Back from Kingston....

[DanielTh]

Ok so this trip was a mess!

Day 1: I leave my home in CA and take the hour + drive to San Francisco Airport at about 3:45 AM. I get to the American Airlines ticket counter at about 5:30 (standing in line for an hour) to be told my flight to Miami has been cancelled. There is no way they can get me to Jamaica on Sunday. My host in JA works Mon - Fri and was going to meet me at the airport on Sunday which was why I scheduled it that way. Ok well the soonest they could get me to Kingston was via New York and a connecting flight the next morning. Of course they made no offer to pay the 145 for the hotel room!



Image of Queens outside my hotel window.

[DanielTh]

Re: Back from Kingston....

Day 2 (First day in Kingston)

I arrive about noon "ish" on Monday the 2nd. On the Air Jamaica flight I sit across the isle from three very sweet ladies, 2 Jamaican and their British neice. We discover that our hotels are next door to each other so they invite me to come along in their van!

Stepping off the plane into the Jamaican air is something I still can't explain. The weight of the humidy, the heat, the smell - is there anywhere else that has that Jamaican scent?

Going through Immigration and Customs was a breeze. I discover that my Verizon cell phone does work in Kingston - much to my chagrin, because I didn't bring my charger (Verizon told me it wasn't going to work so I didn't think to bring it).



Outside the Airport



The road to the hotel... I love the houses

[DanielTh]

Re: Back from Kingston....

Day 2 (continued):

I get to my hotel, luckily thanks to my local friend they were aware of my flight being cancelled the night before and still had my room for me.

For the record, and this is the only mention of it I will make because it still burns me: my "friends" of 3 years showed up just long enough to get the stuff from the US I brought for them. Otherwise, I never heard from them again. My birthday came and went and they never showed up, never returned calls, nothing.

Moving on:

My hotel was nothing fancy, but who needs fancy in Kingston? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]







These two gentlemen were picking ackees from the tree in the parking lot next door... it was a fresh produce market, and I guess it gets no fresher than this!!! I tried to capture an image of the bird that apparently resided in that tree. It kept dive-bombing the man with the pole.

[Pepper]

Re: Back from Kingston....

Welcome back DTH.

I really hope your trip take a turn for the better.

I like the photo outside the airport. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Ochigal]

Re: Back from Kingston....

Originally posted by DanielTh:
[qb] Day 2 (continued):.

For the record, and this is the only mention of it I will make because it still burns me: my "friends" of 3 years showed up just long enough to get the stuff from the US I brought for them. Otherwise, I never heard from them again. My birthday came and went and they never showed up, never returned calls, nothing.

[/qb]

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] Boy that burns me too!

DT...glad to see your back. Cant wait to hear about Kingston.

[DanielTh]

Re: Back from Kingston....

Day 3: Port Royal

Being a history buff, I wanted to go to Port Royal for ages... and since I was on my own, I went for it. Cost me about 1600 Jamaican for the taxi from New Kingston to the fort, but it was worth it. The driver even offered to come back and get me 90 minutes later.



I am thinking our ancestors were very short [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] This is the near the first row of cannons



I love this sign...






This is the only tower that wasn't blocked off. If the empty beer bottles and graffiti inside are any indication, it is quite a popular spot.

[DanielTh]

Re: Back from Kingston....

Day 3 Continued: More of Port Royal/Fort Charles



This relief is on most of the cannons in Fort Charles. It is a stylized "P.R" for Port Royal. I wish I could've taken a rubbing of it.



Another view of the inside



The white building is the Museum proper - I was not allowed to photograph inside it.



A bit of an anachronism: if the words are not legible, they say "Fire Hydrant"





Yours Truly looking like a fat rock star [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]



Kids on a school outing. When they went past me they stared like I had 2 heads. One of the boys called out "WHITEY!" as they filed past. Their teacher said nothing...sigh....

[jamaica_dreamin]

Re: Back from Kingston....

I discover that my Verizon cell phone does work in Kingston - much to my chagrin, because I didn't bring my charger (Verizon told me it wasn't going to work so I didn't think to bring it).


Be glad ! The roaming charges can be very $$$.

[rudemonk]

Re: Back from Kingston....

dan- whitey isn't necessarily derogative...

nice shots of the fort.

[jamaica_dreamin]

Re: Back from Kingston....

Originally posted by rudemonk:
[qb] dan- whitey isn't necessarily derogative...

nice shots of the fort. [/qb]

I agree. The 1st thing a very good friend said when she saw me last trip was "you whitey man" She is pretty light her self (she also doesn't have a hateful bone in her body).

[Marilyn]

Re: Back from Kingston....

Dan
Nice pictures. I too am a history buff and I was just telling someone from Jamaica this weekend that Port Royal is on my list. I am fascinated with the story.

Some place so evil it just dropped off the map.

I have also heard on this board that the term the kids called you is not necessarily derrogatory in meaning in Ja. It is just a statement of fact that one is indeed white.

I will tell you as I tell my counselees, the word "friend" is sacred, you now know the difference between it and associate or acquaintance.

[DanielTh]

Re: Back from Kingston....

On the way back I had the driver stop along the way for a few shots of an old derelict ship. He said he thought the ship was burned, but others afterwards told me they thought it had been cast ashore by a hurricane.



To me it looks kinda like the one used in the movie "Godzilla".



Ships on the Carribean



The sun sets on my first full day back in Kingston....

[jamaica_dreamin]

Re: Back from Kingston....

Very nice Dan. I've never been to Port Royal (and have seen very little of Kingston.)

[Pepper]

Re: Back from Kingston....

Hey DTH,

Nice goatee. You didn't have that in your last trip report did you?

Like previously stated, whitey was probably the term used to describe your appearance. We will automatically give nicknames based on appearance, but they are not meant to hurt feelings even if they do sound odd to non-Jamaicans. (Blacka, Bigga, Tallman, Fattie, etc) [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Nanook]

Re: Back from Kingston....

I'm enjoying your trip Daniel, but I was sad to hear about your 'not so great' friends. More of life's lessons. Happy belated birthday!!!