Making new friends; our time in Jamaica - Day 2

The sun is shining so it must be time to get up.  Our hotel room is cute but very bare bones, without even a clock on the nightstand.  I check the time on my cell phone and it says 7:30 am.  That’s what time breakfast is supposed to start being served so Bruce heads down to get me a cup of coffee.  He comes back and tells me that the whole place is deserted.  We both take showers and he goes back again to get my coffee but he comes back with the same story.  As I put on my watch which I reset to an hour earlier as we were getting off the airplane, I realize that our phones never could get a signal for the satellite so they didn’t automatically change the time.  So, an hour after we woke up, it’s just now a little after 7:30 am.  No wonder there was no breakfast.

We put our swimsuits on and head down for breakfast on the beach. The restaurant and bar

are still pretty much deserted.  We sit down and wait for the server to bring us some water, coffee, juice...something.  Finally, after we ask, he does.  We sit with our coffee and water and wait.  After we ask what’s for breakfast, he tells us that continental breakfast is a couple of slices of fruit and a piece of toast.  Perfect, we say.  And then we wait.  After we ask if we can actually have the breakfast, he finally goes back to the kitchen to have it prepared. And we wait some more. We ask several times for more coffee and more water and some orange juice.  And we wait. Breakfast is good but takes almost an hour.  

This is worth noting: Bruce drinks coffee this morning.  He makes me coffee each and every morning and brings it to me in bed.  Yes, I know that I am pretty spoiled by my husband.  But the funny thing is that he does not drink it himself.  Nor has he even ever tried it.  He just knows that he doesn’t like it. But I know that Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is some of the best in the world.  And when I am drinking it this morning, I pass it over to him and he tries it.  And he says he likes it.  Miracles never cease. Ha! 

We were planning on meeting Rachel and her son, Jeffrey, sometime this morning to go see her property at Spring Garden.  But it’s still early, so we thought we would sit on the beach for a little while.  That’s about all I ever last just “sitting” anyhow.  So, I’ve packed a bag with beach towels, sunscreen, and I’ve got the book that I started reading on the plane.  I did put a few dollars in the bag, too, just in case.  We start off down the beach.

We walk about, oh maybe ten feet, and are stopped by a Jamaican man who wants to take us snorkeling. Fifteen feet further down the beach, someone wants us to buy organically grown bananas. A few feet beyond that we are offered a waterfall trip. The next man wants to know if we want to rent a jet ski. The next guy has a bag filled with recycled rum bottles full of different kinds of juices that he has made and wants to sell us some.  And so it goes, on and on. At first we politely decline and walk on. But then I realize that we are here to - as my mom used to always say - ‘make friends and influence people’.  So, we stop and meet each and every person that says hello or stops to talk to us.  Everyone is so friendly.  We meet Junior, Demitri, Dr. J., Peter, Captain Moses, Dominic, Jeanne, and many others. I try hard to remember all their names.  They are all so friendly.  Tourism is their livelihood.  They just want to feed their families.  And we respect them for being bold enough to do their jobs.

As we are walking, we get stopped by lady who introduces herself as Gloria.  She tells me that I am a Jamaican princess and then starts smearing aloe all over me.  She’s kind of pushy, but sweet, so I let her as I keep talking to her. She tells me that the aloe will keep me from burning and since I am fair skinned and having not seen hardly any sunlight yet this summer and am still very pale, I really want to believe her, but I am skeptical. She spends a lot of time rubbing the aloe in all over my exposed skin. I let her and we have a nice conversation about her and her family. I give her a couple dollars, kiss her on the cheek, and tell her that we will be back. Even though I'm pretty sure she tried to swindle me, I still really like this woman. She is charming. (An hour later, I wish I would have gently said no thanks because I am completely scorched!)

