freshwater waterfall meets the warm ocean. It's beautiful and lots of fun. I PROMISE TO HAVE PICTURES UP SOON…JUST HAVE TO FIND A COMPUTER WITH DSL THAT ACCEPTS MY CAMERA”S USB DRIVE (I already tried downloading one…it would be helpful if I had a jump drive if anyone has an extra, wink wink 😉)haha!
Living in Jamaica is definitely the hard life. Right now, I’m preparing to go to Doctor’s Cave beach, the most famous in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Earlier this week I visited the beach and had a great time. I spent five hours soaking up the rays, and enjoying the crystal blue water. The water was about 15 feet deep and I could still easily see the bottom. About 75 yards out, there were huge blow up trampolines anchored to the sea floor. Not long after we arrived a local man and worker at the beach began speaking with us. Since it is currently the off-season(bc it’s the rainy season) for tourism many of the workers did not have anything to do. So he showed us some of the sea life. He gave snorkelling tours, so he showed us, and let us hold, a sea cucumber, and two different sea urchins. The sea urchins, had lots of “spikes” and “walked”
Jelly Coconut
I am drinking coconut juice straight out of the coconut. It is very good! If you come to Jamaica you will definity try Jelly coconut. on our hands. He then showed us the coral reef. He had two masks/goggles so we looked at all the beautiful coral and tons and tons of fish. I have never seen such beautiful fish, and I’ve been snorkelling twice. We even got to feed the fish. It was a fantastic experience, all for free.
On Tuesday morning we went to the hospice-it’s the only AIDS hospice in Jamaica. Sadly, there is a big AIDS problem in Jamaica. It probably all begins with the lack of any family structure. Children do not grow up with fathers. This means that lots of men have lots of sex with many different women. Therefore, the disease is spread quickly. Astoundingly, JAS (Jamaica AIDS Support) gives out free condoms. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think that “spreads” the right idea.
The hospice was a good experience. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who I knew had HIV/AIDS. On Tuesday, I saw many frail, very sick men and women, and a few who were doing well because of the advance of the anti-virals. I was able to participate by giving a very thin man with colon cancer orange juice, just
Alby Jr.
This parrot (or scarlett mcaw:)) lives at Msgnr. Albert's house in the mountains. His name is Albert Jr. He supposedly will talk to you. Sadly i did all the talking. to have him throw it all up. After that, I helped the nurse change his bed sheets, and his diaper. The nurse had to clean a large bedsore also. I enjoyed being able to help out. Later in the morning, I made cotton balls, by rolling strips of cotton in balls with my bare hands, this didn’t seem very sterile to me. I also played with Shane, a very bright 6 yr old boy whose mother had recently died in the hospice from AIDS. Shane, whose HIV+, lives with his father, but is currently staying at the hospice because of skin problems related to his HIV. We colored for quite awhile together. Then he had a huge mood swing and tried to bite us. Luckily, he soon calmed down. I also just spent time talking to patients, most of whom are too weak to speak back to me. I thought it must get awfully boring lying in bed all day with no one to talk to.
Yesterday, Meg and I spent time at the Holy Cross Center, where most of the Marist sisters in Montego Bay work. We spent time with 7 two-year olds. We had a good time
citrus
Here are some of the crops in Jamaica. Sugar cane lines the road in some rural areas. Also, lots of yams(different than what you tHink) and oranges etc. and we were worn out by the end of the day.
Today was a very good day. We went with Sr. Valaria, and Robert, a man who works with/for the diocese of Montego Bay to a Haitian “compound”. Apparently last year 800 Haitians fled the country to this place outside Montego Bay. Now there are less Haitians at the “compound” because the Haitian government forced them to return to Haiti. Every Tuesday and Thursday, Valaria and Robert go out there to teach. I helped 2 children (a brother and sister of a family of 6 kids) learn to read English (French is their first language, and they have picked up a fair amount of Patois). I was able to use a tiny bit of my French to help these kids learn English. They were very eager to learn. Yet, school doesn’t seem to be a priority to many of the families. These people lived in what I would imagine barracks to be, only for the Jamaican Army. They received all of their food from a group called Food for the Poor, which seems to provide for many people here. Food for the Poor, from what I have seen, has provided chairs, clothing, books, food, and all sorts of other support for the people of Jamaica. I’m not sure where this non-profit is based out of.
The need is so great here in Jamaica. So far, I really feel that I will be able to be of some use somewhere.
Just a few more random things….
Last night, Meg and I were up late (that’s past 10pm here in Montego Bay) and we saw one of the biggest contributors to noise pollution: the tree frog. The tree frog, that is smaller than a quarter, decided to hop through the living room. This frog chirps, a very high-pitched, almost deafening sound in the evenings. Almost like crickets on a summer evening times 1000.
After the tree frog incident, I went into the kitchen, to fill up my water bottle before putting it in the freezer for the night, and was surprised to find an approximately 3.5 inch long or longer cockroach crawling across the counter top. But wait it gets better, when Meaghan turned on the light to the bathroom before bed, there were two more cockroaches, one “normal” sized one, and another huge one. I can handle most bugs but, I HATE COCKROACHES!!!!!
I’m thankful for my mosquito netting on my bed here…it gives me some feeling of safety from the dirty cockroaches.
That’s it for now. I’m glad to be returning to Kingston tomorrow and starting work on Monday!
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Jill
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Can you please give me a warning next time you're going to talk about bugs...I'll probably have a nightmare tonight. Maybe you could you the movie rating system and say that would be a PG-13 bug story for me. Thanks! Have fun! Good to hear from you. - Jill