A Jamaican Getaway

Our last spring break.
Our last big hurrah.


The weeks preceding our vacation had been quite stressful. Midterms and just school in general were getting to be overwhelming. I wouldn't recommend overloading in your last semester. I was up to my neck in exams and assignments, I really thought I was going to burst. But I digress. Jamaica couldn't come any quicker.

I wouldn't call it the time of my life or the craziest spring break trip ever. It was, however, a much needed getaway. Completely relaxing and worry free. The weather was beautiful. I loved waking up to a shining sun and dipping my feet into the warm waters of the Caribbean. My favorite thing about being on the an island is the smell of burning wood and the fragrant flowers. The roar of the waves and the breeze in your hair. I feel like it's all becoming a blur to me already.

To recap before I forget, we arrived Sunday evening just in time for dinner. We didn't do much that night except swim around in the pool and sit in the hot tub. Dude, they drive pretty crazyy in Jamaica. They're opposite there so the driver is on the right side of the car and in the left lane. They'll just tail you and then cut into the other lane until an oncoming car appears! They tend to be really nice to you and like ask for tips after. Most of their income is made during spring break season and it has to last them for the rest of the year. Yikes. :( Oh, and right as we step out of our van, people come up to ask us if we want weed and what not! Craziness.

Monday was our tanning day and boy, did we get tan! All of us got super burnt. Me, I somehow got burnt on my left side: shoulder, rib and hip. It was painful to put shorts on the next day. Monday night was when we had the party at our resort. All these BC kids came by and we mingled with them. I was pounding drinks but got too full. I thought I was gonna yak everything back up so I went upstairs for like 30 minutes. The girls came up and said everyone was jumping in the pool even though we were supposed to go to the Jungle. It was a lot of fun dancing and hanging out in the pool.

Tuesday, we learned our lesson and hid from the sun for a while... especially poor C. Everyone never stepped foot outside again without slathering on layers of SPF and aloe after we got back. We reapplied every minute we had nothing else to do, which was like all the time. I think it was this day that we went walking around. We went to Shamrock, a convenience store, to get their fresh squeezed orange juice. Yum! We tried to sneak into BC's hot tub because it's a lot hotter than ours but then the Jamaican security guard could tell we weren't part of the 30 other Asians staying at that resort. Darn him. There was a Mardi Gras party at Margaritaville that night. It was fun seeing all the other college kids. Apparently a bunch from NEU were there and winning the College Olympics or whatever. All the boys were done-zo that night. C even before we left for the party, B hanging over the balcony outside our door, me carrying B back down the beach and D singing his song all night. It was quite entertaining, the most fun I've had watching others be drunk while I'm mostly sober. Haha :P

Blah, I'm starting to mix up the days I think. And I apologize if I'm not being particularly eloquent in this entry. It's coming out the way I think it in my head. So, Wednesday... what else did we do... I think this was the day that we couldn't go on the booze cruise because it was cancelled. The waters were a bit rocky. We went shopping for souvenirs in the afternoon at Time Square. Later that night we stayed in chatting and being silly.

Since the sunset cruise was sold out on Thursday too, we tried to get some mopeds to ride around. But then no one really felt comfortable putting their credit cards down for the deposit on the bikes. It kind of worked out because when we took the cab to Rockhouse, we realized that riding to the West End would have been a bad idea with the narrow windy roads. I got the security people at Rockhouse Resort to give us a tour and it was amazing. Pictures of this place are the reason I even thought of going to Jamaica. It was gorgeous with it's cliffside bunglows and I hear the food is good too. If I ever visit Negril again, you'll be sure that I'll be staying there.

B & I at Rockhouse

After Rockhouse, we walked down the rural road to Rick's Cafe. Famous for it's cliff diving, it was crowded with tourists being spectators while others hyped themselves up to take a leap. It was thrilling to watch and I could only wish that I knew how to swim so that I could take a turn and jump off one of the cliffs. There were some people who took a while to get enough courage to finally make that jump and everyone would cheer them on. Then there were a few of the locals who worked there and were pro enough to do fancy tricks and jump from the top of a tree!

We decided to go out to a 'nice' dinner on our last night in Negril. We all tried to dress up and we walked over to Kuyaba which is where we originally wanted to stay. It's not quite as nice as the pictures make it out to be and a touch tacky with some of its decor. Most of us had been a little too hasty and had too much to eat at Fun Holiday so we almost all just got desserts. We decided to try the Jungle since we never made it the first time and it was ladies' night anyway. Being Negril's only nightclub, there was a decent line for the guys and had a packed dancefloor.

Overall , to talk about Jamaica, the food was not so bad. We were definitely the fatties of the resort. We made up for missing breakfast by being the first in line for lunch and dinner everyday. Sometimes we couldn't tell if the meat was lamb or goat or if it was fish or conch. O.o The jerk chicken is pretty good I must say. The guys got it uber spicy one night but I think it's better that way! Oh and beef patties are different there. It's like stuffied in really good bread and its shredded up meat not ground up who knows whatever the U.S. puts in there. The barbeque sauce at Miss Sonia's was good too.

The music got a tad boring after a while. The non-stop reggae at 10am waking us up everyday was a bit much. It was nice when some spring breakers hooked up their ipod and played some U.S. top 40s. Hmm... what else can I remember about Jamaica. They have KFC there too! But too bad we didn't get to try it. I love going to new countries and seeing how different their menus are. They have the coolest things sometimes like rice at McDs!

The gang before Kuyaba

I was in great company too. Plenty of laughs and definitely a laid-back, easy-going group. I wasn't close to everyone nor had I spent a lot of time with them before our trip. But I'm glad we got to know each other better. Each personality is quirky and refreshing. C with her cute little dances and us playing our ridiculous late night games thanks to S. We bumped into a group of BC kids and although it's not like we became best buddies, it made for some funny memories, especially creeper D and his butt caressing tendencies. :P

I didn't get to go see the waterfalls and zipline as I had hoped. And ATV-ing would have been fun... and snorkeling. But oh well, nothing really bothered me on my trip. Even when B jumped into the pool with my camera. :P No biggie. I did start getting a little emo until towards the end of the trip. After a while without your phone or any emails, you start to miss people. I loved being there and could have stayed longer but I guess I just wished I had certain people there with me. Anyway, all in all a good trip.

And now we're in our final lap of senior year. T-minus 52 days.

Sunset at Rick's

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