February 17-18 Travel and Arrival

February 17 - Travel
For our transportation options to Jamaica, we opted to do a night flight into Charlotte,
N.C., which left Seattle around 10:30 p.m., and through the magic of time travel lands in
Charlotte at 6:30 a.m. but only flies for a little under 5 hours. It was... about what one
might expect, being in a narrow tin can with a full flight of strangers who don't
necessarily have the same idea of how to pass the time that you do. Though having a decent
neck pillow and ear plugs helped with the noise and comfort, there's nothing much one can
do about a family sitting behind you consisting of Mom, Daddy Long Legs and the 3 Year Old
who Won't Sleep.
For those traveling at night, I highly recommend visiting iTunes, go to the music store,
and search on "stress relief" - you'll find a list of podcasts of both guided meditations
and soothing nature sounds/music blends. Put a few of these on your music player of choice
prior to heading off into the wild... they work well to ease nerves and drown out 2 a.m.
conversationalists.
At some point in the middle of the night I woke and glanced out the window of the plane.
When I was a kid my parents used to take us on road trips - most of them to California,
usually via the incredibly boring I-5. On one trip my dad decided to make the return trip
up the coast instead. The drive was long, we saw little bits of coastal towns each day,
and stayed in a different hotel along the way every night. One night we stayed in a room
with an ocean view. My dad's snoring had woken me so many times that I had pretty much
given up on sleep, and I got up to wander around the room quietly. I sat by the window and
looked out into the black ocean on a black night. As my eyes adjusted, I began to see
little glimmers of white stars in the sky, and faint white undulating lines coming and
going along the horizon. These were the crests of waves, barely visible, just flashes of
white lines, slightly wider in the middle, tapering off on the ends.
Last night as I looked out the window I noticed the land we flew over looked much the
same... only this time the black earth was interrupted by pockets of amber light from the
cities and towns below. They looked peaceful from that distance, waves of yellow cities
tapering off to the dark shadows of the country.

Thursday February 18
The "Good morning" announcement from the crew of the plane was both a blessing and a curse. At least the flight was over, but it meant the short night and our good opportunity for
sleep was over as well.
Still, Charlotte is a pleasant airport... big white rocking chairs line the central hub
from which the terminals branch out. We hoofed it from one end of the airport to the gate
for our connecting flight on the other, stopping for some breakfast food along the way. D
and G were satisfied with airport offerings of bagels and yogurt parfaits, but I decided to
be cautious and brought along some instant oatmeal for myself.
Breakfast is the hardest meal for me to go out for, and the bagel places in that airport
make egg sandwiches, which got me into a little cross contamination problem last trip.
This time, however, I simply stopped at a coffee place and ordered myself a cup of water
for tea, and an extra empty cup. Pour the oatmeal into the cup, add boiling water, instant
(and safe) breakfast.
The flight from Charlotte to Montego Bay was remarkably easier to sleep on. Perhaps it's
because half the flight was wide awake, and the random chatter blended together rather than
a voice or two sticking out. Or maybe I was just that tired... in any case, D filled out
our customs/immigration forms while I napped, waking only for a cranberry juice. It still
wasn't sleep-sleep, but it made the flight pass rather quickly.

Immigration consists of standing in a long line waiting to show your forms and passports to
the officials. Next you go down a series of hallways to the baggage claim, where the bags
are generally already pulled off the belt and waiting for you to pick them up. Down
another hallway is customs... another stamp, a wave through, and you're in Jamaica mon.
The main area of the airport is bustling with activity - officials directing tourists which
door to take to find their shuttles or taxi drivers. D had arranged for our favorite
driver, Tyrone, to pick us up... so we walked through the glass doors into the perfect
summer weather to a familiar face. Tyrone walked up to D, giving him a handshake/hug, then
to me, then to G... whom he has given the nickname "Little Princess". He pulled his van
around, loaded our bags, and as he opened the doors for us he said "welcome home again
mon!"

Tyrone rocks.



