Welcome to Jamaica, mon

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Today I departed Philadelphia for a few days of fun in the sun and Jeff and Mel’s destination wedding in Negril, Jamaica. I was happy to be leaving freezing temperatures for, according to Jeff and Mel, “88°, partly cloudy with a 100% chance of an incredible time.”

This would be my second trip to Jamaica after heading down with some friends from Baltimore in March 2006. But it is my first time in Negril as we went to Ocho Rios in 2006.

The flight down was nice, with my upgrade to first class certainly helping. I’m going to miss my frequent flyer status when it expires in a few weeks. Behind me sat Jamie and Jon, Jeff’s sister and brother-in-law, and their small children. I hardly recognized them after meeting them in Jacksonville last year when Gus and I visited Jeff and Mel for New Year’s.

We arrived in the early afternoon and immediately felt the considerable change in temperature. After checking in with the shuttle service, I took advantage of the extra time I had to change out of my jeans and into the very appropriate shorts and thongs.

The shuttle ride lasted about an hour and a half as about 10 of us navigated the major highway to Negril on the west end of the island. Fortunately, Jeff and Mel took care of us along the way; they had left a cooler full of bottled water and Red Stripes for us to drink. This was no real surprise but it certainly wasn’t expected. When you’re dealing with Jeff, no detail goes unnoticed and company is always well received.

The road took us through some small towns like Lucea, where our driver was received like the mayor - everyone knew him. We also drove past numerous rundown buildings with signs that proclaimed they were “Cold Beer Joints”. With Jamaica’s reputation for its supply of ganja this likely was more deserving of an “&” than the distinction that it was a joint where one could purchase cold beer.

I was one of the first to check into the Rockhouse Hotel from our shuttle. One of the porters escorted me to my room after showing Jon to his. We walked down a narrow lane of light pavers that was completely covered with lush green vegetation which provided a fair amount of privacy for the other villas along the way. Just past the Rockhouse Restaurant we approached the back of my villa, number 8. The pavers continued up from the ground to form my private entrance and walls, leading to the thatched roof. Glass windowed sliding doors separated the inside from the parabolic lagoon, with my room above the cliff at the vertex. Outside sat two Adirondack chairs which I could use to take in the breathtaking views of the surrounding villas and the cliffs that plummeted into the brilliantly blue water below. Later I’d find out that a few villas down to my right was Bashore’s villa, which had its own sunbathing areas and steps that led down to the water.

After getting settled in, I headed down to the pool to a 5:00 Happy Hour reception for everyone at the wedding. There I reunited with Jeff, Mel, Nick Strohman, Dan Mascione, Ed Ruth and Kim Schultz, the latter three of whom I hadn’t seen in a few years. I also finally had the opportunity to meet Nick’s and Dan’s wives, Bonny and Nicole. I also met several other friends and family members. Many of their names escaped me. We spent the next couple hours catching up over some Red Stripes as we reminisced about old times in college and found out what everyone else was up to.

For dinner, about 20 of us took the shuttle about a half mile down the road to a restaurant called The Hungry Lion. The Hungry Lion features Jamaican cuisine, mostly vegetarian with some fish dishes. Strohman and I sat together towards the center of a long table, with two college friends of Mel’s, Julia and Val, along with Kim sitting across from us.

I broke out some of the hot sauce that was sitting on the table for some tasting on my hand. This led to Strohman and Julia joining in the childish fun, although I think they used spoons. The hot sauce fun continued when the soup came out. I have no idea what kind of soup it was but it was definitely something that didn’t sound like a match for hot sauce. But I’ve learned the fun in trying unique and seemingly nasty dishes so I added a few drops to a spoonful of the soup. It surprisingly went well with the soup so in it went in copiously. The hot sauce also went well with my main course, a chickpea burrito.

The dinner was lengthy so we had quite a bit of time for conversation and pounding more Red Stripes. As we dined on a roof terrace, we also spent a lot of time looking above us through the crystal clear night at the stars. Strohman, our resident astronomer, pointed out a few formations.

We finally wrapped up after about two hours and caught the shuttle back. As everyone else headed back into the hotel’s entrance, Strohman and I went across the road to buy some beer to keep on hand at a discounted price. Inside, two Jamaican men conversed at the counter while we perused the mostly bare shelves. We came across one six pack of Red Stripe. He also picked up a bottle of rum and some snacks for his room. We will attack this tomorrow.

On our walk back, one of the locals offered us a deal on ganja. Neither of us wishing to partake, we thanked him and told him we had plenty. He didn’t believe this was possible and continued to walk with us back to the hotel’s entrance, offering us numerous other forms of items that could be smoked, chewed and sniffed. At the entrance he finally departed and we headed back to our rooms to rest up for a busy day tomorrow.

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Photos

Pathway
Long pavered pathways flush with vegetation wound throughout the resort.

My villa
Villa number 8 with its private entrance.

Lagoon
The hotel's villas rest atop the cliffs that form the lagoon.

Inside my room
A mosquito net hangs across the tops of the bedposts. Each room had such a net.