Doctor's Cave Beach, Montego Bay, Jamaica
Hello again everyone! It's nice to be home in Portland once again after another week of travel. I find it hard to believe I don't currently have a job, as it feels like every waking moment there is stuff to do! Sure, it isn't as fulfilling at working in a school (not even close, actually), but the plethora of email responding, picture uploading, captioning, blog writing, flight booking, trip planning, laundry, organizing, internet browsing, etc certainly keeps me busy. In any case, this entry is about my time in Montego Bay, Jamaica and then Chicago last weekend.
First off, after my last blog entry I managed to get about an hour of sleep on the semi-padded restaurant bench outside security in Boston Logan. Note to self - find any way possible to avoid spending the night in Boston's airport, even if it is six hours. Ugh. But eventually, I woke up to the sound of workers getting ready for business around 4 AM, so I figured I should clear out from the place so they could set up. It was nice that they didn't ask me to leave or bother me at all until I left! So it was with very tired legs and a feeling of incredibly griminess that I headed off to my gate for the flight down to New York (which I totally have no recollection of other than getting in my seat and when we landed). Then, I took a short nap at JFK at what I thought was my gate, and woke up (without an alarm, mind you) just in time to find that the gate for the flight had been moved and I needed to get going right away. That's the second time in three years that has happened to me! Way to go, internal clock.
The flight down to Montego Bay was nice, and once again, I enjoyed filling out the international paperwork. When I got into MBJ, I was asked to see the health desk at the airport, as I had written that I had visited the Dominican Republic in the last 6 weeks. A lady then asked me some generic "are you feeling sick" questions before letting me go to customs (which is always fun trying to explain why I'm only staying for two or three days, haha). After getting my passport stamped, I headed out into the fun that is an international arrivals hall, with about 15 people all asking me if I needed a ride/wanted to rent a car/etc. Easy to get super flustered, especially as I was looking around to find my way and almost definitely seemed like a lost tourist in need of a kind Jamaican. Eventually I made the decision on where to go out of the airport and immediately saw McKenzie, the Jamaican driver that the hostel had waiting for me with an easy sign for "Bethel Court." Good times!
As we drove into the city, McKenzie and I hit it off, talking about everything from track and field to education. It was cool to go to an authentic Jamaican place, which Bethel Court obviously was, as it is far away from the resorts and the "hip strip." Once I got in, I was treated super nicely by Ingrid and Steve, the two owners of the hostel and finally got the long awaited shower I needed and nap. Eventually, I woke up and was treated to the town by Richard, a guide who works for Steve. Richard took me to a local jerk chicken place in the middle of the real city of MoBay and to get groceries. I am very confident that the dinner was a tourist priced rip-off at $15 American, but it was worth it for the company and talking about Jamaica. Here's a picture of my admittedly delicious first meal in the country:
So good! Coconut rice, lightly spiced jerk chicken, salad, and my first encounter with cucumber juice, which was very cool and refreshing!
After dinner, we headed back to the hostel and I was eventually able to get to sleep on the bunk bed with fans trying to dull the humidity.
The next day (my only real full day there) I woke up and went to the beach with one of the guys at the hostel - Arjang, who was from Canada. We took a taxi downtown and then walked to the beach (something that I got the sense not a lot of tourists do, since the only time I ever saw white people in Jamaica was at the "hip strip" away from the city and next to the beaches. Along the way, I found this nice vista with a palm tree and a cruise ship in the background:
Looking into Montego Bay, Jamaica
Doctor's Cave Beach was fun to walk around, and probably worth the $5 American entrance fee, especially as Arjang and I discovered that the beach is featured on the back of the $50 Jamaican bill! So that was cool. I had a good meal at the beach, and kicked back to relax and walk in the white sand and perfect water. It was exactly what I had in mind when I thought about going to Jamaica. :-)
After a while, we walked back into the city and caught a taxi back to the hostel, but not before talking with some local kids who had just gotten out of school for the day. They cracked me up! I love the people in Jamaica. It seems like for the most part, they just love life and laughing.
