When you wake up on your own, no alarm clocks, you feel better.
Working in office buildings, no windows, or one that faces another office building is all you have to look at.
8 hours a day.
So, there i was, sitting in my little cubicle on the 25th floor of a Chicago, downtown highrise office building. (sounds like a monster dosen't it?)
Good morning William, to the security guard in the lobby and into the elevator with the crowd.
do de doo do do, here we go.
Morning Carol, hey jim, mornin bob, did ya check the game last night? That Michael Jordan was on fire!
Hi Karen, whats goinn on Dave.
To my desk.
20 some years of this, man i need a break. A BiiiG break
We were allowed radios if we kept them real low, or used our head phones.
One day i heard "Come to Jamaica, the Jewel of the Caribbean"
Hmmm. that sounds nice, Went to MoBay once with a girlfriend, (and had a day trip to Negril) but i was dying to get to Negril for a week by myself.
I wrote down the number and ended up calling 1-800-JAMAICA.
The customer service lady took real good care of me.
She said that they do checks on the hotels and she had found a nice one named Bar-B-Barn.
Small, NON-all inclusive, but they have a restaurant and bar right on the beach.
That sounds cool.
Book it, Dano!
Landed at Sangsters and when i was about to step off of the plane i got that smell.
The plane was sitting a little back from the building.
A stairway was rolled up to the plane and you walked out and down the steps and a little ways to the building.
The ladies were singing the "Welcome to Jamaica" song.
Went through immigration and got suitcase and started looking for the JUTA BUS service.
I found the desk and said
"I have a reservation going to Negril"
OK, fill this out, put your return date and wait just a bit.
I think the Hotel transfers were paid ahead of time, but maybe i paid the money 15 or 20 bucks.
Soon the employee grabbed my suitcase and said follow me. We went outside and he showed me to the bus.
He looked at me with the "where's my tip" face and body language.
Geez, i could have rolled my suitcase those few yards to the outside.
Oh well, I gave him a little money for his troubles.
Now, the bus driver says "whats up Mon, welcome to Jamaica Mon. I'm your driver.
We will have to wait for a couple of other riders, but it wont be long.
That's fine, it was hot and i'm still looking all around at the little mountains and hills around the airport and that's when it hits you again.
I'M IN JAMAICA! This is great!
As soon as you are out the Airport, all that concrete jungle kinda of thinking leaves my mind. I realize, there are different rules to life in the Caribbean.
I get a real good seat on the bus, close up to the driver so i can ask questions on the drive to Negril.
So, i'm sitting in my seat and i realize, hey wait a minute.
The other riders might not get here for a while
Why am i sitting on this bus?
I jumped off and stood in the bus parking lot looking all around.
Many drivers were talking and smoking waiting for their turn to drive the next load to Negril.
15-18 of the orange, blue and white buses Juta use to have are everywhere.
Soon, 4-6 more people arrive and the same guy that got the money from me is pulling their suitcases too.
The guy told me that i was going to be the last one getting off, so he made sure my suitcases were on the bottom.
We're off!
On our way to Negril!
First time taking a bus to Negril was very cool.
Montego Bay seemed very strange and different compared to Chicago.
Beautiful people, mostly Black people, everywhere, walking along the roads, selling items at little stalls along the highway.
So different, so alive! You could feel the electricity in the air!
When you are in a place that does not operate with the big city mentality, you can feel the differenc in the air.
The drivers are giving us tourist bits of history and pointing out places of significance.
"Here is where they made this movie, and that movie", the driver would yell out when we passed certain spots.
Oh, that's cool, i had forgot about all the movies made in Jamaica.
The water on the right was glimmering with sun light off the bluish green water.
I wanted him to stop the bus so i could jump in.
Patience, Mark. You will be there soon enough.
The little town of Lucy was a trip.
It started getting kinda of congested and the driver says this is Lucea, see that clock? It was supposed to be brought to St. Lucia maybe 40-50 years ago, but the pronunciation got mixed up somewhere and it arrived here.
Lucea was bustling and very busy looking. Vegetable markets and fruit and taxi stands, stores, restaurants, the works.
Jamaicans walking all around, doing their thang.
Wow, this is nice, real nice!
Soon we are in Negril and the other tourist start to get off at some real nice places, i can tell they were spending bucks.
I'm the only one left on the bus, so i ride shotgun next to the driver.
We had a real nice conversation before he dropped me off at the Bar-B- Barn Hotel.
I checked in, and the lady at the reception desk asked me "would you like me to show you to your room?
Sure, i said, we walked about 30 feet and she said here you are!
I hurry and change to my shorts and hit the road.
Hmmm, now where is the beach. I took about 10 15 steps and saw an older woman, and i asked "excuse me, how do you get to the beach?"
I'm going that way now, follow me she says.
We make a left and start down what looks like a curved driveway with tall bushes on both sides.
a couple of steps and you cant see where you entered the drive way, nor can you see the end.
Oh, this is great, i am following this lady into what i thought was some kind of Jungle.
I was thinking that some one could be hiding in the bushes right there, and over there, behind that tree!
I keep walking and it opens up and I see water! The prettiest blueish green you'd ever want to see.
Funny, from the road, you don't know how close the ocean is until you head towards it.
I get to the beach and its like the whole world just opened up for me.
I look to the left, to the right, nothing but sand and water!
I start walking, take a few steps to my left, staring at the water and
"I'm back at the Bar-B-Barn Hotel", what the?
Oh, i did not realize that i could have come out of my room and went to the "right" and i would have been on the beach.
Duh!
Very nice place.
Great bar right on the beach. Thick solid wood, polished. Cable T.V.
Wow, some one really took good care of this bar.
It was hot that day, but i stayed on the beach walking for quite a while.
The beach guys were trying to sell their wares, left and right.
No thanks, Thanks, but no thanks.
NOTE: Don't buy unless you really want to.
Don't feel sorry for any able body adult male.
There are enough "wee ones" that could use your charity if you so decide.
I walked all the way to the end and I'm about to turn around and I see a man calling me.
He says " I will tell you about my country, the History"
Now, that could be interesting.
I walk over and i find myself behind the craft Market, right along the river.
His Name is Ringo, AKA The mountain Man.
Dread locks and beard.
His family owned the peice of land. right there on the beach. He has a log fire going and he says it never goes out. 4-5 logs touching at the ends like spokes on a wheel. the middle smoldering.
Many a Lobster and fish have been cooked there through out the years.
He had a little store/shop and a deep freezer.
The coldest Redstripes around.
He opens it and I see 10-12 tails of a fish called Bonita standing up. That's gonna be good eating!
So we sat and talked for hours.
Now, he is my other best buddy in Negril. A nice place to cool out away from crowds.
Now his place is among the hard core fishermen at the end of the beach.
A real Jamaica experience for sure.
14 years ago
