Jamaica, Again
We planned to go back to Negril, but a few weeks before we left Hurricane Ivan hit. I called my friend Sienna and she told me everything was still pretty mashed up and that a lot of the restaurants and bars weren’t open. She suggested we go to Ocho Rios instead. I cancelled our hotel reservations and found us a place in Ochi.
I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale a couple of days early and visited with my niece and her family. We spent one day at the beach – I thought it was beautiful. 
Then we headed down to Miami to meet up with Lisa. A friend of hers had come for a couple of days too, so the four of us headed out for the evening. We had a wild night of fun and too many cocktails. The next morning we dropped Natalie at the bus, Lisa and I at the airport, and my niece headed home to Ft. Lauderdale.
We arrived at the airport, worked our way through immigration, and got on the shuttle bus. We got to Ocho Rios after dark and got checked into Fisherman’s Point. Their restaurant was closed for remodeling, but they had an agreement with a nearby restaurant to deliver so we had dinner and a couple of drinks and early to bed.
The next morning was Sunday and we headed out to get ourselves oriented. We walked through town, talked to a few taxi drivers who really wanted to give us a ride, talked to a couple of fruit vendors, told the craft market vendors we would stop later, and spent some time at the having drinks on the deck of the Almond Tree Restaurant. We were the only customers and it had a beautiful view, we could have stayed longer but decided we were spending too much on drinks, too early in the day.
Lisa and I Waiting out the Rain
We were having a great time – I should always travel with Lisa. It’s really funny when we travel together – people always ask if we are sisters. We don’t look alike that we can see – she is part Hispanic with dark hair, eyes and complexion – I have light brown (sometimes blonde) hair and very blue eyes. We’ve decided that it’s because we are always having so much fun and obviously know each other very well.
That evening we called Richie, one of the drivers we met, to take us to a beach party we’d heard about. Great time – pretty much all locals! Everyone kept asking us how we found out about it – I learned about it on Jamaicans.com.
The next day the cruise ships were in port. We got constant “Taxi, ladies” as we try to walk around town. Really annoying! Luckily the craft market people recognize us and leave us alone.
Throughout the week we spent time around town, and also had Richie drive us around to see some sights. We went to Dunn’s River Falls – most of the time while we were there we were the only ones. I’d been there before, but this was a different experience, being able to take our time.
Rasta Guide Benji
He had a great laugh and would sing parts of Bob’s songs as he was telling his story. We enjoyed this a lot.
Richie took us to his home in the hills and introduced us to his Grandfather and Aunt. What a wonderful opportunity – really getting to see how the locals live. His Grandfather went out behind the house and picked some oranges. They were green – I thought “this is a ripe orange?” It was the best orange I have ever had – I can hardly eat fruit here at home after being in the Caribbean.
Richie also took us to a local hair salon for me to get my hair re-braided.
Getting my Hair Braided
I always braid my hair in the Caribbean because the humidity makes it so frizzy – I had a friend do it before I left, but it was a little loose. It was certainly not loose after Juliet got done. Lisa really enjoyed this stop because she has her own hair salon in Honolulu.
Ocho Rios was very busy with a lot of traffic and people going about their business every day. The beaches weren’t great. We had a great time, but I really prefer Negril.
