Rain, rain, rain. Then some more rain.

Oh Jamaica. Apparently they've had a drought recently. Not so much anymore. We had great weather for the first four days, and it's poured constantly since. The day we left Ocho Rios, it monsooned that morning - we caught a nice little lull where it was only a steady rain, so we able to get to the bus station (5 minute walk) okay.  Bus to Montego Bay, transfer to a bus to Negril, there by 12:30pm or so. Walked a bit, thankfully not in rain, checked into our hostel, which we were told by numerous people was great, wonderful, amazing, beautiful.  Uh...it's okay.  Not my favorite. They have lost power each day - the first day, we didn't have power until 11:40pm; the second day it went out around 10pm and didn't come back until 9:30am this morning.  We'll find out when we return, but I'm predicting no power again, considering this bar lost power for a bit too. 

Right outside our door at Judy House.

Our room. Pictures don't even begin to get across how, uh, rustic it was.

Our first afternoon, we went to this great bar/hotel called Xtabi and hung out through a pretty extended thunderstorm; day 2, hung around and read books all day since it rained pretty consistently before heading to a bar for a few drinks with the owner of the hostel; day 3, we had sunshine for a couple of hours! We headed to 7 mile beach around 930am, walking through town before going onto the beach.  Negril is known for its beaches, which are beautiful. We headed back to Xtabi around 200pm, had lunch, and were looking forward to jumping into the gorgeous water and playing in the caves for a bit when it started pouring. And here we still sit 3 hrs later, still pouring. I was talking to a woman who comes to Jamaica several times a year, has been here through a hurricane, and she swears she's never seen it rain this much. Awesome. Weather's always the one thing you can't control, but it sucks.  It's made me reconsider wanting to live in the Pacific Northwest.

The view from Xtabi

Xtabi

We really wanted to go to Pelican Bar, about 90 minutes southeast of Negril. It's this bar that is about a mile out in the water, built piece by piece. It's supposed to be one of the most unique bars in the world; however, it's a pain and expensive to get to, and even if we got to the nearest town, there was no guarantee that a boat would take you out there with this weather.  More than anything, Jamaica has been frustrating. I knew parts of this trip would be frustrating - I just didn't think it would be this frustrating the first 10 days!

So we head to Montego Bay tomorrow, and fly out Saturday morning for the Yucatan (with a layover in Miami because apparently you can't get to Mexico from Jamaica even though it's CLOSE).  I'm hoping for some sunshine.

One other note about Jamaica - my god do they play a lot of Shaggy. Adam wanted to know how many albums the man has, because they play him nonstop - way more than they play Bob Marley.

2 comments:

  1. Don't give up on Pacific Northwest!! 😊😊😊 its more of a mist than a downpour

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  2. Ha. It's been better so far in Mexico...

    ReplyDelete