Family Trip @ MindSay 
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Lu...
*click*
...ray Caverns. My name is Russell, and I'll be showing you etc.etc. etc..."
Actually, *click* is a tad misleading, a sound from a different era. Had we been doing this two decades ago -- even one decade ago -- it would have been the distinctive sound of pressing "play" on a Walkman-type device. But this is the 21st century. Each of us knew the signal: Cue up and press "play" on our MP3 players right on the second syllable of the word "Luray." And so we did.
I'm sure Russell was quite interesting and informative. Actually, I did hear a bit of him through the subtle silences of the audio masterpiece. But let's face it: socKs and I were a bit "silly" from the mushrooms of which we had partaken slightly before. I'm not usually a fan of mushrooms, but hey -- anything to make the experience more genuine.
Russell was going through the rules -- no touching anything, no going in front of him, yadda yadda yadda. All as the crescendo of "Speak to Me" rang through my ears. We started moving and seeing the wonders of stalactites and stalagmites -- and we breathed in the cave air to "Breathe," the next track. It was truly wonderful.
The sensory experience almost overwhelmed us, but we got through it all. All the way through the culmination of "Eclipse." After which time we all gave Russell a round of applause for the job well done. And we then knew the majestic spirit of synchronization which existed. It was true and it was good. And we know this truth,
The group tour at Luray Caverns does synchronize perfectly with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.
How trippy is that?
More pictures and what *really* went down today coming in a blog sometime soon...
I have a good news
1. Today, the Local representative comes see and talk with the host family. That was a nice conversation.
2. She will help ma call and the the old family know about DO NOT CALL mE anymore!!!!
3. I will stay here with happiness.
4. Im going to start driving here sOOn.
5. I spent a lot of MONEY tonight!!!!! YaHoOoooooooo for my trip to see my Big ass of Lover.
6. I got a chance to see a nice family, and meet other people.
7. I have to go back to work ToMoRRoW !!!!!
8. My ex-Bf sent email to me that he reached Japan save and sound!!!
9. I fixed my hair today, it looked nicer..that why i dont have to go cut my hair.
10. I will dream of my big ass Boyfriend, How is about that?
11. I couldnt sleep tonight! what should I do??????
12. Oh My Gosh!!!! Time for sleep....
Bye Reader
Kitty
I met some of the most amazing, caring and awesome people. I am truly blessed. They were loving, honest and truest people I have been charmed to know. Thank you to my family and those I consider family as well. This includes Fairydustings, Readbooks, Ukonzukai (and hubby), Jewfroart & Bovisrex.
One bad experience cannot take away the awesomeness of those I care about. Thank you soo much for being there for me!!! Thank you soo much for your hospitality.
YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!!! I will try to go through my pictures tonight when we get home. I hope to post them soon.
Sorry for being all emo previously. *HUGS TO YOU ALL*
Okay, so it's finally time to start on my blog about Jamaica. I'm warning you all, after a week of being there, this is going to be LONG.
Day 1~
We had to leave the house around 2am to get to Corey's grandparents' house as we were riding with them to the airport. We got there a few minutes later than expected and everyone was freaking out at us even though one of his aunts families wasn't there yet either. We were still there in plenty of time to make it to the airport about 3 hours early. About 10 minutes later, the other family shows up and all 18 of us pile into 3 vehicles. We got to the airport at about 4am and had to do self checkin because the counter doesn't open until 4.30 or 5, so that was a huge pain in the ass. Luckily with our passports, all we had to do was scan them through the machine and our names came up right away instead of having to input booking numbers and bla bla bla. We got through security with no problem, which is a little surprising for a group of 18 people. Only one or two people had something in their carry-ons they weren't supposed to have and that was dealt with quickly.
So, still having about 2 hours before our flight, we all got to sit in the terminal for a while and be bored. Always fun... damned rule about being so early for international flights. Our first stop was in Memphis, TN, and that's where things started getting a little more interesting. To catch our connecting flight, which was supposed to leave about 15 minutes after our plane got there, we all ran Home Alone style through the Memphis airport to get to our terminal. We made our plane, then found out a few minutes later, we hadn't had to run. There was another flight coming in with about 20 of the passengers to Jamaica on it, so they were holding the plane. It woulda been nice if we'd known about that. People had been looking at our group very oddly as we'd run all out through the airport. But, it was kinda fun anyway. I was sitting on the plane reading my book and Corey elbowed me to get my attention. When I looked up I saw a male flight attendant who was built like a damned bodybuilder. His arms were bigger around than my legs, he was huge! Corey and I wanted to hear him come out with a femmy voice just because it would have been funny. We weren't far off. About half way through the 3.5 hour flight from Memphis to Montego Bay, Corey's mom heard him ask "Do you want a beer?" Thinking this huge guy was talking to her, she said no and glanced up. That's when she realized he wasn't talking to her. He was talking to Corey's dad. He said sure, ordered a beer, and when the guy handed it to him, he tried to pay and his money was refused. The big guy smiled and told him "I buy it for you." Corey's mother was in tears she was laughing so hard, and she had to bury her face in the book she was holding to try and hide it a little bit. Then she told Corey what was happening and he informed his dad that he'd found a man who could manhandle him. At that point, I was nearly in hysterics I was laughing so hard. When the guy came back for the empty can and Corey's dad handed it to him, he thanked him like he'd just been handed a ton of money. We think he kept the can to fondle at home or something.