As Gloria has me cornered, Bruce is talking to Tony. When I finally break away from Gloria, we walk over to Tony’s art shop filled with carvings and jewelry. Bruce wants to buy the whole place. But since we don’t have any money, I keep the bracelet that he has already so conveniently slipped onto my wrist and I give him $2. As we are looking I ask him lots of questions. I find out that he is married, has 5 children and 3 grandchildren, and lives in Little London. He rides his scooter here early every morning to be the first one to catch the tourists on the beach. I like his enthusiasm and his gentle spirit. He does have some beautiful pieces and we tell him that we will be back some time before we go home. And we intend to.

It’s been at least an hour since we finished breakfast and started our stroll down the beach. By this point I’ve had just about enough wheeling and dealing. And enough walking. We are pretty far down the beach from our hotel. We turn to head back. We are stopped by many of the same on the way back. Most of them remember our names and talk to us again. We stop on our beach and the man that we saw raking clean the beach earlier while we were having breakfast brings us a couple of beach chairs. I read in the sun for a little while and Bruce takes a few pictures. At least three Jamaicans walking by and approached Bruce and try to sell him drugs. Just for the record, even though they tell him that it has come straight from the farm and they have good stuff, he declines. He was offered drugs.  And he drank coffee today. Monumental day of firsts for Bruce.

We are supposed to meet Rachel sometime mid-morning here at Sunset on the Beach and since it’s about 10:30 am, I keep watching for her. The whole beach is pretty much deserted so I am starting to wonder if we are at the right place or if there is another hotel with a similar name. We decide to take a quick swim before we head off to find her where she is staying at the Negril Yoga Center across the street. While we are in the water, a local comes in with a tourist and they are talking. The Jamaican is telling the tourist about the crazy funny old lady named Rachel who often hangs out here. He says that she stays for months at a time and he thinks that she told him that she is from Indiana. (Well, she’s from Missouri, but we are from Indiana and she’s here to meet us.)  So, now we know that we are in the right place. Rachel has really made a name for herself in these parts and it seems like she's pretty famous around here.

We get cleaned up and walk across the street to the Yoga Center.  Before we even ask they know that we are here to meet Rachel but tell us she’s staying across the street.  So off we go.  We wander around some there and a lady sticks her head out the window to tell us that if we are looking for Rachel, she’s not here. She will be back at 1:00 pm. She and Jeffrey went to do some business. Okay then. By this time it’s 11:00 am. So we walk on down the beach to find some lunch.

We stop at a couple places, but for whatever reason, I don’t want to eat there. I am sort of... pulled... toward a restaurant called Lingah by the Sea. It’s sort of reminiscent of breakfast - after we sit down we have to ask if they serve food here, then if we can have lunch, then we have to ask for a menu, then we have to ask for water, and so on. After we have ordered and are waiting for our food, I get up to walk around a little. The tables are covered in burlap with pictures of hummingbirds and flowers painted on them and a piece of glass cut to the size of the table protecting the picture and holding it in place. As I walk around, I see a room off a deck behind the restaurant. The sign over the door says, “Word to Life Ministries International”.

A lady sees me reading the sign and comes out.  She introduces herself as Jean and invites us to come back at 7:30 pm for a service.  Well, we’ve been invited so I think we should.

Lunch takes about an hour and is absolutely wonderful.  Lingah by the Sea.  If you are in Negril, stop here for the jerk chicken salad.  It’s delicious.  We walk back to our the hotel to see if Rachel has come back. Nope. So we walk back next door to her place. They tell us that she has been back, but is gone again. They are doing some kind of business and will be back at 3:00 pm.

As we walk away I tell Bruce that since it’s not mid-morning any longer, she must be on Jamaican time. I am getting a little frustrated that we are not following my “schedule”.  I’ve got things all planned out. Lots to do.  We are on a mission and we have to stay on track. As I say all of this, Bruce bends down to pick something up from the grass.  A Jamaican penny.

For years when I find a penny I just know that it’s a sign that God is saying that I’m on the right track and that everything will be alright.  Pennies from heaven.  So, when you’re in Jamaica, I guess it’s a Jamaican penny. Okay, God. Message understood.

No problem, mon. We take off to drive to the west end to find our original reservation, Sunset on the Cliffs.

