Negril Jamaica Trip Report April 2010

[ECO]

Yikes! You really did a number on your leg/arm/butt! Just rub some dirt in it, and you'll be fine. Seriously now, as a medical doctor, I'd recommend liberal applications of Neosporin ointment, if you can find any--though a small tube might cost you an arm and a leg (if you can't find any Neosporin, the doctor recommends a big chunk of Tedd's ganja cake).

I actually have some with me but it's healing better with: aloe, coconut water, salt water (ocean) and a nice mineral bath today in a cave up in the hills.

[ECO]

OMG ur crazy!!!! LMAO

Not crazy, just acting like an American on vacation

Finally found a good veggie store where I can buy cabbage, tomatoes and carrots for less than 1/2 of the supermarket price.....actually much less since I only had $100 and my order came to $150 ( $1.10 us & $1.65 us). I can make about a meal and a half with those veggies....eating Ital has some benefits

[Wahoo]

Cripes, Eco, when I asked you to have a couple of shots of overproof rum for me, I didn't mean for you to then attempt extreme motor bike stunts!

[ECO]

Lol, I have not even finished 1/2 bottle of over proof this trip!

That stuff puts me to sleep! 5-6 drinks and I'm passed out having flashbacks of the Korean war that I was never even in.

[Wahoo]

Yikes! You really did a number on your leg/arm/butt! Just rub some dirt in it, and you'll be fine. Seriously now, as a medical doctor, I'd recommend liberal applications of Neosporin ointment, if you can find any--though a small tube might cost you an arm and a leg (if you can't find any Neosporin, the doctor recommends a big chunk of Tedd's ganja cake).

I actually have some with me but it's healing better with: aloe, coconut water, salt water (ocean) and a nice mineral bath today in a cave up in the hills.

Neosporin or Tedd's ganja cake???

[ECO]

Little more:
After my swim I talked to a couple of wood carvers on the beach. One guy had a pair of carvings almost exactly like a set that my grandfather brought back for Africa in the 1940’s…..I knew in my heart I needed them and he let me walk away with them at no charge. You can form your own option on no charge
The carver asked if I brought any items for trade……hell yes!---- everything I own except my kids I will trade if the price is right! I mentioned a pair of nice black leather boots which I tried to sell last night every time people tried to sell me something. It’s actually really fun to turn it right around upon people that try to sell you something in Jamaica. Anyway, the wood carver took the pair of boots in exchange for the carvings and a promise to make me two bamboo bracelets.

While I have the bracelet thing in my mind….I brought down 150 yards of 80lbs test braided fishing line. IMHO, the monofiliment lines are crap and the bracelets fail after 6 months of use. I only want my gravestone to say “this man introduced good bracelet line to Jamaica”. Lol, if you buy bracelets with a green line it might be mine.
After my swim (fast forward), I went back to Herbie’s to take some pictures and chill with the people that hang out there during the day. Herbie’s has cheap beers, a great view and a small local crowd that does not pressure you…… or at least me.

[ECO]

and more:

It’s 4pm and nap time….until later………

In the evening I returned to Herbie’s to take some sunset pictures even though the taxi drivers swore up and down that you can’t see the sunset at Herbie’s. 100 or so sunset pictures later I started to get the feeling that they were wrong. After the sunset, I stayed to take some 7-30 second exposure shots to entertain people. I think they are still wondering how a camera can take pictures at night and make it look like daytime.

For dinner I had……..oops I guess I forgot to eat dinner. After dinner I decided to take a little nap before meeting up with a guy that I met on a Jamaica forum. My little nap ended at 130AM…..oh well, I’m on vacation. Since I was wide awake, I decided that a little walk would feel nice. My little walk turned into a walk all the way down town and some how it was very relaxing even with the taxi drivers asking if I needed a ride every 30 seconds. As soon as it dawned on me that I should get a ride to MiYard, the driver I used the night before appeared—weird…. The same thing happened at MiYard when I was ready to leave, when I picked up my phone to call him he was there before I could hit the send button.
After a few attempts to fall back to sleep while wondering if the coffee from MiYard was keeping me awake I decided to stay up and take some sunrise pictures. The pictures did not impress me so I decided to take a walk and get some breakfast. I walked and walked like Forest Gump until I figured out that no place in Negril is open for breakfast at 630 am (not exactly sure of the time).
I spent the remainder of Thursday walking on the beach and up and down the main road. In a way, the walking thing was out of character for me I’m the type to walk from point a to point b, not the type to walk without a destination. After being tired from walking, I got an idea to take a taxi to the cambio and supermarket so I could stock up on J’s and food to save me some money.
Some food prices (all in JMD, divide by 100 to get a feel for US prices):
A bar of soap $45.66
A bar of overproof rum $749.35
Two pieces of coco bread $87.50
Bottled water 16 ounce $33.73
Six packs of Red Stripe $593.76 each with a buy two and get a free 4 pack of Red Stripe Bold. Add $60 per six pack for the bottle deposit.

[ECO]

I should mention that $100 J or Jamaican dollars is worth around $1.10 US. For the sake of easy reading, just figure it at $100J = $1 USD.

[Wahoo]

Eco, if the lowest denomination in Jamaican currency is $1.00, how can they charge $593.76 for a six-pack of Red Stripe? In other words, if you handed over $600 for a six-pack, would you get a rounded-off $6.00 change, or would you get $6.24 in change? And what coinage would the 24 cents be? Are there lower denominations that the Jamaican dollar? I should know this, 'cause I've used Jamaican currency on all of my trips to the island, but now I'm puzzled.

