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December 19 Port Antonio & a Canadian Thanksgiving DinnerAlthough I've had no trouble posting all my pictures, I haven't been keeping up with my blog, with regards to our travels around the island and a few other notable experiences. So, as I prepare to head home to Canada for the holidays, I'm going to go over a few memorable experiences and trips over the past three months. Also, it's fairly dead at work in the mornings; at times we don't get footage until noon (which means I often end up here until 8pm which totally sucks) and I think I'm going to go mental unless I start doing something to pass the idle time in the mornings.
On Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, Dan and I traveled to Port Antonio with our Kiwi friends, Leigh and Paul. Port Antonio is in the parish of Portland and it's on the north coast, east of Kingston. We didn't really know much about the place, and that included how to get to our hotel. We got a bit lost in the city and apparently it was quite obvious that we were lost because a rugged-looking man called us over to the side of the road to help us out. I was a bit nervous at first because of his disheveled appearance and lack of front teeth but he turned out to be very friendly and quite harmless. His name was Big Joe and he was excited to hear that we were from Toronto, because he's a huge fan of CityTV, which is carried by a few of the cable providers on the island. Big Joe sent us on our way and we finally arrived at our hotel, Jamaica Palace . It's a beautiful building and it's decorated in a very interesting way... so interesting that I can't even say whether or not I like it because it's just right on that line between risqué and tacky. They have a really cool swimming pool, which is shaped like Jamaica. We had a really nice dinner at Norma's on the Marina; Norma Shirley is repeatedly named as the best chef in the Caribbean and the food did certainly reflect that reputation. The harbour in Port Antonio is closed in and after enjoying our meal on a beach front patio, we were able to walk along the beach and stretch our legs a bit. We don't often get to walk around in Kingston because it's either too dangerous or we're too scared, so we definitely appreciated the opportunity. The next day we had planned to go to the Blue Lagoon - yes, *the* Blue Lagoon - but found out from the hotel staff that it had been closed since Hurricane Ivan and that only unauthorized tours were going on in the area. Dissapointed at first, we headed out towards Frenchman's Cove, the closest beach. I haven't been to many beaches in my life, and even fewer tropical beaches, but I have to say that this one is my absolute favourite to date. It's a small cove, where a freshwater river joins the Carribean sea. It's surrounded by green, lush trees and tropical plants and it's very beautiful. The most remarkable thing is the water. The sea is really warm but the fresh river coming down from the mountains is very cold, so the water in Frenchman's Cove is freezing on top and really warm on the bottom. At first it's really disconcerting but it's a really amazing sensation after you get used to it. To date, it's by far my favourite place in Jamaica. When we were done at the beach on Sunday, we headed back on the 2 1/2 hour drive to Kingston, where our Canadian friends Amy and Chris were hosting a Thanksgiving dinner. Amy and I had searched like crazy for a turkey the week before but we finally found one. We had invited a few Irish friends to to be honourary Canadians for the dinner (they had agreed, mostly, I think, due to the plentiful amounts of beer and food available) and although it made us both quite homesick, it was a really fun night. TrackbacksWeblogs that reference this entry
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