Jamaica! Ya Mon.

Seriously, they DO say "ya man" like every 5 minutes! I went to Jamaica last weekend to shoot a destination wedding. It was an interesting trip. A real learning experience. For instance, having American money (in addition to the local currency) is always a good thing. I only had Jamaican, and they always asked for American. Traveling alone as a woman is exhausting because you are always (and I mean always) on your guard. Jamaican men are worse than Mexican. And I have been to Mexico City, the armpit hair of Mexico. Mexican men are greasy, so imagine what I must mean when I say Jamaicans are worse than that! They never leave you alone! I have to be rude after a while. And if you know me at all, you will know that being rude comes naturally and easily for me, so to have to purposely be that way very intetionally must mean something.

It was a whirlwind of a 36-hour trip as far as activities were concerned. I arrived after a full day of travel on Friday, July 13th at about 8 pm (Central Time, even though the island is EAST of the east coast of the US. Wierd.) I had a lovely chat with my cab driver as we drove along on the "wrong" side of the rode (see photo below). After getting settled in my hotel, I headed down the street to grab some local grub. I ran into my cab driver who took it upon himself to show me the way to a local jerk chicken dive. It was awesome! I felt like a local instantly. It was a cool experience. Something that you don't normally get as a tourist (or with others so one perk to being alone). The next morning I woke up early to head to the beach for a little snorkeling before the wedding. I had looked up a beginners beach to snorkel off of (you just swim out from the coast, you don't have to be boated somewhere first). And it turns out that the beginners beach I had looked up was directly across the street from my hotel! A Woo Hoo! This way I was guarenteed to get back to the hotel in enough time to clean up before the wedding. So I went to Doctor's Cave, layed out, waded in the STILL and very clear waters that were about 100 degrees (perferct!). Then I rented snorkel eqipment and fins and just swam right out (these underwater photos will be added later). It was so relaxing. I didn't even have to kick to stay afloat. I just floated there on the surface, right over schools of fish and coral reefs. It was the highlight of the trip and I am so glad that I had a little time to do that while I was there.

Then onto the wedding. Read and see that in the next blog.
Like I said, a whirlwind experience, but an awesome and once in a lifetime opportunity.