We landed in Jamaica and it was freaking HOT. The airport had no AC whatsoever. Luckily we were able to get through customs quickly. Customs down there was very simple. "Why are you here?" "Where are you staying?" Stamp, stamp, stamp, "Enjoy your vacation, mon." And yes, EVERYONE says mon down there, after almost every other sentence. We all grabbed our bags and made our way to the exit of the airport to board our bus to the hotel, which had AC. I think most of us were in heaven just stepping into the bus. I think most of us thought we were going to die on the way to the hotel though. They drive on the opposite side of the street in Jamaica, and the roads are very narrow. Our driver was going very fast down these roads, and yes, I know he knew what he was doing, but I felt as though we were going to crash at any moment. Especially when we had cars passing us on the side of a road that could barely fit 2 vehicles, much less 3. We made it to the hotel, which was a Holiday Inn resort, but it was far nicer than any of the ones I've seen up here. We got checked in, but Corey and I didn't get our room until almost an hour after everyone else because they weren't done cleaning it. Once we finally did get our room, we took our own luggage (the bellboys will stand in your room forever if you don't tip them) and found our rooms. There were seven buildings for guest rooms at that hotel. We were in building 5 along with Corey's parents and his sister, everyone else was in 6. We told everyone we were going to take a nap when we got to the room, but we ended up crashing until the next morning, which was no big deal, because as soon as we hit our room, it started pouring outside and it didn't stop until well after midnight. We got crap for sleeping so long, but we'd both been up more than 36 hours and neither of us slept much on the planes.
Day 2~
Corey and I got up and went for breakfast at the buffet downstairs, which consisted of the usual things like french toast, pancakes, and bacon, along with some Jamaican dishes that looked a little iffy to me, but I tried them anyway. I didn't like a few of them, but I found one that was really good... it was some sort of hard, sweet, baked bread that I don't remember the name of. After that, we decided to go throw our swimsuits on and go out to this little island that was about 10 feet from the shire of the ocean that they'd set up beach chairs on for the guests. There were men standing in the ocean selling things that they'd made themselves to the people staying at the hotel. We found out a little later that they couldn't sell on the hotel grounds, but they couldn't get kicked out of the ocean because, obviously, no one owns it. One of them we started calling King Triton because we all thought he looked like the original Jamaican. He looked exactly as you'd expect, long dreadlocks, big beard. He was very sweet though. We sat on the little island and talked to a woman from Chicago who'd brought her daughter and 2 of her friends down for 4 days to celebrate their graduation from highschool.
We got lunch at a stand near the ocean that was open along with the attached bar from 10am until 1am. Their burgers taste a lot different from the ones up here. And I think most of the family bitched because there was no salt on the fries, but I thought they were really good, they didn't need any. After that, we went to one of the swimming pools (there was a family one and an adult one with a bar you could swim up to) to go swimming because there were some jellyfish issues that day and they didn't advise actually swimming in the ocean. Corey's little sister had stepped on one the previous night, but luckily she didn't get stung. She freaked out all the same. I think I would have too, at least for a couple of minutes. After a couple hours of swimming, it started to rain again, so we all retreated to our rooms and most of us called it a night. A few people went to the bar near the main lobby, but we decided against it since we were still a little jetlagged.
Day 3~
The day went much the same as day 2 except it didn't rain so much and Corey refused to drink since he was going deep sea fishing the next day. I drank and ended up a little on the drunken side. The rum down there is a LOT stronger than anything we have up here. We were warned about that, but I don't think any of us really believed it until we got our first taste of it. Between the heat and the fact that the bartender liked me, I was drunk after about 4 drinks. Corey thought it was funny, as did most of the rest of his family, but they were drunk too, so it doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure Corey and the 2 of his cousins still too young to drink were the only sober ones that night. Corey's mom adopted me as her drinking buddy for the trip, and I know damn well that when she drinks with me, I'm gonna end up drunk as hell because she doesn't like to end up that way alone.
