Jamaica Day 4

Friendly Singer and Salesman

Banana Boat

John....

Rachel and Sarah

Pretty Ladies at the Beach

Look of Disgust

Argggg (AJ and Katie)

Scott - Wazzup

AJ, Kevin (Security Guard), Scott, and Alex

"No Problem Man"

Today was another splendid day, but rather than working at the orphanage we were at the beach. While we were all excited to be going to the beach, we had to be up and running by 6:30 AM this morning, so we were all a bit tired to say the least. Last night a group of us stayed up late watching the stars and playing games, so we had limited sleep, but the cold showers this morning helped to solve that. After a quick shower and breakfast we headed to Negril Beach for a day of fun on the water!

After about a two and a half our bus ride we arrived at Negril Beach and we took off exploring what the beach had to offer. Within seconds after we got off the bus I was confronted by a very sociable man and offered to buy some “great weed,” while this would typically catch me off guard, in Jamaica this has been a daily, if not hourly offer. As the day progressed our stories involving run-ins with drug sellers got progressively worse and worse, but luckily we all came out safe and sound with some hilarious stories! The top of the list from these occurrences was when a man came up to Alex and I and pulled Alex into an alley to try to convince him to buy drugs. While I would have preferred to stick right with him, I knew this would not be the best idea, so I bartered with his partner in crime and he ended up telling his friends to back off because we were from further inland where they had all grown up. While a bit scary, Alex and I both now have a great story to remember from the beach!

Despite frequent offers from drug dealers we were also bombarded with awesome musicians who would post up right in front of us and play us songs on the guitar and sing. We also had a security guard named Kevin who we became best of friends with. While Kevin was a bit scrawny, he was a really nice guy and he ended up giving us his contact so we could all become his friends on facebook. While enjoying our time on the beach, ten of us decided to brave the banana boat and experience the time of our lives! While a little tame to what I am used to, it was a lot of fun cruising around the ocean on a banana boat getting thrown off from time to time!

After leaving our post at the beach, by Kevin, we embarked on a further journey to a market where we were a bit surprised because we ended up walking through a path through shanties where we presumed drug dealers lived. Although the first section of this endeavor through the market was sketchy, we were able to find the shops and barter and buy some cool things from the locals. Through our experiences with bartering we realized that name-dropping was very important to get good deals. After a while we started letting people know we were living in Mandeville and working at an orphanage so they all dropped their prices to the “Jamaican price.”

In general today was very relaxing and filled with experiences that will strengthen our street smarts. The beach was supreme, the sun was wonderful, and the company was excellent. Along with the nice whether, however, came sunburns, but I was fortunate to only get burned on my feet. Other people in our group got major burns and may be hurting in the days to come. Although we had some scary interactions today, we had a great time at the beach!