PS. I should add that I'm also at the bottom of my third beer, even though it's only 10:26 a.m. (but it's the weekend), and my mind is having trouble processing the complicated currency exchange issues.

[ECO]

I dunno Wahoo! At some point I'll scan my receipts from the supermarket so the fractions of non existent money can confuse you.

[ECO]

BTW, writing a trip report in Microsoft word requires a transfer thru text edit before posting more than a paragraph here for some reason.

More:

Later in the evening I checked out a few of the beach bars with a rent a dread (without dreads). For the cost of a few beers I was able to walk all around checking out the town without anyone begging me up----worth the few beers in my opinion. The best part of renting a guide was I was introduced to cheap places to drink, cheap places for herb and met some cool locals.
A couple of times during the night the guide wanted to show off how he chats up the women……he even chats up the married ones when they are with their husbands. I wish I had a video camera with me when he confused a married couple on the beach for two women, it was dark and the guy did have long hair……priceless watching him running away when he figured out they were not single women looking for his entertainment.
Even later in the evening I noticed that I had a few beers and several waters over the past day and was sweating out everything instead of pissing it out. It seemed like I could do nothing to stop my head from sweating to the point that it was sore from me rubbing the sweat off. My concerns for my health cut short my plans of spending a few hours at the Jungle.
Speaking of the Jungle, if you go there looking to find love and can’t find it hang up your hat and check into a retirement home! It was worth the $750J admission price to watch the hook ups. By 2 AM I headed back to my room to drink water until my body could figure out how to make urine again….and again….and again. Lol, I was up until almost 5 AM going to the bathroom every 30 minutes.

[ECO]

Friday:
Friday morning was a sleep in morning…..it’s 1220 pm and I’m still in bed listening to Eek-A-Mouse. Since I woke up in the heat of the day with my fan off and windows shut I was coated in sweat and I need of a shower……no, a swim in the ocean is much warmer! After a relaxing swim I met up with my wood carver, funny how I now claim him as mine. We agreed to exchange two Culter Buck golf shirts and my mask, fin and snorkel set (after I am done with it next week) for two 24” tall carvings.
While walking back to my cottage I ran into a guy I know from a forum. We were suppose to meet up the other night at Roots Bamboo but I that was the night that my evening nap ended at 130AM. It was cool hanging out with him today comparing notes on what we have each paid for this and that and general guy talk.

Rewind a little bit…….I almost forgot about the “alarm clocks” here at Jah B’s. The dogs start barking at….ok, they never stop barking all day and night. The chickens and roosters at least take a break for the night after the sun sets. At this point, I can ignore/enjoy the alarm clocks but at the same time I can see how it would drive people crazy.

Rewind again to Wednesday night, I bought 5 small pieces of fruit about the size of plums for $200J (don’t quote me). Cleaning up my cottage, I just found where I hid them……..not sure what they are called but they are almost as good as custard apples. For a small fruit, they take a while to eat while picking away seeds as large as a pumpkin seed and as small as ½ of a piece of rice.
Fast forward again, my small piece of fruit went great with 5 large—really large coconuts that I bought from the cook here at Jah B’s. Since I never had to pay for coconuts before in Jamaica I have no clue if $500 is a great deal. Each one has about 16 ounces (guessing) of coconut water and about a large cup of coconut meat. Seeing as how one of them is a large portion of water and meat, I think $100J is an excellent price! Digging the meat out of them with a small pocket knife and my chopsticks is actually pretty fun after a little herb.
While I’m typing this (Friday evening at 530), we are getting a little storm. For about the past hour we have been getting a solid rain blowing in from the east at 15 knots. Even with my east facing windows mostly shut the nice cool air is filling up my cottage and blowing around loose items like money. Speaking of money, someone has been tossing small Jamaican coins out in the lane (walkway to my cottage). The same (guessing) ones have been there since I arrived here. Every time I walk by I keep an eye out for a string attached to them with a couple of young boys at the other end waiting to play a prank. I guess life is good if nobody needs the change. Rewind…..last night I was walking on the beach with a local dude when I looked down and noticed what looked like a $100J or $1000J sitting on the beach. I dove for it with my knife in my mouth……kidding but I reached for it like it was a piece of gold. For the next 30 minutes I was searching the beach while walking back the Herbie’s with that dude. The money ended up being a $1000J which bought a few rounds of refreshing drinks.

Rewind back to when I was talking about the rain, now with the thunder I’m glad that I brought a flashlight and a solar powered lamp! However……..I’m not glad about having to walk in the rain to meet someone in an hour.
Fast forward again to Friday evening, the rain never stopped and my “if I bring a rain coat to Jamaica I’ll never need to use it” idea went up in smoke! I walked from my cottage 10 minutes north to meet someone in the pouring rain…. Not fun, but very refreshing. Plans to try the 2 for 1 dirty banana specials at the White Sands (?) went up in smoke with the heavy rain. After chilling out at No Name Hotel with John Smith (names and real hotel names omitted to protect the guilty), we decided the rain was not going to quit so we headed out to explore Negril. Lol, John Smith didn’t bring a rain coat so he wore a garbage bag.
We headed up to Mary’s bay to see a live band and while the band was great, the crowd was an older white crowd. Neither one of us wanted to hang out with tourists so we took off to find a more local vibe. Hours later after chilling all over Negril we ended up at Scrub-a-dub, it’s a car wash during the day and something a little more fun at night. We had a blast people watching until we both noticed that we had no money…..somehow we each pissed through $5000+ and now had $150 J between us! We ended up restocking our money supply back at my cottage and headed out to another after hour place on the beach. I think my night finally ended at 4 or 5 AM this morning.