After you land in Kingston and get your suitcases you go outside the
airport and look for a Sandal's bus. You have a 90 minute
ride to Dunns' River. Cheer up, the bus stops twice for
you to buy drinks. The driver sits on the right side of
the vehicle, just like in England. The roads are narrow
and the driver goes fast. Drink up! We arrived on Saturday night, and
the little towns we passed through were full of festive brightly
attired Jamaicans.
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This is a view of our hotel room. They initially put us
in
one that smelled of mildew. It's about the only thing
about the place that wasn't top-notch. The front desk re-assigned us
to this room and we were very happy with it.
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The view from our balcony. You can see the hills in the
background and part of the resort down below left.
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Margaret is getting some beads put in her hair by Claire in Claire's
hut. Just outside
the resort property on the beach are maybe a dozen huts. In them are
the various proprietors selling goods. A resort guard takes your name
and room number when you step off the property. The first thing that
happens is Jamaicans make eye contact with you and pantomime like they
are smoking dope. They want to sell you some. During your little
shopping trip, several people will offer to sell you drugs. Just
say, "No thanks, I'm set", and they will leave you alone. The various
proprietors compete fiercely for your business. They want to get
you in their shops away from the competitors. It's safe. We only
went a couple of times and were happy with what we bought. Don't
be afraid to haggle.
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Claire asked Margaret if she wanted one of Claire's business cards.
Here it is. When Margaret got her hair braided
a Jamaican
dude asked me to bring him a piece of chicken. Guests at Sandals can
always get jerk chicken 24 hours a day at the seaside grill. Later,
I got him a piece, wrapped it up, put it in my pocket, and bought it
across the barrier to him. Another guy saw me give it to him. He
looked at me and said, "Respect". I like that down in Jamaica. Instead
of saying "Thank you", they say "Respect".
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Here is a guy from one of the shops. I bought something here
for one of the kids. This man was very proud of having a photograph
showing Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and this man together in
his shop.
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Sandals also arranged for local vendors to bring their merchandise
into the resort.
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Here is a man painting dinner plates. Margaret and I bought one
from him, and he put our names and the date on it. I forget what
we paid him, but the price was very reasonable.
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One of our last pictures is taken on the bus ride back to the airport.
We travelled back during daylight hours, and got to see the sights.
Discovery Bay, where Christopher Columbus landed, was among them.
It's interesting to see the people in the towns going about their
business.
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Here is Margaret at the rest stop. Nice braids - nice wife. I love
the "real" Jamaican scenery in the background.
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