Dan, myself and a group of friends (consisting of: Maisum aka. Carebear, Andy aka. The Wrestling Match, David aka. Mad Dog, Leigh and Paul, aka. the Kiwis) took a trip up to Negril over a long weekend in October.  We’d heard many stories about Negril’s famous 7 mile beach and it almost lived up to it’s reputation.  I say “almost” because we went during rain season so the water was a bit murky and it rained a fair bit more than we would have liked.  That said, we still managed to have an amazing time.

The drive was excruciating.  Normally it takes about 5 hours to get up to Negril.  However, when you’re stuck behind a bike race on a single-lane road full of giant potholes it takes much, much longer.  Closer to 8 hours, in fact.  When we finally pulled in at the hotel, we were more than ready for a few drinks.  After our arrival, much of the weekend is a bit of a blur… but it included the following events, in no particular order:

Despite the rain, we were able to fit in a few beach activities, including snorkling, jetskiing and a group ride on a banana boat.  The snorkling was amazing; the water was even clearer than when we went in Cayman and the fish were more diverse and colourful.  I still can't get over the calm, surreal sensation of snorkling, it's just indescribable and amazing.  Jetskiing was actually pretty fun, which we didn't expect at all because it looks pretty boring from the shore.  Unfortunately the banana boat, which looked pretty fun, was really dull and not worth the money at all.

The coast around Negril has a very diverse landscape, ranging from the 7 mile beach to scenic, rocky cliffs - all within about a ten minute drive.  The most famous restaurant in Negril is called "Rick's Cafe", in part because it offers a most amusing form of recreation: cliff jumping.  The restaurant itself was alright, but nothing special.  To give it the benefit of the doubt, we were there in the middle of rain season and I can imagine it's probably beautiful looking over the cliffs at sunset.  Before we ordered, the boys decided to have a go at cliff jumping.  For most, especially for Dan, it resulted more in injuries than enjoyment.  You can read his account of the experience here: 

http://spaces.msn.com/members/moosemorel/Blog/cns!1pEyr_E4-Co4zYYBROwqtr4w!142.entry

After a few drinks, Mad Dog and Kiwi Paul decided it would be a great idea to give cliff jumping another try - this time, "sans vêtements"... which would unfortunately end up being a trip-long theme for the boys and inspire a hideous "naked Hakka" in the swimming area adjacent to the strip of bars along the beach.  I doubt Leigh or I will ever fully recover.

While we were sitting at the hotel bar near the beach, two Rastas with a guitar came up to us and put on a show.  They played many, many requests and finally, we offered them each a beer and Mad Dog and Dan put on a show for them (see photo album), singing such classics as "Leroy Brown" and "Man on the Moon".

Dan and I crashed out fairly early both nights (read: we were in bed before 1:30am) due to a combination of stong rum punch and the effects of drinking for about 12 hours straight, more or less.  The others were much hardier and apparently we missed out on a few stellar moments (a barely conscious Maisum floating in the 3 ft deep pool in a life preserver; crazy Kiwi Paul re-living his cliff jump by leaping off the 2nd floor hotel balcony into the 3 ft deep pool) but the events were recounted to us in vivid detail, repeatedly, over the days that followed... so we didn't feel too left out in the end.

Even though Dan and I have been talking about our future and about getting married for what feels like a really long time, when he asked me, it still came as a surprise.  Dan had suggested earlier on in the week that we go up to Strawberry Hill (a beautiful resort about 45 minutes away from Kingston, in the Blue Mountains) on Friday night because it would likely be the last night we’d have time to spend together before things got rolling towards the holidays and we headed home to Canada.  I really did want to go but I was feeling exhausted and didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a nice hotel room because I knew I’d just pass out the minute we got there.  So, I told him we should go another time… and unknowingly foiled his Plan A.  We decided that we’d go on a picnic to the beach at Lime Cay on Saturday (unbeknownst to me, this was Plan B).  As we were waking up that morning and starting to think about getting ready for the beach, we ended up having a really great conversation.  All of a sudden, Dan started laughing to himself.  He does this often, when he’s thinking about something funny that is totally off-topic.  So, as I would usually do in this situation, I asked him: “What the hell are you laughing at?”  Normally, he tells me exactly what’s making him laugh and we move on.  This time, when he answered, I knew something was up.  He said: “Oh, I’m just laughing at my own private joke.”  Suspecting that something was up but not knowing exactly what, I continued to press him to tell me about his “own private joke”.  Eventually he fessed up: “I’m laughing because I’m nervous because I’m going to ask you to marry me.”  He got up to go get the ring (he’d hidden it in the bottom of his soccer sock which was, apparently, the source of his amusement earlier) then got down on one knee and proposed, to which I said yes.  We spent much of the morning and afternoon on the phone to various relatives and friends back home.  The ring was a bit too big so we took it back to get it resized and actually ended up exchanging it because another one just looked a bit better on me because my hands are so small.  (Dan loves to tell everyone how I picked the more expensive ring right off the bat but in fact, the first one I selected got shot down because: "It looks too cheap"!)  It took me a while to come to a final decision because I really loved the one that Dan picked out (a white gold band with five diamonds) and also, I rarely wear jewelry and usually take pains not to wear anything expensive or flashy, not to mention that I have mixed feelings about wearing diamonds in general, so I really had no idea how to go about choosing a ring I'd be wearing for the rest of my life.  But in the end, the one we eventually decided on just seemed to suit me better.  I'm still quite nervous about wearing it because I feel like it's either going to fall off or I'm going to lose it but I'm sure I'll relax in time.

