99 Impressions of Jamaica: Part I

Well, 99 photos at least. I never in this lifetime imagined I'd ever vacation in Jamaica - that's for beach people or those who love Bob Marley. But when Matt invited me to be his guest at his best friend Jason's wedding at the end of April & early May 2007, I went shopping for sandals. Actually, I procrastinated, and only went shopping for sandals in a last week frenzy before leaving. In fact I was under the impression that the resort town of Negril on the west end of the island was going to be upscale. It was actually a lot more down-to-earth and casual - and I only realized - a little too late - it was a mistake to leave all my shorts for skirts. Ah well the skirts were fine, and the extra breeze on the hotter-than-usual days was welcomed.

The last hours before leaving for the airport, are ones I'd like to forgot. The week up until our trip was busy and it all converged into a hectic run-around pack-n-move chaos in the last two hours. Matt had to be out of his house by the end of April, so my roomate Devon & I decided to absorb him into our household - conviently next door. So all week we (and about 16 friends) worked on remodeling the garage into a live/work space - well that was half way finished, and since all the energy was put on that project, moving and packing got delayed. As I hurridly moved boxes, and tried to slim my wardrobe choices down for the trip, all I could think was that only in a few hours I'll be stuck on a plane, only able to sit, eat, talk, or sleep.

The Carribean is so beautiful from the sky. Strange land amongst bright blue waters. Such a different place from what I know. Upon landing in Montego Bay, the local hustling for tourist dollars began - and didn't stop until our departure. I slipped into the bathroom, noting that the toliets and bathroom fixtures are just the same as the US. Meanwhile the taxi drivers were surrounding Matt - One guy would not leave, no matter how many times we asked him to. We'd read up on prices, and knew about negotiating, but still it's a very hard custom to adopt for the set-price Americans. We ended up paying $50 total for a taxi ride for just us to Negril (1 1/2 hours away). Which was a bargain from what we had heard. When the man lead us to his taxi, which was actually a van able to seat 8 our more. I felt guilty being a "rich" tourist and having our own catered ride to town by ourselves ( On the way back, we actually figured it out and took a ride share for $14 each.)

To be Continued. Stay tuned for Part II.

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell was recommended to me by David of Portland Walking Tours. I got a copy from the library and cracked it open Saturday afternoon and finished it this afternoon (less then 24 hours later). It's a well-written book about how epidemics happen - how fashion, crime, disease, news etc make their way from a few select to mainstream. Filled with tons of interesting scientific and sociological studies. Be warned, don't crack it open until you have time to read it. I didn't have time, but decided that reading a good book was worth putting few things off.