On the way we stop in town to change some money at the bank. The place is packed, the line is long and it’s very dismal and sad inside.  It makes me feel kind of yucky so we turn around and walk back out. We are swarmed when we get outside. A car pulls over and stops. The passenger insists that we know him from the hotel. He tells us that his name is Michael, the gardener that cuts the flowers. Yeah, we don’t know him. Obviously a con. Someone else pulls out a wad of Jamaican bills and wants us to change money on the street. I quickly decline. A lame man limps up and asks for a handout. I discreetly give him a little change which he is very grateful for and I motion for Bruce to hurry up and unlock the car so that we can jump back in. I’m done with this scene and don’t want to empty out my wallet in the town square. We will find another place to change more money somewhere less crowded. Lesson learned.

We head on down farther south toward Sunset on the Cliffs.  It’s a nice quiet hotel with a room on the ocean.  This is what I booked.  And now I see why I did.  The beach has a lot of activity and noise at night. After tonight we will come back to stay the rest of our trip here. As we head up to our room, we look over the wall to the north and see the remnants of the next hotel. It looks like it hasn't been used in a long time and the buildings are crumbling. Hmmm... I wonder who owns that?

Next, we head on down toward the lighthouse. I want to climb it, but not today. First I want to see Ketto and Spring Garden. It starts to rain as we drive back. I take in all the signs and landmarks reading them aloud. It’s probably annoying to Bruce who is trying to drive, but he never says anything about it. I am trying to memorize the territory and hearing it as well as seeing it will help me remember it later.

We get back to the hotel in the pouring rain. Lightning flashes across the sky and the thunder is clapping loudly. The power in the hotel goes out several times. It’s been a long day already and really the only thing  on our agenda for this day is to meet up with Rachel and Jeffrey, see Spring Garden and Ketto, and wander around Negril. So, we take a nap in the rainstorm while we wait for time to pass and them to return. I desperately want to get back on track, but I must admit that I’m getting pretty sleepy from all the emotion, stress, and heat.

When we wake up, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining. We eat a couple of juicy mangos out on our porch. They are drippy and messy and really sweet. What a great snack. Psalm 34 pops into my mind: Taste and see that the Lord is good!

We head back next door to find Rachel.  She is sitting on the porch.  Jeffrey jumps up and shakes our hands. We hug Rachel like we are family. We really do love this spunky old girl. We walk to the restaurant next door and talk while they eat for the first time today. They were swimming  in the ocean at 6:30 am and then went to see an attorney to get Rachel’s ex-Rastafarian husband to sign off on the property that we are about to go look at. After much back and forth, he did. And in front of a Justice of the Peace so it’s all nice and legal and official. But, as Jeffrey told us, the first two JP’s that he went to were closed.  The third one turned out to be a long time friend of the ex, Sydney, who was now  getting cold feet, had changed his mind, and didn’t want to sign. The JP friend talked to him and explained to him that it would be okay and that he would be taken care of, so Sydney agreed and signed the property over to Rachel. Whew. Rachel and Jeffrey were so relieved. And now we could go and look at it.

We put on our long pants and long sleeved shirts so that we wouldn’t get chewed up by the mosquitoes and jumped in the car to go out to the jungle and walk around the property.  Bruce drove us the seven miles outside of Negril through Ketto, 3/4 mile through the hidden cane field valley to Spring Garden.

A few minutes after we got there, someone rode up with Sydney on the back of his scooter. Sydney was charming and gracious and showed us all around. The house is in a very rough state and the vegetation is grown up everywhere. It’s mostly just wild jungle. But Sydney pointed out all the fruit trees on the property: coconut, mango, avocado, jackfruit, apple, orange, apricot, papaya, ackee, starfruit, noni. Most trees so heavy that the branches are hanging down and full with fruit. There are bamboo groves all over and hummingbirds flying around everywhere. It is wild and beautiful. Thank you, Lord, for providing us with such a great variety.