It was Dan’s company Christmas party that evening, which was both pleasant and isolating.  We went out to dinner with some friends and acquaintances beforehand and the food was wonderful.  We then went over the Digicel Christmas party and stuck around long enough to see a short concert and get our pictures taken.

Things are really are wonderful for us right now but I also find myself feeling a bit detached, at times.  I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we’re away from home, from family and friends.  It’s not that our engagement feels unreal, it feels very real and very right… and things between Dan and I are different in many positive ways.  I think maybe this big event has made me feel more homesick because almost everyone that we want to share our news with and celebrate with is so far away; and each day as we talk about our engagement, wedding plans, our future… we’re reminded of the fact that we are far away from home.

As for the actual wedding plans, the main details are up in the air as of yet.  We’re not sure if we want to get married in Jamaica or in Canada; both have their pros and cons.  I do know that I’m going to keep my last name, we’re not going to get married in a church and under no circomstances, will I be wearing a tiara or a frou-frou princess dress.  We definitely want to have an outdoor ceremony; other than that, nothing is set in stone.  I suppose I should start thinking about things like a dress and stuff… I’ve just never really been interested or concerned about those kinds of girlie details and now, I still find that I’m not as interested as future brides are “supposed” to be about what I'm going to wear and things like that.  It's always seemed a bit trivial and now that I'm engaged, it seems all the more trivial.  Not unimportant - obviously I'd like to look and feel nice on my wedding day - it's not as important as other things, like spending time with family and friends, finding a way to make the ceremony our own, to reflect on and celebrate our relationship, the people we care about and our future together.  Anything other than that just feels beside the point at the moment, although I’m sure as things move forward that might change.  I do quite like my ring, though

Go Sens Go!

Dan and I recently played in a Gaelic football tournament in Cayman.  Dan had been practicing with his company team for a while but I hadn’t played before at all and didn’t know the game, but was drafted to play in the Cayman vs. Cayman ladies match as there weren’t enough girls and I happened to own a pair of cleats.  Gaelic football is kind of a mix between rugby and soccer, so it wasn’t too hard to get a handle on the rules… being coordinated enough to put those rules into play was another story!  I truthfully wasn’t too keen on the idea of playing but I ended up having a pretty good time at the games; I can’t say I was a very effective team member but I didn’t embarrass myself either.

I wasn’t completely impressed by Grand Cayman over the first couple of days; it was beautiful, tropical and fun and the beach was stunning but I felt like I was in Florida or some other southern type place in the US.  Though the hotel, restaurants and pubs I went to were nice, they all just felt a bit too familiar.  Plus, it was extremely expensive, with the US dollar being equivalent to about 0.75 of the Caymanian dollar.  I didn’t even bother calculating the exchange on the loonie…

Then came the last day of our trip.  Dan, myself and three of his coworkers went on a boat tour for about 3-4 hours, which took us to three different locations: Stingray City, the barrier reef around Grand Cayman and a coral garden. 

Stingray City is a sandbar about 30 minutes out from the island.  When we arrived, we followed the tour leader - a Jamaican guy named Vernon - off the boat and into the shallow water.  We didn’t see anything at first but as soon as Vernon brought out the food for the stingrays, a large number of huge, black blobs started to approach with what seemed like increasing speed.  Now, just for the record, stingrays will not sting you on purpose if you aren’t threatening them.  They are actually quite friendly and Vernon explained that it’s fairly difficult to get stung if you keep calm and watch your footing.  At first when all the stingrays are swimming around freely, it was quite frightening. They just come up to you and brush against you, several at once sometimes, which is terrifying until you start to trust that they’re not going to hurt you.  Vernon took each of us, one at a time, and helped us hold the stingrays and feed them.  It was an incredible experience.  I can’t say they’re the best looking animals I’ve ever spent time with (although, their skin is very soft!) but it really amazing to be in such close contact with an animal so different from anything I’d ever seen before and not feel in the slightest way threatened.

