Yes, I know I said I'd write last night.... but last night lasted until 3am for me, so I opted for this morning. What an adventure we've had already, in just one day. I'll skip the boring stuff... "sleeping" (read: not sleeping) at the airport, flight over, walking out of the airport in winter clothes into 80 degree weather..
Delton's cousin picked us up in his rented Toyota... apparently his car isn't drive-worthy... and drove us through the surrounding areas... through the streets you can smell the cooking, and the brightly painted building are much more pleasing to the eye than the ones at home, even though most of them are very run down. There were pigs and goats running around in the streets, and that wasn't even the most treacherous part of driving... people on bikes and pedestrians walk willy-nilly in front of your car, and the potholes are so big that to avoid them you have to cross into the other lane and play chicken with oncoming cars. I thanked God I was in the back seat, and prayed to myself the whole time.
We went to Delton's father's house where we met... couldn't understand a word the man said, but he seemed very sweet, nonetheless. I finally got to see where Delton grew up, and when he said Seaview Gardens made Newark look like Montclair, he wasn't kidding.
On our way back to the hotel, we were slowing down to turn a corner, and two police officers on foot waved us to the side of the road. Now, usually I don't get nervous when I'm in a car with someone who gets pulled over. This time though, they made each of the guys (Delton, his cousin, and his uncle, who were also in the car) get out and patted them down. And here's the kicker.... they were holding giant AK47s... That's a machine gun, kiddies, and when you see one in real life it ain't funny. Then I had to get out of the car and go stand with the guys while they searched the car... for what, I'm not sure, but I do know why we got pulled over... It's because I'm white.
Yes, darlings, I got racially profiled. Its not simply because of the color of my skin, but since there are no white people here, I stick out like a sore thumb. I guess because of that and the fact that Freddy's rental car looked too nice to belong in the area we were in, we got nailed.
Ultimately nothing happened, the police were just thugs with authority, but it was a great start to our adventure.
When we got back to the hotel it started pouring rain, and we went and had lunch under the covering by the pool, then went up to the room and napped. The rest of the day was just hanging out and walking around town where every single taxi driver standing on the street asked us if we needed a taxi... they thought Delton was a tourist because, again, I'm white. It's a funny flip-flop.
And now, enjoy the few pictures I took...
One Love
View from our hotel balcony
The price of gas here!
Actually, one US Dollar is 84 Jamaican dollars, so gas is about a dollar and change. Its cool to hear your total for lunch when it's $1700, though. :)
More from our balcony
More from the balcony
Pouring rain by the pool
Driving through Jamaica, mon!
Sorry this blog is a little long and a tad boring... I need to get back into travel storytelling mode. I've lost my blogging touch. Don't worry, it'll come back. Likkle more!
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