Day 1

Friday July 5th, 2002

02/07/05
4:05 am waiting for shuttle

took a picture of the pig, sleeping on our luggage. It's too early, even for a pig!

4:10 we're off!

4:14 am mumbly man, fast driver.
He was a very talkative driver but only mumbled and was very hard to hear. We also met a man on his way to Bogata, who was a bit put out that we were both scheduled to be picked up at 4am but he was actually picked up closer to 4:30.

4:58 am airport, in line. Large group going to Costa Rica.
Met a musician (guitar player) who lived in Jamaica as a teen (12, little bee was his nickname as he buzzed all around town), Bob Marley fan.

5:30 am at gate, waiting

5:58 am in seats, man impressed with his own cleverness.
He was definitely a "life of the party" sort, or thought he was, since even the people he was with didn't laugh all that hard at his jokes. Must have been a salesman. ;-)

6:42 am up up & away!

9:00 am down in Miami (10:00 local)

9:37 am on new plane, waiting for takeoff

10:43 am nice steward gave me a free bailey's.
I asked for one & when he told me how much they were, I changed my mind at which time he said I looked like a nice person & could have a free one.

11:08 am down @ mb. Disinfection?! (none after all)
Upon touching down in Montego Bay we were informed that we were going to undergo disinfection (by spraying something into the plane) & that we may want to cover our faces. After a few tense minutes they came back on and said that the ground crew had decided not to disinfect the plane. We looked clean?

11:21 am customs line
12:04 pm waiting for bus to Negril

first pictures with the pig & a look at the countryside near the airport

12:20 pm waiting in bus, driver is Sam.
12:29 pm on way to legends.
1:14 pm Johnson town?, halfway there. We're stuck in the Jamaica version of a traffic jam, next to the sea-wall.

I also attempted to take a few pictures through the window of the van. Only one was worth posting.

1:54 pm in Negril?

2:24 pm at legends
sun/thu dinner at sam
8-10:30, 12:30-2:30, 7:30-10
shuttle 10&4 to samsara

The Pig, chilling out on the beach with a good book and a strawberry daiquiri. The pig is something that some people at LandSafe (where Susan works) take with them on vacation. They've apparently got a collection of pig pictures from all sorts of places. Now they'll have a few from Jamaica.

Just an artsy shot through the palm leaves above my head.

There's a parasiler hanging above that tree.

We spent the first part of the afternoon walking up and down the beach, exploring our new surroundings and being called-to by a wide variety of people. All wanted to sell us one thing or another and many came over to shake hands (a very good way to get someone to hang around long enough to buy something). I didn't hesitate to say hi and shake but was also firm in the "no" that I often replied with, especially when someone wanted to sell us ganja or mushrooms. Telling someone that "it's not for me" worked the best (and is true, to boot).

I made a funny mistake when we got back to Legends in that I mistook Rambo (one of the security people) for someone wanting to sell me something. We both had a bit of a laugh about it and I should have known better since he was "dressed up". Susan and I got to know Rambo better during the week and he definitely helped make it a better vacation through his friendly visits and watchful eye. If you look closely, you'll see him in the picture above, to the right of the tree. He's wearing black pants and a white shirt.

We eventually settled in some lounge chairs to enjoy the afternoon sun with some rum punches and daiquiris.

6:25 pm waiting for dinner

7:14 pm cig & cashew salesman croaking like a bullfrog he sounded like he'd smoked too many of his own cigarettes. All inclusive dinner, funny music (Commitments).
The dinner was decent. I don't remember exactly what we had, but there were so many people staying at Legends throughout the week that every night was a buffet style dinner of varying things.

This is a view towards the bar where we met Lydia, the friendly bartender. She was a cheery sort who was quite happy to feed us drinks until we fell over (we never did though, that would have interfered with swimming).

Susan's view on the table.

My view (I like mine better).

and a bit of an artsy shot through a digital-sepia filter.

7:35 pm bed? Yes, we're tired
Lumpy pillows & a hard bed but I slept like the dead.

We were often in bed by 9:30 or 10:00pm. We also generally got up at 6:00am and headed for the beach.

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