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Part 2 is under Part 1, if that makes any sense.
5/7/03: We had to be good last night because we had a long day with Soloman. This day, we went to Black River, YS Falls and Appleton Estate. Soloman picked us up promptly at 9 a.m. and we were back on the road. Soloman told us he liked to talk and tell people about his island, so talk he did. Very interesting to hear the things he had to say. After looking at a map of Jamaica when I returned home, I now know where we were, but at the time, I had no sense or direction.
We stopped in what I think was a town called Belmont and saw Peter Tosh memorial. There was also another town - Church something - that I thought was very beautiful. When we arrived at Black River, Soloman took us across the river and wanted to know if we were interested in going in a canoe up the river. It was searing hot outside and Dan had a pretty good sunburn going. We opted to go to the other side of the river and take the "luxury" boat. At least it had a canopy on it. Plus, we didn't want to be in a little canoe with the crocs swimming right next to us.
Had a great guide going up Black River and there was only just a few other people on the boat. We were amazed with the lack of tourists at this time, but I guess we just missed the wild spring break time (thank God!). Twisty, the croc, greeted us by swimming right up to the boat giving us a show. Saw mangroves, beautiful white birds, huge termite nests and the croc of all crocs, Margaret, a 15 footer. We could not believe that there were a couple of Jamaican men snorkeling in that river - spear fishing. You couldn't pay me a price to swim in a river with crocs, but they did not seem the least bothered by it.
On to YS Falls. The land leading into the entrance of the falls was so green and the horses were so pretty. One baby horse kept following its mother in circles in the green field. Happy to discover a bar to wet our whistle before the falls. What a beautiful place! Swung off the rope into the deep pool of clear, cool water. Awesome! It was a bit slippery trying to get out of the pool. The guide up there took some pics of us, which turned out great. We sat for awhile just staring at the beauty of the place. Dan jerked his back out a bit from swinging (we are getting too old for this stuff!), had had to suffer for the end of the trip.
After we had enough of YS Falls, our last stop was Appleton Estate. I thought the grounds were stunning. Peacocks were wandering around. We had a small group on our tour and had a good time. At the end, it was time to taste their rums. Soloman is smart to save this place for last. You get pretty buzzed tasting 17 types of rum. I didn't taste them all, but Dan did. He was feeling no pain on the trip back to Negril! I loved the Banana rum liquor, rum cream and Mudslide (chocolate rum cream). Bought a few bottles to take home. They give each guest a small bottle of rum.
On the way back to Negril, Soloman's wife called him and told him it had been pouring rain all day. We got no rain, so a perfect day to get out of Negril and go on this tour. There was one stretch of road called Bamboo Alley, where the bamboo trees created a canopy over the roadway. It was awesome!
When we arrived back in Negril, we were starving and tired. It was a long day, but we saw so much. I highly recommend this tour for a first time visitor.
5/8/03:
Today was our last full day in Jamaica and we decided to take it easy, get some sun and relax. We had a good breakfast at Xtabi. We were the only ones there. A cute little Jamaican boy kept us company the entire time, showing us his toy. The Jamaican children are so darling. I have a great photo of this kid. After that, I did my standard morning walk while it was still cool. I became fond of walking from Samsara to Ricks and back. Dan returned to the hotel and I forgot I didn't have the best shoes on for this. Ended up with some blisters. Ouch. I again did some shopping at the vendors up by Rock House.
Spent a few hours at the hotel bar, pool and jumping from the cliffs, swimming and floating around. Just a long, lazy day. When happy hour rolled around, we partied with some of the other people staying there and ended up getting pretty tanked. I started talking to a woman (Cassie) from England who was there for 2 weeks with her 16 year old son (Benjie). That kid was a fish in water and was having a blast! Somehow, I was telling her about my brother's experience snorkeling. I forgot to mention that when we were out on the reef a few days before, the catamaran from the Hedonism resort was there at the same time. Most of its passengers were naked. Nothing out of the ordinary to me - after all, we are in Jamaica. However, my brother told me that while he was snorkeling over the reef, a huge white, dimpled bare butt appeared right in front of his face. He had to come up for air and almost choked. He described the incident in detail to me and although I will not repeat the gory details here, I did tell Cassie and her son. Soon, the entire bar of about 10 people were all laughing so hard. Dan told it again in more graphic detail. The tale grew taller and taller after each rum punch. My face hurt from laughing the next day!
