Day 3- We woke up in time for breakfast again, good scrambled eggs, fruit, and toast. Paul and I were hot, itchy and not exactly ready for adventure. We went back to our cave, oops, I mean hut, and laid down, read, surfed the internet, etc. Around noon we got up the energy to get moving. We met our new friend Rachael and headed out to the nearby city of Port Antonio. It is only about a 20 minute drive, but it is still scary with all the pot holes, dips, and crazy Jamaican drivers who signal without changing lanes, stop in the middle of the road without signaling, and drive on whatever side seems to be the most smooth. Luckily Paul is used to driving on the left, is mostly quite calm with only a few cuss words escaping his mouth as the stupidest of cars go head on toward us. We are also lucky that we do not have a flat tire… yet. 25 nervous minutes later and we were in Port Antonio.
The guide books say it is something to see but all I saw was a pot-hole riddled, frustrating city. Everyone there wanted to know your name, where we were from, and then try to sell us something. Jamaicans are quite friendly, but it seems to come at a price. Everyone wants something from you, and it can get quite exhausting to be hassled all the time. After a quick purchase of a hat, some coffee, then lunch at a locals restaurant overlooking the ocean (we were the only ones eating off of real plates, everyone else was eating out of to-go containers) our self appointed guide continued to show us around. We wanted to be on our own, so finally told him we were heading back. As he was leaving he said, “You don’t have a gift for me? Come on, that’s how it works here, I help you, you give me gift, a J$500 is good.” I for one HATE when people decide to show you around and then ask for money. I didn’t ask for him to take us to HIS shop, then to his friend’s restaurant. We gave him J$200 unhappily and he left without a goodbye. So much for the friendly Jamaicans. We took a nice walk along the water where no one bothered us as bunches of school kids passed by, then hopped back in our blissfully air-conditioned car to drive another harrowing 25 minutes to the hotel. Once there, Paul and I proceeded to fall directly to sleep, just waking up at 6pm in time for dinner. We decided to try the Jerk Chicken village near us. We have finally learned to negotiate prices of food before buying anything. After agreeing on a decent price (probably still massively inflated for tourists) we had a good ¼ chicken and something called bread fruit. It really is fruit that tastes like bread! After an extra helping of breadfruit we headed back to our dark, very large hut with a few beers. We were both ready to be in our new tree house where we would move the next day. We watched a few Heroes episodes, then it was bedtime. Time to prepare for another good, mosquito filled day!
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