Jamaica

I learned a few things in Jamaica.

One, even if it is cloudy and looks chilly outside, when you are in the tropics, don’t pack a sweater. You will carry it around and it is a waste of effort.

Two, you cannot go ANYWHERE without someone trying to sell you something.

I don’t know if I can really say that there was necessarily anything “bad” about our vacation. However, if I were to choose a least favorite place we visited, Jamaica would be it. If we are ever lucky enough to cruise again someday I will choose a cruise that does not stop there.  We ported on the far side of the island so we had no choice but to pay 20 dollars (EACH!) to ride this “Hop On Hop Off” bus to downtown in order to see the sights. Once we got downtown, I was sad to see how dirty it was. The island is beautiful and the town was just trashed. Also, I think it was the place with the absolute worst driving I’ve ever experienced in my life. The streets were TINY and everyone was honking and yelling at each other!

The island itself (from a distance) is beautiful. I was very surprised to see it is much more like a jungle than a sandy tropical island.  In fact, there was only one spot in the places we got to see where there was actual beach and it was not that long! It also cost a ridiculous amount of money to access it so we just skipped it.  Most of the shoreline looked like this:

 

The other thing that was seriously cracking me up was that ever other person was asking Doug if he “wanted a smoke!” No one ever asked me even once! I told Doug he must have looked like a stoner because male, female, old, young – you name it, they were asking him he wanted a smoke!!! This one girl asked him if he did that stuff and he told her no he didn’t and then she quickly retracted and said “Yaeah mon, don’t start, it make you crazy.” Riiiiight….that’s why she was asking!

We ate at Margaritaville because it looked clean and safe! We got to eat on the balcony and this was our beautiful view. The ocean was so blue! I loved the floating trampoline. We also ate the best nachos while we were there!

When we returned to the ship we took some pictures with the self-timer on the camera from the top deck with Jamaica in the background. From a distance it was sure pretty to look at!!! Sorry about all the deck floor in the photos but when you don’t have anyone to take your picture you do the best you can!

I am happy to have gone because this trip was really just a huge blessing. I can cross Jamaica off the bucket list (although it was never really there in the first place) and I am grateful really for anything that expands my cultural palette. Let’s just say, I’m not dying to move there.