First Impressions of Jamaica

Hello all! After a pretty full day of traveling yesterday, I've made it to Jamaica. It's a nice change from the cold, winter climate on the East Coast. The temperature is around 80, with a lot of humidity (think D.C. in July). It's been raining on and off, with periods of really intense downpours that last a maximum of ten minutes, then immediately stop. I'm thankful for the rain because it seems to cool everything down a little, which is nice when the sun started beating down on you.

Yesterday, we were picked up at the airport with a bunch of other people who came down for the wedding as well. Driving from the airport to our villa took about an hour. The drive was interesting in that it was full of juxtapositions. You would look on one side of the street, and you would see these beautiful hotels and villas that were clean and painted beautiful, tropical colors. Then you would turn to the other side of the street and there were shacks. I'm not exaggerating at all. They looked like sheets of metal that were propped up against pieces of wood. Doors were few and far between and forget about seeing electricity in them. Honestly, it reminded me of something that someone would make while camping. The poverty is so in your face. I see now why people like to stay in the all-inclusive resorts here. Out of sight, out of mind. The other interesting thing from the drive was that there were all sorts of unfinished houses. A floor would be built, and then they would just leave it. Some houses had people living in the bottom while others were completely deserted. They say it's because people run out of money so they just stop and let them sit there. Not surprising, especially given todays economy.

But I digress. On our way to our villa, we stopped at a restaurant on the side of the road for jerked chicken. There were jerked chicken places all over the place, but people were telling us that this was the place to go. Mike and I split half a jerk chicken and got two bottles of some local brew (Red Stripe) and it was so good, not to mention cheap! I was watching the chefs working in the back, and it was so different than watching a kitchen in the States. It was pretty Spartan in the back as far as utensils go, but there were rows and rows of chicken waiting to be cooked or chopped up. We were so hungry that we devoured our food in no time at all.

Then we made it to our villa, which has an amazing view. When you step out onto the back porch, you can see the sea. There is a pool and a huge yard (where we promptly went out to so we could throw a frisbee around. No surprise there). Everyone has their own bedroom suite with a bathroom, which is really nice. There is also a chef, two members of house staff, and three of the friendliest watch dogs I have ever met (don't worry - they are really good at doing their job when they aren't demanding attention from you). I'm having a hard time getting used having people waiting on us all the time. The staff here is super sweet though. Martin, the head of the staff, is just about as nice as he can be. He was teaching me some of the Jamaican language (Patois). It is based off of English and it's interesting to see how they have shorted words, given words different meaning, etc. Anyway, all of us ended up staying up late talking. I'm slowly getting used to having all these people wait on me. I feel like this is going to take awhile to adjust to. This morning, they cooked us a really good breakfast with jerk sausage. Hands down, new favorite breakfast food.

Anyway, I think today we are going to hit the beach. I guess I should go figure that out. I'll try to write again tomorrow, recapping today's adventures. Lots of love!