I've been meaning to write in this everyday, but, typical of me, it is our third day here and I have just gotten around to it. Let's start from the beginning....
Wedding on June 4: The wedding on Saturday was wonderful. It was so fantastic to be surrounded by so many family and friends who we love, who were there to celebrate our marriage. My cousin, Chris Coulter, lead the ceremony beautifully, telling us nice things that friends and family had said about us, and conducting a meaningful and important ceremony. Sara Blazar read my favorite poem by E.E. Cummings (i carry your heart, i carry it in my heart), which made me cry a bit. I kissed Paul for what seemed like ages, and it was wonderful, it went by so fast. Then we had our pictures, which we squeezed a camera man, 2 photographer, Paul me and a driver into a golf cart. The sky was beautiful, and we had a great time just being together. We rode back, got a snack and a drink, then did our grand introductions. Paul then had our first dance together, and we finally got a few moments to chat, dance and enjoy each other. From there, Andrea gave an amazing speech, followed by Mark, then Paul's dad Mick. All were supportive and beautifully said. I am very glad we got them on tape so we can hear them again, it all went by so quickly! Then we had dinner while the slideshow was running, a quick bite of dinner, then back to socializing. Before I knew it, dad was making a speech, funny, cute and wonderful. Then I got up to join him for the dance, and his song started. The look on his face was absolutely priceless, he was so shocked. It was great just to dance with him for a few minutes. Paul and his mom did their dance, then it was open dancing. The band did a great job of keeping the dance floor lively and moving. Paul and I cut cake, nicely fed it to each other, I did the bouquet toss, then more dancing. The only little snafu was the shuttle service that left and didn't come back. After a call and some yelling, they showed up again, and everyone was home safely. Paul and I went for drinks with a few friends, and then finally got some sleep about 2am.
Fast forward two hectic days of packing, saying goodbye, and lots and lots of eating.
Day 0: Paul and I took a red-eye to Charlotte, N.C. Paul had enough drinks that he passed out quickly and easily. I read for a bit then joined him in sleep. We woke up a bit more refreshed and excited for our upcoming trip. We had a few hours of a layover in Charlotte so we got breakfast, tried to exchange money (shop was closed) and upgraded ourselves to first class for the first time in our lives. For $150 a piece I felt we deserved it for our honeymoon. We napped for a while, then woke up to order our drinks (Bloody Mary's!) and eat some snacks. The service is great, the seats are roomy and now we know exactly what we are missing.
Day 1: We landed in Jamaica and after quite a long time our bags arrived too. We went through customs and border control, then found our rental car agency. We decided to rent a GPS (no need to add the stress of getting lost!), then checked out our small, fuel economic car. Little did we know what would await us on the "highway". We packed everything into the car and started out. Paul drove because in Jamaica they drive on the left hand side. It was absolutely pouring rain the entire drive. I spent a lot of the drive gripping the side handle and making little gasping noises. Even though I have already pointed out that they supposedly drive on the left, they really seem to drive where ever they want to depending on where cars are parked, bikes, people walking on the road and potholes. It was quite scary and a few hours in we understood why the rental agency had specifically showed us where the spare tire and jack were stored. too many hours later we arrived at Great Huts. We were tired and hungry and just plain done with traveling. They took our stuff to our upgraded hut (Queen of Sheba), then we just laid down. We eventually joined them for pizza, then went to sleep.
Day 2: It was still raining when we woke up for breakfast, but the rain cools the air down, so we weren't too worried. We had a nice breakfast, then Dr. Paul, the owner, showed us around. There were several absolutely breathtaking views, the cliffs, jungle, and ocean are all so close. Everything is just so beautiful. After the tour, the sun started to shine so we ran home, changed into our bathing suits and arrived at the beach. Within a few minutes we had hopped in the water and I was very keen to start snorkeling. I did not know that Paul had never been snorkeling before, and I swam on ahead. A little while later, I turned around to see Paul absolutely panicking. He had taken his mask off his head and was hyperventilating. He kept trying to swim towards the rocks, which is the worst idea when you are in open water. He eventually got on the rocks, but kept being swept into them or away. His mask fell off his head and sunk to the bottom of the sea. He fell again off the rock, backwards feet over head and I was so frightened for him. He popped up and I told him to swim back to shore. As he made his way back, I tried to retrieve his snorkel but it was just too deep for me. I finally gave up and swam back to join him. His leg had been badly cut open so we went back to our hut (palace, really) and cleaned him up, then rested for a few hours.
After lunch of left over pizza, we wandered into town, past the Jerk Chicken town, and found a nice beach, then a nice bar, to pass some time in. In the bar, all the ladies were watching this great, terrible Jamaican soap opera. It was very entertaining. While sitting on the beach after our beers, we met a cook from a nearby restaurant and eventually agreed to go to dinner there. Paul and I wandered back to Great Huts, watched some BBC, chatted with another guest (Rachel), made another new friend (Andrew, a volunteer) then the four of us headed to dinner. A few beers and a dinner later, we were all drinking in the third floor of our palace. It was great to just chat and relax, with no work waiting for me. Now it is Day 3, what does today have in store for us?
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