Details are blurry after this, but somehow, we all ended up across the street at the Cambio, partying and playing pool for a few hours. We had a great party that night. I cannot believe the pictures turned out because I don't remember too much. Cassie had to be carried back to the hotel. Enough said on that. Dan and a few others ended up out at the cliffs until 2 a.m. in a political discussion about France and their failure to back the US in the recent Iraqi war. Glad I missed that one!
5/9/03: Time to return home. Booo. Dave picked us up and drove us to Montego Bay. The airport was crowded and we were the last in line, but made it. The rest of the trip was uneventful and I slept like a baby on the planes home. The night before kicked my butt!
In closing, SOLOMAN ROCKS!! Great guide and nice person. My brother told me he was a "human sponge" down there. He did love those rum punches and he is not really a rum drinker at home.
My voice was almost gone for a couple of days when I returned home. We were hooting a lot and had most the taxi drivers and even Soloman doing it by the time we left. Everybody would just crack up. I hope some of them are still doing it. Long story. We really liked a guy named Clive. He has been working in front of Samsara with his taxi for almost 20 years! He was always ready to be at our service. As soon as we stepped out from the hotel onto the road, he would ask what we were doing, where did we want to go. He was cool.
I was happy to receive an e-mail from American Airlines, apologizing for the delay in Miami on the trip down and adding 10,000 bonus miles to my advantage account. I didn't even have to ask. Now, I have enough mileage for a free flight down to the Caribbean!
Yes, another one hooked on Jamaica!!!
Happy travels to all! We will be back, probably around the same time next year.
5/7/03: We had to be good last night because we had a long day with Soloman. This day, we went to Black River, YS Falls and Appleton Estate. Soloman picked us up promptly at 9 a.m. and we were back on the road. Soloman told us he liked to talk and tell people about his island, so talk he did. Very interesting to hear the things he had to say. After looking at a map of Jamaica when I returned home, I now know where we were, but at the time, I had no sense or direction.
We stopped in what I think was a town called Belmont and saw Peter Tosh memorial. There was also another town - Church something - that I thought was very beautiful. When we arrived at Black River, Soloman took us across the river and wanted to know if we were interested in going in a canoe up the river. It was searing hot outside and Dan had a pretty good sunburn going. We opted to go to the other side of the river and take the "luxury" boat. At least it had a canopy on it. Plus, we didn't want to be in a little canoe with the crocs swimming right next to us.
Had a great guide going up Black River and there was only just a few other people on the boat. We were amazed with the lack of tourists at this time, but I guess we just missed the wild spring break time (thank God!). Twisty, the croc, greeted us by swimming right up to the boat giving us a show. Saw mangroves, beautiful white birds, huge termite nests and the croc of all crocs, Margaret, a 15 footer. We could not believe that there were a couple of Jamaican men snorkeling in that river - spear fishing. You couldn't pay me a price to swim in a river with crocs, but they did not seem the least bothered by it.
On to YS Falls. The land leading into the entrance of the falls was so green and the horses were so pretty. One baby horse kept following its mother in circles in the green field. Happy to discover a bar to wet our whistle before the falls. What a beautiful place! Swung off the rope into the deep pool of clear, cool water. Awesome! It was a bit slippery trying to get out of the pool. The guide up there took some pics of us, which turned out great. We sat for awhile just staring at the beauty of the place. Dan jerked his back out a bit from swinging (we are getting too old for this stuff!), had had to suffer for the end of the trip.
