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The last two weeks I haven’t been up to much of anything. I have been so sick! I had some sort of flu or virus that just completely kicked my butt. I couldn’t sleep at night and all day I’d just be sneezing and aching. I was constantly freezing yet to touch my skin I was burning up. All I did was work and sleep - or try to sleep. I kept taking cold and flu medication which was doing nothing. After a week of no improvement, I was finally given penicillin which seems to be kicking it as I’m finally starting to feel like I’ve re-joined the land of the living!
Thankfully my teen count has finally dropped off. I still have teens to entertain, but I have dozens rather than hundreds.
Today we’re in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and another crew tour was on offer. I signed up by myself which I didn’t think was a big deal, cause you usually ended up in a group anyway. But this tour turned out to be much more independent, you sort of just do it at your own speed, so I ended up actually doing it all on my own.
But that was okay. I kind of liked the peace to just adventure independently.
The tour is a new one - the tranopy tour - a three-in-one deal. There is a new tourist spot right near the cruise terminal called Mystic Mountain that offers all sorts of fun things to do in the rainforest covered hills.
The first part of the tour was the sky ride. The sky ride is a chair lift (I kept wanting to call it a ski lift, but considering I was wearing flip flops and riding above a tropical rainforest, that’s not really correct). It takes you above the rainforest canopy to the top of the mountain. It was really beautiful, though I actually found it a bit nerve-wracking. You’re so high up and just sitting in a chair with a small bar across you. That’s the sort of thing that gets me nervous! But I tried to not look down too often and just enjoyed the sunshine and the views looking out.
At the top of the mountain they have a sort of mini-museum that I spent some time looking around. There was lots of info on Jamaican achievements in sport
which tied into the second part of the tour - Bob Sledding!
For the bob-sledding, you hop into a little bob sled car. Then you rush along a track that twists and curves it’s way through the rainforest. It was so much faster than I was expecting - I think about 40 miles per hour - and it was so much fun! I managed to take some video as I raced through the forest. It’s pretty cool.
There’s a lovely pool and a little water slide back at the top. I’d planned to do some swimming, but the sky was clouding over and it was getting rather cool, so I ended up not. But you can climb to the top of the main building (which still reminded me of a ski chalet!) where there was a lovely view down the mountain into Ocho Rios and the bay where the ship docks.
The final phase of the tour was zip lining. Only two years ago I went zip lining for the first time and it was so terrifying. I can still remember three years ago attempting to go back home and freaking out and walking back through the
forest in tears because I was so scared. Now I don’t even think twice about stepping off the platforms and flying through the trees! This course had 6 different lines and some of them were especially great. In the middle of it there was also a repel drop. Those I still hate. Doesn’t matter how many times I do them or how much I know that I’m safe. I hate the feeling of that sudden drop. But I just close my eyes, hold my breath until I’m at the bottom, then wait for my body to stop shaking!
The zipline course finishes at one of the chair lift platforms. So I hopped right back on and rode down to the bottom. The ride up goes above the trees, but the ride down goes through them so you get a closer look at the rainforest trees and plants. I love the air of the forests. I don’t think it gets any fresher than that.
Because of being so sick, I’ve spent so much time in bed the last couple weeks. When I got back to the ship I couldn’t believe it was only 1pm and I’d done all of
the things I had! It’s good to be up and around again.
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swills82
Sarah Willett
"you dead mon?" "ya mon." Oh Jamaican bobsled!