I was a little disappointed when the wind picked up this morning since they canceled all the scuba and windsurfing lessons/trips. However, one of the staff guys was nice enough to take us out anyway for a little ride. He took us out for about an hour and a half just sailing around parts of the island. We even went to a little island out a ways by the reef. It was so beautiful out there. I wish I had my canon camera, but I was stuck with a cheap disposable. Dexter, the guy who took us out, was totally cool and gave us a tour of the shoreline we sailed around. He even took us by the nudist resort where he said they do a lot of MJB’s. “Huh? What’s that?” we asked having no idea what he was hinting at. “Making Jamaican Babies,” he said with a big smile. I’m sure he told that joke a lot. The Hedonism resort was actually pretty scary. Lots of ugly fat people standing around with beers or cigarettes. The coastline is quite different from Southern California’s. Most of it was used by the resorts (and there were plenty) but there was lots of empty beaches and open land too. Overall it was great to see a little more of the island we were staying at and very cool to talk to Dexter and learn a lot more about his country and its cultures. It was certainly one of the highlights of the trip.

Then in the early afternoon, we hitched a taxi ride with Bryan and Cindy (Bryan was an old co-worker from UCR) and headed off to the Royal Palm Reserve. The ride over there was pretty scary. The cab driver assured us he knew exactly where it was. So we all climbed into the cab and enjoyed the ride. But the further we got from the cities and the deeper we went into the island we began to worry. He took us on this long dirt road with lots of grassy fields and away from any kind of population. I remember all the late night shows where so called taxi driver would drive unsuspecting tourist out into the middle of nowhere and rob them of all they got. But before I had a chance to worry too much, we arrived. It was truly an amazing place. I’ve never seen anything like in back home. Tons of green everywhere. There was so much water it felt like a swamp. The pictures pretty much speak for itself. Just walking around you could tell that there was so much life in this reserve. There were tons of birds flying around, lots of insects and fish many in the ponds. The wooden boardwalk weaved in and out of the grassy meadows lined with the royal palm trees. The lookout tower was truly amazing. As far as you could see was green. Not a single sign of human life was nearby.

Dexter, our awesome tour guide!

This leaf was like five feet long!

The lookout tower in the distance. The boardwalk extended through the reserver, weaving in and out of the wetland.

A view from the top.

Today was the day. It was the reason we were all here. Betsy and Justin renewed their wedding vows on the soft sand and gentle breeze of the resort.  It was so awesome to be there for such a special occasion. It was really cool to meet all the family too, as everyone seemed just as grateful to be there as we felt. I’ll put up a post soon with all the photos.

We decided to get out of the resort and do a little sightseeing. So we signed up for one of the many bus trips our resort offered and headed off on a little shopping spree. We (along with 8 others) visited many of the small shops and “malls” along the main road into Negril. Many of them were the typical tourist shops you would expect to find. But there were a few that stuck out. The “Straw Market” is probably best described as a Jamaican “swap meet.”  Everyone had their “store” which was not much more than a small shack.  No concrete, no wood flooring, not even any straw. It was all dirt. I can only imagine what would happen when it would rain (which was often.)

We all got out of the bus as what seemed like a mob rushed over to our bus, each person trying their best to get our attention to come to their shack.  It was really quite terrifying.  We all looked at the other passengers, not really knowing what to do, while they looked right back at us.  Somebody made the first move away from the bus, as the rest of us followed their lead.  Monique and I began to follow some man who was trying everything under the sun to get us to following to his “store.” Not really sure what else to do we followed. He led us through a small maze of narrow alleys lined with more and more shacks. Each one’s owner assuring us they had the best deals. The closer we got, the more and more it began to smell like the famous Jamaican mary jane.  I had my camera with me, but frankly, I was too scared to take any pictures. Someone could have easily hit us over the head and taken us for all we had. We just pushed through as fast as we could. We tried our best to look interested in everyone’s stuff, but it was clearly impossible.  Then they began to bad mouth us as we walked past their “store.” “Respect, man, respect.”  It was all about respect. I remember we went into one guys store and the woman next to his got mad and started yelling at us for not showing her respect and looking at her stuff! The guy we were talking to just hurried up and tried to make his sale as quick as possible.  Looking back it was pretty scary. I don’t really know why the bus driver took us there. Maybe it’s just normal to them.  I’m glad we went though. We learned a lot.

The bus moved on and we ended up at Rick’s Café, an American style restaurant on the edge of some cliffs overlooking the western ocean.  There really wasn’t any special about Rick’s, I mean, it would tottaly blend into any mall back in the states. We were not too impressed. I guess there were two really good things about Rick’s. One, they had an awesome view of the ocean, and two: the cliff jumpers. There was a bunch of local guys who whoud stand on the cliff’s and yell at the gawking tourist, “Two dollars!” Once someone assured them of their money, they jumped.  It was really kinda cool.

Since the bus left us at Rick’s for a few hours, we became a little board and decided to check out a lighthouse about a mile away. The guards at Rick’s assured us it was a safe adventure and that we should have no problems getting there and back. Short from a few locals begging for money and  commerce, we had no issues. The lighthouse was pretty cool and gave us another awesome view of the sunset.

Rick’s Cafe cliff jumpers can jump from all sides, each having different heights.

From the top: this is where most of the tourist jumped. It looks much higher in person!

The one guy would climb to the very highest point anyone could possible get to jump into the water below. He carried around a red bucket for donations. Once he reached his goal of $20, he would put on his show.

I didn’t really want to investigate, but I’m not sure if this was the house for sale or if it was just the land and the tiny building just happened to be on it.  I really hate to think this was someone’s house.