Jamaica! Day Two - Mountains, Goats, and Food!

So, after a rather restless night - probably from being worried I wouldn't wake up at a decent hour and no one would make me - I got out of bed to wondrous, wondrous smells! My cousin Jodi had made us a breakfast of fried sausage with tomatoes and onions, fried plantain, and breadfruit. Mouth watering! After taking it slow getting ready in the morning Lorna drove us to the inner city (Constant Springs) where we walked around for around 3 to 4 hours. The heat was intense - not worse than Toronto or anything, and there was often a breeze - but definitely more than I'm used to from being in the Maritimes for the past 6 months. The sights though, were most certainly worth the heat. I just love this place and the fact that people are everywhere. It's so crowded in Kingston with people and cars and just life. The vendors line the roads and corners and call out in a language (Patois - dialect technically) that I wish I could understand. I get some of it though, not much - but some and I found myself picking up a bit more as the day went on, even speaking it some in my head. After walking for quite awhile we decided it was time for some food and found this little shop just above a garage that had curried chicken, stew peas and rice, and coleslaw all for only $180! (Around $3 Cdn). We got a small and it was enough to feed both of us - and good!

After walking around the area some more, doing some shopping (we went in for me but Clinton was the one who ended up buying!), we met up with Lorna's friend Garfield who took us on the bus up to Papine, where she works. The bus was pretty much like any other - except for the insane breaks and the flexibility of it. Garfield, who used to be a conductor and was chatting it up with the bus driver, got right off the bus in the middle of the street to escort a young boy across the road, and then ran back across and got back on while the bus waited for them. As we approached Papine we also approached haze-free views of the Blue Mountains. Rich green, sunlight hitting certain peaks and slopes, and houses dotted all along right up to the peaks. Now that felt like Jamaica. And as we got off the bus and walked around the town it was even more the feel I'd been hoping for. Garfield seemed to know just about everyone - people were laughing and joking, calling eachother from across the way, sitting on stoops, standing by shops, dancing a little bit to music coming from stands - made me think that everything was 'Irie'. (Haha - me dona tink i' treally works fo me mon). After a quick visit to Jodi at the hospital where she works we decided to get some real Jamaican patties and cocoa bread - wow. The best I've ever had, the bread just was so sweet and fresh and near melted in my mouth. And to add to the delight of it - halfway through Clinton seemed to just get some sense that something we may want to see was going on, went to the window - and called me over to see the 5 or 6 goats that were just walking on down the road as if they owned it! When we asked if they often got hit by cars (the driving is mad here), we were told that was common and just like humans, the goats would look both ways before crossing the streets - some even using the pedestrian crosswalks! Apparently cows walking around used to be just as common, but not so much anymore.

As we walked on, seeing more of Papine, Garfield decided to get us some Mangoes from the Mango tree and we learned the right way to do it! (http://abunb.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2666526286 - you may have to copy and paste that, or if you have me on facebook check it out there under my posts).

I just loved walking around that area - seeing the mountains in the near distance, the houses on the hills, the churches, the people, the shack and cement houses. I felt like in another life I could live there just fine . . . who knows, maybe even in this one someday, though I doubt it'd happen.

Anyway, I should be off to bed, tomorrow we're going on a three hour bus ride to St. Thomas to visit the hot springs (6 hour total in those hot buses - whoo!). We're told it's to the rustic area. Should be fun! (This last pic is of me and Garfield with an Ackee Tree)