After we had enough of YS Falls, our last stop was Appleton Estate. I thought the grounds were stunning. Peacocks were wandering around. We had a small group on our tour and had a good time. At the end, it was time to taste their rums. Soloman is smart to save this place for last. You get pretty buzzed tasting 17 types of rum. I didn't taste them all, but Dan did. He was feeling no pain on the trip back to Negril! I loved the Banana rum liquor, rum cream and Mudslide (chocolate rum cream). Bought a few bottles to take home. They give each guest a small bottle of rum.
On the way back to Negril, Soloman's wife called him and told him it had been pouring rain all day. We got no rain, so a perfect day to get out of Negril and go on this tour. There was one stretch of road called Bamboo Alley, where the bamboo trees created a canopy over the roadway. It was awesome!
When we arrived back in Negril, we were starving and tired. It was a long day, but we saw so much. I highly recommend this tour for a first time visitor.
5/8/03:
Today was our last full day in Jamaica and we decided to take it easy, get some sun and relax. We had a good breakfast at Xtabi. We were the only ones there. A cute little Jamaican boy kept us company the entire time, showing us his toy. The Jamaican children are so darling. I have a great photo of this kid. After that, I did my standard morning walk while it was still cool. I became fond of walking from Samsara to Ricks and back. Dan returned to the hotel and I forgot I didn't have the best shoes on for this. Ended up with some blisters. Ouch. I again did some shopping at the vendors up by Rock House.
Spent a few hours at the hotel bar, pool and jumping from the cliffs, swimming and floating around. Just a long, lazy day. When happy hour rolled around, we partied with some of the other people staying there and ended up getting pretty tanked. I started talking to a woman (Cassie) from England who was there for 2 weeks with her 16 year old son (Benjie). That kid was a fish in water and was having a blast! Somehow, I was telling her about my brother's experience snorkeling. I forgot to mention that when we were out on the reef a few days before, the catamaran from the Hedonism resort was there at the same time. Most of its passengers were naked. Nothing out of the ordinary to me - after all, we are in Jamaica. However, my brother told me that while he was snorkeling over the reef, a huge white, dimpled bare butt appeared right in front of his face. He had to come up for air and almost choked. He described the incident in detail to me and although I will not repeat the gory details here, I did tell Cassie and her son. Soon, the entire bar of about 10 people were all laughing so hard. Dan told it again in more graphic detail. The tale grew taller and taller after each rum punch. My face hurt from laughing the next day!
Details are blurry after this, but somehow, we all ended up across the street at the Cambio, partying and playing pool for a few hours. We had a great party that night. I cannot believe the pictures turned out because I don't remember too much. Cassie had to be carried back to the hotel. Enough said on that. Dan and a few others ended up out at the cliffs until 2 a.m. in a political discussion about France and their failure to back the US in the recent Iraqi war. Glad I missed that one!
5/9/03: Time to return home. Booo. Dave picked us up and drove us to Montego Bay. The airport was crowded and we were the last in line, but made it. The rest of the trip was uneventful and I slept like a baby on the planes home. The night before kicked my butt!
In closing, SOLOMAN ROCKS!! Great guide and nice person. My brother told me he was a "human sponge" down there. He did love those rum punches and he is not really a rum drinker at home.
My voice was almost gone for a couple of days when I returned home. We were hooting a lot and had most the taxi drivers and even Soloman doing it by the time we left. Everybody would just crack up. I hope some of them are still doing it. Long story. We really liked a guy named Clive. He has been working in front of Samsara with his taxi for almost 20 years! He was always ready to be at our service. As soon as we stepped out from the hotel onto the road, he would ask what we were doing, where did we want to go. He was cool.
I was happy to receive an e-mail from American Airlines, apologizing for the delay in Miami on the trip down and adding 10,000 bonus miles to my advantage account. I didn't even have to ask. Now, I have enough mileage for a free flight down to the Caribbean!
Yes, another one hooked on Jamaica!!!
Happy travels to all! We will be back, probably around the same time next year.
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