1. The week
We were up before 4am to catch our flight at 5:35am. After a layover in Houston, going through customs, and a 1.5hr tour bus trip to Runaway Bay, we were checking in to the Royal Decameron All-Inclusive by 4:30. The number one reason we chose this place was because of the availability of individual cottages as opposed to a standard hotel layout. Naturally, these were overbooked, and we got bumped to a 'Court Yard Rooms,' which amounted to a normal motel like layout around a garden in the back of the resort. A cottage would be available on Tuesday.
While this was frustrating, we weren't going to let this ruin our vacation. So we dropped off our stuff and wandered the resort landscape, ate dinner, and we were in bed before 10pm. Unfortunately, the 'Court Yard Rooms' included on the second floor the residence of the resort entertainment staff, so we awoke a few times that night to the sounds of a party on the second floor, but we were so tired we prompty fell back asleep.
On Monday, we were comp'd a trip to Dunn's River Falls (due to the cottage problem). This is a national park in Jamaica and, in the list of things that you would not be allowed to do in the US due to litigation, they let you start at the beach and hike up the falls. We started with a group, but that was pretty slow so we mostly forged our own more interesting paths. A couple pictures from that trip are below.
We went on a resort guided bike tour off of resort grounds. We went to a public beach and stuck like bright orange thumbs. On the way back we were allowed to stroll through the remains (once again, probably not encouraged in the states) of a bar and grill that was wrecked by Hurricane Gilbert. I was able to get a couple pictures of the wreckage as well as j's picture with a ocean cruiser over her shoulder.
We also went scuba diving. There was another couple (he was Polish, not sure where she was from) that did the first dive with us. We went about 60' to see the wreckage of about a 100' long boat and 2 ganja planes (drug running planes that crashed into the bay). There was a 3rd plane with no explanation, so I think they were on too much ganja to count the correct number of planes. After that dive, the couple we were with apparently partied hard the night before, and were too sick for the second dive. The second dive was only 30' deep and the visibility was down, but it was good to get some bottom time since we hadn't dove in 3 years.
We were finally moved to a cottage on Thursday (naturally), but as some compensation, we were given a cottage on the beach, actually next to our favorite pier on the resort (complete with a large 'sofa' on the end). Like I said, we were annoyed by the delay in the move, but we weren't going to let it ruin our time. We spent most of our time being lazy and reading (I actually read 2 and a half books over the week, j read like 5) or using the sporting facilities and boats of the resort. All-inclusive means I ate like a fat man all week.
On our final night, we had a comp'd taxi ride to the city of Ocho Rios to eat at an Indian restaurant. I have declared this a tradition whenever we go the Caribbean after we did the same on the last day of our honeymoon. The food was good, and I think I more there than I did at all of the buffets we had eaten the whole week. We were dressed up and j look beautiful, so it was fun night.
We flew home on Saturday, got our luggage at 11:20 and our cabbie reached 90mph to get us to our house and Max by 11:30.
2. Sociopolitical Implications of the Trip
This is related to t's post on his recent trip to Jamaica.
It's hard not to feel at least a little guilty living this way in Jamaica. When you fly into Montego Bay Airport, you board a tour bus on your way to your resort, the first thing we saw was a significantly large shanty-town on a nearby hill. On our nearly 1.5 hr trip, I saw several incomplete houses and signs of poverty on one side, and huge resorts and gated communities of mansions on the other. Once on resort property, there was a gate with a guard, and you weren't really encouraged to wander off the property (unless with a representative of the staff).
Other than those trips mentioned above, I only went off of the resort once to look at what was behind the resort (a 3rd fllor sports bar and a general store). I was approach by several people as I went towards the store for a taxi drive at a fairer rate (possibly true, but I wasn't very likely to hop in an unmarked car with my wife to go joy riding across Jamaica). I was also asked if I was looking for anything 'special,' which I took to mean pot.
Also, I was able to avoid the tourist trap souvenir shops except when we went to Dunn's River Falls, which put a market between you and the exit. My problem with these places is that the shopkeepers have apparently been taught the hard sell, and not that many Americans enjoy browsing at their own pace to find something of interest. They were like sales associates at a Victoria's Secret the way the accost you as soon as you walk by their booth (on a side note, I looked all over for an article I read years ago online from a guy that threaten his wife that the next associate that approached them was going to be greeted with him present the 2 nearest thongs asking "Which of these will get me harder?" if he wasn't allowed to exit immediately. I can't help but laugh every time I uncomfortably enter a Victoria's Secret and am instantly confronted by a worker. Leave me alone!).
All of this makes me feel very uneasy with the general public of Jamaica, which I think is a bad strategy. The resort setup makes you feel unsafe when your off the resort, which I'm sure most of Jamaican's will be more than pleasant people to interact with. When everyone accosts you, it makes you not want to go all the way up to the 3rd floor sports bar to see if they have ESPN2 so you can watch the Louisville-Providence game. I liked that there was almost always 'Jamaican' style food available at our buffets and one of the sit-down restaurants on the campus. I would be curious how much of the food is actually imported, I would imagine most of it, which also doesn't benefit the general Jamaican public. It just seems like there are better ways to benefit from vacationers without setting up small fiefdoms where tourists don't feel very comfortable leaving.
3. Usain Bolt's High School
We past Usain Bolt's high school on the way to our resort, complete with a grass track. I don't know how much of a start he got there but it's interesting to see the facilities that spawned such a great talent, while high schools in the states have composite track surfaces for much slower athletes.
It was a fun trip, nice to get away for a while. Unfortunately, now it's back to work.
2 comments:
Those falls look awesome, and the beach I'm sure was fun. Sorry to hear that you didn't feel comfortable leaving the resort... I know I wouldn't, either.
As far as the hard sell, I absolutely hated it too. Recently, I have been experiencing it here in Cambridge. There are always people at my subway stop looking for donations for things from the Human Rights Watch to African Childrens' Fund. The worse part is that even if I give money to the cause there is always another worker that is going to stop me 25 feet away. In response, I have been jay walking across the street like a mad man to avoid these people because A) I don't want to be stopped B) I already donated C) we talked yesterday D) tired of seeing the rejection on their face either by me or the hundreds of people that ignore them and E) just don't want to be stopped five times on the way to the subway...
Good times
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