Partyin' it up - YEH MON!! - Jamaica day eleven
After two days of just lounging around our cousins house we were ready for some more fun! Our original plans (to hike Blue Mountain today) fell through, then we had other potential plans that we could hike up tonight, stay overnight, see the sunrise in the morning and hike back down (with the Rangers, as our cousin's friend who is a guide couldn't go through with the original plans- would have been so nice, walking in the full moon, and what a way to watch my first real sunrise!) but that fell through (partly because of expense). THEN some other plans to hike up (just a short hike) to some other peak fell through, but we did drive up one of the mountain ranges and get to join a church/school picnic that was going on, and we went on a little walk (paved road) to a lookout point. Our guide, Mr. Fender showed us lot's of plants we didn't know the names of, like chocho, the Blue Mountain Jamaican coffee bean, guava, passion fruit, etc. And did you know? Pineapples grow in little bushes on the ground? Just one per plant!
And the food, wow, not like the picnics we do back home. The options were jerk chicken, fried chicken, jerk fish, or fried fish with salad and a hearty helping of stew peas and rice. SOOooo good. Clinton and I chose the jerk chicken and it was the best jerk chicken I've had yet, and the rice - I'm pretty sure it was cooked in coconut milk - yummy! The picnic was long, but fun! Haha, the kids were a little wary of us newcomers at first but they warmed up pretty fast. Dancing it up, playing around, letting them plait my braids - it was great. I learned some dance moves from the girls and taught them some that I know. They had me spinning them at one point and whoo! It twas tiring, they were all clinging to me and wanting turns I was afraid I was going to fall over and crush one of them. One of the men finally came over and commanded them to give me a break. Then, a little while later, this one girl starts hugging up on me again and squeezing me so hard. I asked her if she was trying to squeeze my guts out or something . . . bad idea! Then I think that became her mission. They were sweet though. Then near the end when a good song came on I asked this little boy, probably three or four, to show me his moves - so he went up on the stage and started dancing. We were cheering him on and some others joined. Within minutes there were probably around 20-30 kids up on the stage, dancing it up, and they all knew similar moves to the songs - it was awesome! I was definitely lovin' my life! We were snapping pictures and recording it, so some of those'll be up.
Oh, I just thought of something else - it's weird - when we were driving up and approaching the school something came up that they'd probably view us as 'white' people again, and they did. Then when we were leaving, we were talking to Constance (the lady who took us - principal of the school) about social status and wealth and how a number of kids had asked us for money. She said that the people are very concerned about shade. There were one or two children who were very light skinned (slightly darker than me) and they were considered white and rumours would go around about the 'white' babies. Then she mentioned that yes, generally in Jamaica if you're light skinned (so brown) you are wealthier. It's changing now, in that some dark skinned people are coming into wealth and being successful, but still - generally if you're lighter that means you're more well-off. It's so infuriating! We went to a lounge the other night that was said to be for 'the most sophisticated people in Kingston' and I noticed there that almost everyone was light skinned brown, or actually white, or asian or something, whereas before that (as in, on the street) I'd hardly seen anyone who wasn't dark. So ridiculous the way the world is.
And the food, wow, not like the picnics we do back home. The options were jerk chicken, fried chicken, jerk fish, or fried fish with salad and a hearty helping of stew peas and rice. SOOooo good. Clinton and I chose the jerk chicken and it was the best jerk chicken I've had yet, and the rice - I'm pretty sure it was cooked in coconut milk - yummy! The picnic was long, but fun! Haha, the kids were a little wary of us newcomers at first but they warmed up pretty fast. Dancing it up, playing around, letting them plait my braids - it was great. I learned some dance moves from the girls and taught them some that I know. They had me spinning them at one point and whoo! It twas tiring, they were all clinging to me and wanting turns I was afraid I was going to fall over and crush one of them. One of the men finally came over and commanded them to give me a break. Then, a little while later, this one girl starts hugging up on me again and squeezing me so hard. I asked her if she was trying to squeeze my guts out or something . . . bad idea! Then I think that became her mission. They were sweet though. Then near the end when a good song came on I asked this little boy, probably three or four, to show me his moves - so he went up on the stage and started dancing. We were cheering him on and some others joined. Within minutes there were probably around 20-30 kids up on the stage, dancing it up, and they all knew similar moves to the songs - it was awesome! I was definitely lovin' my life! We were snapping pictures and recording it, so some of those'll be up.
Oh, I just thought of something else - it's weird - when we were driving up and approaching the school something came up that they'd probably view us as 'white' people again, and they did. Then when we were leaving, we were talking to Constance (the lady who took us - principal of the school) about social status and wealth and how a number of kids had asked us for money. She said that the people are very concerned about shade. There were one or two children who were very light skinned (slightly darker than me) and they were considered white and rumours would go around about the 'white' babies. Then she mentioned that yes, generally in Jamaica if you're light skinned (so brown) you are wealthier. It's changing now, in that some dark skinned people are coming into wealth and being successful, but still - generally if you're lighter that means you're more well-off. It's so infuriating! We went to a lounge the other night that was said to be for 'the most sophisticated people in Kingston' and I noticed there that almost everyone was light skinned brown, or actually white, or asian or something, whereas before that (as in, on the street) I'd hardly seen anyone who wasn't dark. So ridiculous the way the world is.
posted by Charles at 6:49 AM
1 Comments:
You sure have had wonderful opportunities to taste all the great Jamaican foods. Lucky you! You sure would not have had such a great time and chances to sample the real "Jamaican food" if you had gone there as a tourist.
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