After a few days in San Jose fooling around with the van and exploring my travel options I stored the van at the Hotel Dunn Inn parkade in Costa Rica and caught an early morning flight to Jamaica on April 25th. Rae-Ann and her son Jerad were waiting for me in the airport when I arrived. Ok, a little history… Rae-Ann and I went to Junior and High School together in Airdrie about 33 years ago and we hadn’t seen each other until we met again in Montego Bay. We re-connected via face book and after a few messages back and forth the idea was floated to meet somewhere along my journey. Timing was such that we were able to agree to meeting in Jamaica for a week before I headed to Colombia. Rae-Ann has a time share and I was invited to share a room with her 22 year old son gratis. It was a sweet deal!
Rae-Ann and I recognized each other immediately, we hugged, I was introduced to Jerad, and off to the resort we went. After checking in we grabbed something to eat and found ourselves sitting on the ocean front reminiscing about our school days and trying to recall our history together. After a long travel day it wasn’t long before Jerad had enough and retired to the room. We were also joined by Chris and his wife Laurie. With their son in the room with the nanny it wasn’t too long before Laurie retired as well. The evening got very interesting as the conversation quickly turned to religion. Chris is a very well spoken Jehovah and Rae-Ann (forgive me if I don’t get this right) has her religion based on a number of religions including Christianity, Buddhism, and Dahrism??? On the most part I kept my religion to myself, not because I didn’t have anything to say, but because I couldn’t get a word in edge-wise. Actually, I think God told me to shut up and listen. It was quite entertaining and at times very enlightening. The evening set the stage for the rest of the week as we spent hours discussing our beliefs and philosophies at a spiritual and personal level. No worries Les, as interesting as it was, my beliefs remain grounded in Christianity.
Equally as entertaining as the first nights conversation was to observe the interaction between Jerad and Rae-Ann. They have a loving relationship filled with banter and challenges. During the course of the week ideas would be expressed and often a debate would follow that always seem to end on some kind of common ground. It reminded me of the many conversations that took place between my mom and me when I was Jerad’s age.
We didn’t stray too far from the resort during the week other than a trip to the town of Tres Rios for a little shopping and a day at the waterfalls. At the resort, the food was pretty decent and the drinks were cold and free flowing. It was a real treat to have air conditioning and all inclusive service. There seemed to be a really good mix of people at the resort and every evening was filled with conversation, poker, karaoke, movies, and drinks. The resort organized a number of events including great snorkeling, pool side games, a booze cruise (complete with a drift by the hedonistic resort/stage), and the occasional activity designed to get people a little outside of their comfort zone (with their clothes on).
I really didn’t do a lot of homework before arriving in Jamaica so my knowledge was limited to what I had learned from television and conversation with other sun seekers. Of course I had developed a vision of a pretty island with shanty towns and big black guys selling weed on every corner. What I found was a pretty island with shanty towns with big and small black guys, women, grandmas, grandpas, dogs, cats, and chickens selling weed on every corner, in every store, on the beach, at the hotel front desk… A simple ‘no thank-you’ was never enough either. They would follow me down the street, try to put it my hand, offer free samples, throw in free junk, and otherwise hassle me until I damn near got rude with them. After that, all the departing tourists that had too much were giving it away. During a walk on the beach ‘Smoky Joe’ (or something like that) walked up with his garbage bag filled with foot long ‘clippings’. I had indicated that I don’t smoke but he still proceeded to pull out a handful of these things and slap us with them as if performing a holy ritual. He offered up an entire stock as a free sample. I wouldn’t let him give it to me (honest) and headed 3 feet down the beach before I encountered the next deal of the day. If it wasn’t for Jerad legitimately supporting the economy I would believe every second kiosk in the open market was a front to buy weed. Jerad should be proud of himself because if everything I heard was true he put 16 kids through school while buying gifts for his friends and family. Both Rae-Ann and Jerad were very generous; not only with the locals, but also with me.
Uhmmm, what was I writing about? Hold on, I gotta get some chips…. Oh yah…Ire mon! Just kidding, I’m not even in Jamaica. I didn’t like the fact that the economy seemed to be fueled by the drug trade so I have since moved on to a different country. I am in Colombia now.
