The weekend epitomized a lot of American-Jamaican interactions, so I'll go through it in some detail and annotate some lovely photos.
First off, Tora and I were going together. Tora is from Norway and she was looking for the same thing I was for this weekend, relaxation. It was my birthday weekend, so I wanted somewhere I could swim and relax and just enjoy life (away from the party lifestyle to which some of the volunteers adhere).
In grand Jamaican tradition, we took route taxis to get there. Taxis here are uniquely Jamaican, complete with one person in the front seat and AT LEAST four people in the backseat, more if there are children. I will always claim the front if I can, but you generally have to be the first person in to get it. Jamaican routes are set amounts of money, more if you're dropped off at your door, so the more people they can fit, the better. Tora and I hadn't even made it up to the taxi stand when a driver leaned out his window and goes "Treasure Beach?" like we had it written on our foreheads. We have to get to Junction and then switch to Treasure Beach, so he was on the ball. But that's how they make their money.
He was exceptionally nice, as most of the taxi drivers are. His name was Pablo, he put our bags in his trunk and we sat there until the taxi was full. He didn't charge us more, which some of the drivers will do since they know the 'whiteys' don't know the cost of some of the routes. And when we got to Junction, he tried to find us a reputable driver to take us to Treasure Beach. We stand out as two white girls, so we had already had "Treasure Beach!" shouted at us and found one, which makes things easy. This driver wasn't so friendly, so we didn't have to part with a history of our lives to get to TB.
As I've learned in Jamaica, there are universal questions to ask the whiteys--and that's not a derogatory term, it's just cause they don't know your name so they call you whitey. They want to know your name (and Pam doesn't work well here, so it's always Pamela--Pam-ella in the accent), where you're from, and is this your first time from Jamaica. Conversation progresses from there--I usually get where in the US/America are you from, and then what are you doing in Jamaica.
But we made it to our lovely hostel in Treasure Beach and immediately headed down to the beach.
One minute's walk from the hostel.
Just in time for a glorious sunset! There was a cloud across the sun, so it was stripy across the top and bottom, but it progressed too fast for me to get a good picture. This is also the view from the veranda of the restaurant where we got dinner.
My authentically Jamaican birthday dinner--curry goat, festivals, and Red Stripe. I've been enjoying the curry here, spicy but not too much. Festivals are delicious blobs of fried dough. Red Stripe is a fairly decent lager, product of Jamaica. It was a great dinner to eat on the veranda and a good way to end the week. We trekked back along the beach to the hostel, and the stars were incredible. I have never seen so many in my life, just scattered everywhere! Truly beautiful.
We made it to the beach early in the morning, slathered in more sunscreen than many people would use in an entire summer but the sun in burningly hot. It can be relentless, and I would feel burned in certain places and slather even more sunscreen there, but never turned up burned there. It was difficult to keep reapplying sunscreen because the sand gets everywhere and you feel rather exfoliated in a terrible way because of it. The salinity of the Caribbean is also somewhat different than what I'm used to in the Atlantic, so that added to the exfoliative feel.
We were at Frenchman's Bay, protected by two outcroppings of land to either end, which affects the waves in some way I can't remember from physics class. The waves are high and come up without warning, and frequently claim lives. This is not the lifeguard, only swim in protected areas I'm used to from the Jersey Shore, but a wholeheartedly swim at your own risk. I actually ended up keeping an eye on some Germans who were swimming far to close to some rocks. And I'm a strong swimmer, yet was frequently surprised by huge waves coming up on me. They're not incredibly powerful, but they will still knock you over if you're caught in one as it breaks.
The Caribbean is a spectrum of blues and greens, and I am so glad I was able to capture this melding of the blue sky into the more aquamarine ocean. You can use thousands of different words to describe the beauty of this water! (Again, this is the view from the veranda of the restaurant)
We spent the afternoon relaxing indoors, since the sun was so hot. Water bottles are essential around here to those of us not accustomed to the heat, as I know I sweat out probably half of what I take in by mouth. So we reemerged from the hostel to climb these rocks on the eastern end of the bay. A storm was trying to come in, though it never materialized. The surf was pounding against the rocks, and once again, I am pleased to see that the photo captures the swirling colors and intensity of the Caribbean.
It was also really windy, but Tora and I managed.
The other Jamaican experience that is unique--I mentioned that the taxis drivers always want to know who you are and where you're from, but this happens on the beach too. Particularly to the two 'beautiful white girls'; I acquired a self-professed Jamaican boyfriend, we had a few offers of marijuana, a few men trying to sell us things, requests to go on boat tours, etc etc. I commented to Tora that I've gone to the beach every single year of my life and never has a man ever approached me, regardless of the potential invitation of the bikini. I'm all for light flirtation, but it can be difficult to get the Jamaican men to understand you're not interested and I can't be rude here (though I will be if necessary).
To check out of the hostel, we just had to leave the key in the door. It's a real key, one of those old silver ones that I'd only seen in the movies/books--like in Harry Potter and his room of flying keys. We left behind the glorious Treasure Beach to pouring rain in Mandeville and I was finally able to wash all the sand off.
The other thing about Jamaica--not everywhere has hot water to shower! It's actually a bit refreshing after being on the beach, but even here in Mandeville where it can get chilly, not everyone has hot water. I do here, and it's actually solar powered/warmed. At the beach, it was sun warmed too so it wasn't freezing, but up in Mandeville it can be. Since it's been raining today, the shower wasn't hot but better than lukewarm. Regardless, I'm starting to radiate heat from my splotchy sunburn so it'll be okay.
Tomorrow I get to meet a local official as an ambassador for Projects Abroad and the USA, then Tuesday is an International Festival, and Wednesday it's off to Kingston to meet the Minister of Local Government and Community. Not so much medicine this week, but the chance to explain why I came here and represent myself, my school, and my country is a rather exceptional opportunity.
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