I also wanted to take a moment to explain how impossible it is to fully capture the feeling of walking around a Caribbean street/marketplace. This has happened to me where ever I have gone in Latin America/the Caribbean - I just can't put into words what it is like to walk around in a completely different environment than I'm used to, listening to car horns and crazy traffic, people talking in accents I don't understand, the smell of a humid street with garbage here and there, the sight of street vendors selling their wares, and the feel of the sun and air on my skin. I mean, a picture doesn't come even remotely close to capturing this, and I don't think a video would either. In any case, here's a photo I took at the center of Montego Bay, as we were waiting for a taxi.
Hustle and bustle in the city center of Montego Bay, Jamaica.
For the rest of my time in Jamaica, I just relaxed, and tried to get some sleep (failing pretty miserably the last night there, due to it being hot, and my having slept in during the morning). The next day, McKenzie took me back to the airport via a scenic route overlooking the city, which was fascinating.
Arjang (left) and McKenzie (right). Fun that Jamaican cars have the wheel on the right and streets to drive on the left. Very British of them.
All in all, my time in Montego Bay was great. It was empowering to travel there by myself, navigate the city (obviously with a lot of helpful tips and guides from the hostel), and immerse myself in a new country for a few days. Jamaica definitely ranks up there with my favorite Caribbean destinations so far.
Next, I headed to Boston, via Orlando. My buddy Max Tremblay and his family were very gracious again to let me stay in their house (as I have to travel either to or from Boston, and I got in too late to go anywhere else that day), and Max picked me up at the airport and dropped me off in perfect timing to get to Chicago (though we were both worried I would miss my flight). Thank you again! :-)
I was really glad to get to Chicago earlier than I had originally planned (thank you, BluePass rules that say I can change my flights any time up to 90 minutes before, for no fee) because it was my last chance to see a Chicago Cubs game this season! I headed straight from the airport to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field.
My first ever trip to Wrigley Field, where the Chicago Cubs started playing in 1914!
I will spare you the details of the game (if you want them, go to my FaceBook album), but I had a great time watching the Cubs beat the Houston Astros in 12 innings. My ticket was a walk up deal at $13.44 total, and I loved the view I got from high up in the stadium. Plus, I got to see Oregon's own Darwin Barney play (even if he is an OSU Beaver, I'll make an exception for my loathing of the school in this case), and President Bartlett, I mean, Martin Sheen, throw out the first pitch and sign the seventh inning stretch.
A panorama from my section at Wrigley Field for the Chicago Cubs vs. Houston Astros on September 16th, 2011. Click to make bigger.
After the game, I met up with my brother and we proceeded to have an epic time with his new HDTV and setting up a home wireless network for him. The first HDTV he got delivered to him via Amazon.com looked like this when we turned it on for the first time:
Yeah, somehow I don't think that gigantic spot of streaks is supposed to be there.
It took us a while to figure out what to do, which was call Amazon to have the TV returned, go to Best Buy and pick out one directly from the store that we could take ourselves, and rent a U-Haul to pick it up (a guy in the parking lot laughed at us for doing it, but it was only $48 total, and way less hassle than waiting a week plus a to be determined time on a delivery day that the driver might still screw up and break the TV).
That was something I'm not going to soon forget, by the way: driving a U Haul with my brother shut in the back, looking after his TV as I drove super carefully back to his apartment (only like 2 miles away from the store). Fun times. Maxwell said that it was very existential for him in the back - just him in the darkness with his costly stuff, haha. I don't doubt it. Long story short, we set up the new TV and presto, it worked! So I was very glad that I came out to see my brother, since there was a whole lot of stuff that needed two people to do. I even bought myself an air mattress for his apartment, since I know I'll be back soon.
After all that weekend fun of logistics and football and food, I headed back to Portland on Monday. I had a memorable flight from New York to Portland, as my seatmates and I struck up a nice conversation in the first hour or so - spurred on by me recognizing the book the girl in the seat next to me was reading: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, by Donald Miller. That's a freebie for a conversation starter with me, as I really enjoy Donald Miller's works. Also, the guy to our left was wearing a Portland Timbers shirt, so we had a fun time talking about that too. You never know who you'll sit next to on a flight! I'd say 95% of the time I never say a word to the people around me when I'm flying, as I'd almost always prefer to gaze out the window and contemplate. However, it is nice once in a while to have people my age and with similar interests fatefully sitting next to me! So that was fun. :-)
In honor of REM's breakup today: "Leaving New York never easy..."
Okay, that's all I've got for tonight. I will write again tomorrow with a look at where I'm heading next. Hint: it isn't a JetBlue destination!
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