Sydney walked us all over the property and even got a long pole out to get some coconuts down for us. He used a machete to cut them open and we drank the coconut milk, pouring it down our chins. Then he sliced off a chunk of the shell and used it for a scoop to carve out the soft coconut meat.  We ate mangos straight from the trees and ackee, too.

We sprayed bug spray liberally. Since it had just rained and everything was so grown over, the mosquitos were everywhere. I was glad to have long pants on. Surprisingly, I didn’t get chewed up.

We walked down the road to the spring and saw where it was pouring out of the side of the mountain. Sydney took off his clothes and jumped in. He told us that it was bad luck not to get wet, so out of respect we all we washed our hands and faces in it.  He also told us that there is another spring right on the property but the man who owned the property before had pushed a big rock over the opening because he couldn’t see the bottom of the hole and was afraid of falling in. Sydney said that even in the drought, the vegetation is still green around that area.

We took lots of pictures. There are actually two parcels.  The house is largely unusable and would likely have to demolished. But the flat land is beautiful and untouched.

It was getting late and we wanted to get back for the church service at Word of Life that we had found at lunch. We thanked Sydney and said good bye. Rachel and Jeffrey wanted us to meet one of the neighbors, Tracy. Tracy is a white man from Texas, and has built a lovely little house up on the mountain just down the road and across the street. So, we opened the gate and pulled in for just a minute.

Tracy’s wife is working in the states but he comes and stays for a couple months at a time. Tracy told us that he had been a contractor for about 25 years. He is helping their friend, Lynette, build a house right near theirs. Lynette is from the US, too, and was living in Negril for a number of years until recently coming to Spring Garden. She told us that she worked with the Presbyterian Church in Negril for about the past 5 years or so helping the pastor there start a safe house to help get women off the street who have been involved with sex trafficking. We were glad to have met them, even if only just briefly.

We drove back to Negril just in time to quickly change clothes and head off down the beach to church. No time for a shower, just go as you are. We walked in to find only a few people there, but Pastor Richard welcomed us warmly. The last Tuesday of the month is reserved for a prayer service, he told us. This was the last Tuesday of the month. Pastor Richard said that they would be praying for their street evangelism ministry. Bruce squeezed my hand.

While Pastor Richard was talking, he stopped mid-sentence, looked right at Bruce and me and said that he knew that we were not just here on vacation but that God has a different calling for us. He said that he felt like we were here to do something big for the kingdom of God.  Then he went right back to praying!  

Bruce and I looked at each other and smiled, silently knowing what each other was thinking: coming to this church and being in this place tonight is not an accident. We knew that we didn’t eat at Lingah on the Sea and stumble across Word to Life Church by chance. We talked to Pastor Richard for just a couple minutes after the service was over. He told us that he studied and was ordained in the States and feels like God has called he and his wife, Nicola, to leave their home in Montego Bay and move to Negril just a few weeks ago.  They have a heart for orphans and kids on the streets. Wow. We know that we will talk with Pastor Richard and his wife, Nicola, again.

Rachel and Jeffrey had joined us for church.  Jeffrey prayed a very moving prayer during the service and we were awed and thankful for his spirit filled heart. Rachel had had a very long and emotional day dealing with legal issues, back and forth with her ex-husband, and trekking around Spring Garden. She went back to her cabin sometime during the service. We walked back with Jeffrey and talked about all the possibilities. He understands that the property may or may not work out for what we are looking for, and he is content to let God lead us. We are thankful to have met him and have made a friend. We like Jeffrey as much as we like his mother and feel a strong connection to this family.

We said our good-byes to Dr. Jeffrey Citrin on the beach at about 9:30 pm and finally went to find some dinner and then back to our room for bed. It’s been a long and full day. And we are tired. Wow.  I wonder what tomorrow will hold?

My lessons for today?  Well, really there were two:

Time in Jamaica is just a suggestion.  The locals call it "Island Time" and now I understand why. 

Being direct with people is helpful so that they understand your expectations.  Really this is good in most situations but today I learned that it is definitely true in Jamaica.