The drive from Montego Bay to Negril is roughly 1.5 hours, hugging the coastline pretty
much the whole way. Tyrone drove us through the center of Montego Bay first, to give is a
view of the city, before hitting the highway out of town.
It is difficult to get used to the drivers being on the left side of the road. The exit
from the airport is a roundabout, and when the van lurched to the left I held my breath,
sure that we were going to be broadsided. Then I remembered... that's the way we're
supposed to go.
Another thing about the driving here... it is aggressive. No real sense of road rules
aside from the horn - he who honks first has the right-of-way. The highway is a two lane
road, sometimes made into 3 or 4 lanes depending upon whether the drivers want to speed up
and pass other cars or not. The van will lurch as cars in cities suddenly stop to let
people out, or in... and we are forced to invent space between us and the next lane to get
around them. It's an adventure to say the least, but Tyrone is great at dodging parked
cars and whipping around the clear parts of the roads.

About halfway to our destination we stopped at a little stand across from where Tyrone grew
up. There are many of these stands along the highway in Jamaica - many labeled "Beer
Joints" - which sell a variety of fruits, drinks, and sometimes conch shells. We pulled
over for a snack, and Tyrone spoke to the owner of the stand, and had him break open a
fruit called soursap.



This fruit was about the size of... maybe a small cantelope... but more pear shaped, with
dark green prickly skin. It looked like it would take a small hammer to break it open, but
the man held it between his hands, gave it a squeeze, and pulled it apart almost exactly in
half. The skin is actually soft and almost rubbery in texture... once the fruit is open
you can lay it pretty flat. The interior is white and pulpy... visually it almost looked
like cotton candy, adhering to the inside of the skin and combed inwards toward the center.
There is a tough heart in the middle of the fruit, but the flesh between the skin and
center is very soft, and very juicy. The flavor was unlike anything I've had... sweet,
fruity, mild... almost a blend of pineapple and coconut maybe. Just about every bite had one hard seed in it... you could take a bite of the fruit, push the seed out with your tongue, and
eat the rest. I don't know why I didn't get a photo of this at the time, but I will have
one by trip's end.

We also had fresh coconut "jelly" at the stand.. he cut the top off the coconut so we could
drink the water, then chopped it in half to scoop out the soft jelly inside. After that we
sampled the honey bananas - they grow about half the size of the bananas we see in the
states, but taste much sweeter and are (in my opinion) a better size for snacking.
The rest of the drive was fairly quiet.. Tyrone and D talked while I watched the
countryside slip by, and soon we were in Negril. After a quick stop at the Hi Lo (local
grocery store) we made it to our first home away from home, Tensing Pen.
When we first check in we're greeted with a rum punch and the soft rolling waves of the
ocean lapping against the cliffs. We are eager to explore the city, but also dead tired
from the travel... so we decided to grab a quick lunch at the restaurant here before
resting. The menu seems slightly Americanized for lunch... sandwiches, burgers, soups and
salads. I ended up ordering the ackee pizza - which looks to be a combination of
traditional Jamaican food served on an American flatbread. The pizza had ackee, calaloo,
some spicy marinara, and a sprinkling of a cheese I couldn't quite identify. It was very
tastey (though in my tired state I neglected to get a photo of this as well... I will get
better I promise!)

After lunch our room was ready, so we made our way around the garden paths to the South
Pillar - complete with it's breathtaking view of the bridge and Caribbean sea, and outdoor
shower. I immediately took a shower (I just HATE how I feel after traveling, all grimy and
gritty from the road and canned airplane air)

If you haven't had the opportunity to use an outdoor shower, I highly recommend it. The view is amazing, the breeze feels fresh, and in this case the sound of the ocean in the background just can't compare to anything else.

Now it's time to rest and recoup from the 24 hours of travel adventure...











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Quick edit:
After dinner (which for me consisted of jerk snapper from Alice's Restaurant across the street... which was excellent. And I also tried a bite of D's curried conch - less rubbery than I expected, but I don't believe I'll order conch for myself for any meal)... I went through D's camera and pulled a couple shots.

Here we are at the stand this afternoon - still in our airplane cozy clothes :)


Here I am inside the room tonight... it has been a long day and I'm ready to crash.