Birds, Beaches and Bye Byes

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Christmas in the sand! Wow this is so cool! or hot rather... We decided to spend Xmas day with the birds, hummingbirds that is . We call our Rastaman driver and headed to the hills to a bird sancturay. He was excited because he hadnt had a chance yet to bring any tourists there and had been wanting to go himself.


We arrived at the old house and was greeted by the caretaker. The woman who had orginally trained the wild birds has since passed but the place is well cared for by this man and his family. We sat with tiny bottles of sugar water and fingers straight out for the perch and waited. Without so much as a peep a bird would land on you finger and start suckling from the bottle. There were doves and finches too and they went for the seed carefully placed on knees or the floor.


After we explored the gardens where Raymond found some seedling palms and grabbed a few. When he heard that they grow so wild they have to cut them he went nuts! " No! Dont chop them! you dont know what you have! " and he took a larger one. Apparently the palms he was so fond of where different than what grows near his house and said the new hotels would be looking for some too. I think I witnessed a business deal😊

We had a great dinner at the Bayside and yes turkey was on the menu but I opted for traditional jerk pork with Yams. We saw a steel drum band and enjoyed the warm night with all of our new friends. A year to remember!

We havent done a beach resort vacation in quite some time but we still found the time to see a bit of the island culture .

Jamaica is full of beautiful people, happy and proud of the place they call home and they want you to call it home too. After all the slogan is " Once you go, you know" They use "Ya Mon" as a greeting, an answer and a your welcome. "One Love" is their mantra and is used as Hooray, Cheers and Let's Go!" and anything you ask is "no problem"


The people in all the hotels and stores are always dancing, always singing. Music is a big part of the culture , between the dancehalls, the musical history and the people, the musical people. Where else do you get a dance lesson with your purchase? ( It was called the slide) where else do people sing along to the music in the background without abandon while they work or the hotel staff who dance to the tunes as if they were in a club?

The next day was a sad one... going home day! so after one last swim, one last look at the beach and one last rum drink we left the land of Jamaica . Left the Sandals Monego Bay property with the giant steel birds in the sky, and crystal blue waters behind . yea we had fun on the island in the sun.

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Comments

[Michael]

Looks fantastic
It not hard to tell you're having an incredible journey. Have a great trip and stay well.