Blessed Love

I'm in Jamaica!!!! 4 days in and I'm loving it! Ofcourse, as is par for the course, there have been some 'niggles' as we can call them, but I'm on the holiday of a lifetime I can deal with it!

Niggle number one; I left a lovely pair of shoes (my one pair of 'nice' shoes) at Morgan's Harbour Hotel, Kingston on Monday night. Clearly, housekeeping is run by a 'moral' bunch of people who are certain that there were no items left in the room. If this had happened in England, I would be outraged, consider sending a letter (or three), call them up about 1million times and go on and on and on. But this is Jamaica and "..a-so it go".

Niggle number two; I'm kindly being put up by my best friend (Aishie as some of you know) and her boyfriend's family, which I am extremely grateful for. However there is some building work going on and there is no inside toilet for the short term....cue....the Long Drop. I shall say no more, suffice to say, I haven't had any re-occurence of the funny tummy issues I suffered in Nigeria (thank God!).

So Niggles over, Jamaica is amazing!!!!! My hotel experience wasn't great, but I am staying with a fantastic family of fishermen in Savana-La-Mar about 40km from Negril. So far, I haven't had to lift a finger and I've tasted more varieties of fish in three days than I've had my whole life. And as it's all cooked over coals outside, it's the men who do the cooking. Thankfully, fish can't make you fat (please don't send me any fact sheets contradicting this).

There is also a lot to be said for staying with a normal family in a normal town when you come to somewhere as touristy as the Caribbean. I have an instant community including babies, grandparents, aunts and uncles. It's the old skool way of being a community, open doors, communal meals and somebody somewhere is always ready to stop and have a chat. Lots of young people around to talk to and hang out with and a surefire way to make sure you don't pay rip of tourist prices for anything.

Last night I had two fabulous experiences, one was watching the sun set at Negril point. All I can say is Wow! We were kindly taken to a private spot away from the very noisy Rick's Cafe and had an uninterrupted view of the sea and the sunset. It was dead easy to take amazing pictures, the scene was out of the best postcards you've ever seen. Later in the evening, we popped round the corner to a local 'Sound'. Free, outdoor party, right under the stars (which are so visible from here) and fab music going on till the early hours, two experiences that are already confirming why I decided to take this trip!

So, I'm planning my lil trips here and there now, looking into Barbados, Cuba and maybe Trinidad too...watch this space!