We snorkeled for about 30 minutes in each of our next two stops, which was also an incredible experience.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, as neither Dan nor I had ever been snorkeling before.  It was pretty much exactly as I pictured it, which made the experience all the more surreal.  Along with many, many assorted tropical fish, Vernon took us to see a couple of eels, both of which ate food right from his hand.  I thought I’d be a bit squeamish around all those big fish but I was quite comfortable. 

To top off the experience, on the boat ride home, Vernon (who had been fishing for his dinner throughout the tour – sans fishing rod, with just a line and some bait) caught a large barracuda and reeled it in with his bare hands!

I’ve posted a couple of pictures from Cayman already but we’re waiting for the shots from our underwater camera to be developed, so I will update again when we get those back.

So, I made a friend.  Her name is Amy, she’s a Canadian (from Yukon) and we’ve been having a lot of fun and at times, getting into a little bit of trouble.  This has resulted in our joint nickname: “Thelma and Louise"

My days during the week usually go like this: I drop Dan off at work, go to the gym, pick up groceries or things for the house and/or clean up around the house, grab lunch and/or coffee with Amy, pick up her daughter Adiya from school and then I usually spend the afternoon working at home on an ongoing contract and writing or doing research for a couple of screenplays.  About once a week, Amy and I have been doing a day trip to a few different locations just outside of Kingston… some trips more successful than others.   

Serenity Park

Our first day trip was to Serenity Park, which is about 45 minutes outside of Kingston in a town called Old Harbour.  Amy’s 3-year-old daughter Adiya was really excited about visiting the park and Amy spent almost the entire drive telling me what a fun time we’d have.  We finally arrive at the park, after passing by some nasty dog-roadkill, to which I’m still not accustomed, and we see a sign, stating that the park is closed until November!  Amy and I were disappointed and Adiya wasn’t pleased either, to put it mildly.  To smooth things over, we ventured into Old Harbour to find Adiya a lollypop.  And let me tell you, two white girls walking around rural Jamaica looking for a lollypop is not the most comfortable experience.

Lime Cay

Our next excursion was to Lime Cay, a small island – with a great beach – just off the south coast near Kingston.  On the way there, Amy accidentally ran a red light and we were pulled over.  The cop proceeded to tell Amy that running a red light was a $J6000 fine (approx $133 CAD) and that she should be using a Jamaican license instead of her Canadian one, the latter offense being punishable by jail time and since it was a Friday, people who go in to jail on Friday don’t get out until Monday.  Amy, having gotten out of a ticket twice previously, blinked her eyes innocently and teasingly asked: “Are you going to send me to jail?” to which the cop replied very seriously: “Do you want me to?”  We were both pretty freaked out at this point and blurted out that you could turn right on a red light in Canada, so she got confused and turned right, despite the red.  This statement, although completely irrelevant because you drive on the right side of the road in Canada and on the left in Jamaica, seemed to smooth things over a bit.  Or maybe it’s because we were wearing  swim suits and beach wear (read: tank tops and short skirts).  The cop then asked us why we were in Jamaica and we told them that Amy’s husband and my boyfriend worked at Digicel, to which he replied: “I’m very disappointed to hear that you’re not single.  Do you know any single girls?”  At this point, we knew we were home free.  We finally arrived at Lime Cay and it promptly started raining.  Lucikly, the rain only lasted for about 15 minutes and we were able to enjoy the rest of our time at the beach.

Hellshire

We’d heard about another spot to swim near Kingston called Hellshire Beach.  On the way there, we stopped at Suzy’s, a cute local coffee shop. (Note about the local coffee: It is extremely strong and I can only handle about half a cup before I get the shakes!)  Suzy got very upset when we told her where we were going and tried to convince us not to go.  We said that we’d heard about a great beach there and we knew others who’d gone, so she let up but made us promise to call her when we got back.  It definitely wasn’t the greatest way to start a road trip.  We got a bit lost on the way there, due to a sign that directed us towards Hellshire but with a twisting, turning arrow that made absolutely no sense whatsoever (I will post a picture when I get it from Amy).  When we arrived in the town of Hellshire, of course, there were absolutely no signs telling us how to get to the beach so we had to drive around and explore a bit.  This is usually not a good idea and certainly didn’t prove to be a good idea that day.  We finally found a sign for “Hellshire Beach” and were very excited, until we drove past the sign and discovered that rather than a beach, we were in a deserted town.  We took a quick picture and booted it out of there, as we had no idea where we were. On the way back, we were thinking of getting some coconuts from the street vendors but passed by a bunch of soliders with very large machine guns and decided just to go home.

Despite our adventures, I find myself feeling a bit isolated and at times a bit bored from spending most afternoons on my own.  However, I’m quite happy with the writing I’m getting done and hopefully I'll be able to find myself a job soon enough.  Although I’m feeling anxious to start either working or volunteering somewhere, Amy and I are having a ton of fun and I will definitely be sorry to give up our time gallivanting around Kingston when I finally find a more structured way to spend my days.