Day 4~
Corey was up early to go fishing with his grandpa and 2 of his uncles, so I was left to wander around alone. Corey had been offered pot on several occasions, but that day was the first time I'd ever been offered anything. I'm guessing it was because I was actually alone. I was hit on by about 8 different men on the block and a half walk from my room to the buffet to get breakfast, and most of them were calling me princess... a name most of you know I hate. I didn't say anything because I knew they were being nice, I just kind of cringed inwardly a few times when it was said. After breakfast, I went out to the little island again and laid in the sun since it was finally out. The last 3 days had been cloudy. Unfortunately, that was the day I forgot to put sunscreen on. I was out for about an hour and a half and I FRIED. And yes, Corey got pictures of my friedness when he got back from fishing. He did catch a very big tuna while they were out there, and one of his uncles caught something they called a Wahu. It looked like a big silver bullet in the photos I saw. I tried going back out in the sun that day with sunscreen on, but the heat was too much for me. The second the sun hit my skin, it hurt like a bitch and I went running back to the room. Corey's family understood because his mother and sister were in the same predicament as I was. After the sun went down, which was before 7pm there, I wandered back out with Corey to get some dinner and have a couple of drinks. We went upstairs because there were a few shops up there and we wanted to see what they were selling. There was also a palm reader up there along with a medicine man who was selling a sex potion that he told a few of the guys "would keep them better for their women". I damn near died laughing when he said that and Corey looked at me like I was crazy because he hadn't heard him. I was half tempted to buy a couple bottles to send to an ex as a joke, but I didn't have any cash on me at that point and I wasn't running back to the room again. We went back downstairs after finding out there was a club upstairs called "Witches' Disco" that was open until 2am. We had thought about going in, but when we looked, it was dark as hell and there wasn't anyone inside except for the bartenders and one couple who looked like they were having sex standing up on the dance floor. We went back downstairs to join Corey's mom at the bar and sat for a little bit until I had to go back to the room because my sunburn was making me feel sick. I went back and put a bunch of aloe on and fell asleep.
Day 5~
Corey and I went across the street from the hotel to a little shopping area that was set up there. He'd gone the day before while I was sleeping with the rest of his family and knew just the shop we had to go to. The shop was called the Royal Selection and it was run by a very sweet lady from India named Bobby. As soon as we went inside, she hugged us all and gave us free sodas, beer, or water and let us do our shopping without bothering us. All the other shops had people standing outside them yelling for everyone to come shop in their stores, hers had noone outside. I ended up getting a dress, a shirt, and a sarong (for those of you who don't know what a sarong is, it's kind of like a beach cover up, it's sheer and wraps around the waist). Mine was a 2 piece, and she showed me how to wrap it. When she was showing me how to wear the top piece of it, she told me she might have to find a size larger for the top because I was "A little bit booby". I've had lots of comments on my chest before, but that one was a first. Corey and his mom were nearly on the floor laughing, and I was using all my effort just to stay standing while she finished showing me how to wear the top piece of it. It DID fit, by the way, for those of you giggling at my little bit booby-ness. :P When I'd taken the sarong back off and put it back in it's bag, Bobby ran to the front counter and pulled out an ankle bracelet with blue and green beads and came back and put it around my ankle. "It matches, you take it honey." She refused to let me pay for it. Corey found a shirt and a couple other little things he wanted and we went up to pay. She discounted almost everything we had by 5-10 bucks apiece. We ended up paying about $40 for $70 worth of stuff. She wouldn't let us leave without having a shot of rum with her first, so she poured us both a small glass of coffee flavored rum and drank with us. Another thing that surprised me, we were allowed to smoke in the store. Bobby liked the smell of the smoke, so she grabbed an ashtray and told us to light up if we wanted to. She even gave Corey a sweet smelling cigar because he'd shown interest in them.
Something else kind of amusing I found out that day, $1 US is equal to $65 Jamaican. Corey's mom traded a $10 bill for a $500 Jamaican bill. We didn't get that much, but we do have a few $10 coins that equal out to about $0.25. We also ended up buying 2 cartons of Marlboro's down there for $20 apiece. I don't think I've seen smokes that cheap since I was a kid.
Oh, and just for reference if anyone decides to take a vacation down there, while you are there, you are not American, British, Welsh, or whatever else you may be at home, you're Jamaican. They won't brook any arguments about that. While you're there, you're one of them.
We went back to the bar that night, and all 3 of the male bartenders there were calling me princess and serving me drinks far stronger than I'd expected. I drank spiced rum and coke the whole night and I'm pretty sure there was just enough coke for coloring in there. Instead of using the pouring tip they actually had on the bottles, they pulled them off and just poured straight from the bottle for my drinks. I was drunk yet again after about 5 drinks. Corey vanished for a while, and I went to find him, stumbling all the way, and found him talking to a family from England. They were all very nice, they'd only been there for about 3 days and still had 12 to go. I'm pretty sure they they were from somewhere near Stafforshire and it had been almost a 10 hour flight for them. And I'd thought 5 hours was a long damned time to be on a plane. After talking with them, I was too drunk to remember all their names, I started to get tired and went back to the room. I'm pretty sure Corey didn't come back until well after the bar closed at 1 because he was still talking to that family.
Day 6~
Corey and I went back over to the shopping center across the street to see Bobby again and pick up a few things for people I'd wanted to bring home presents for. All of you who gave me an address got something, but I'm not telling any of you what those somethings are :P You'll just have to wait and find out when you get them. Bobby gave us her email address so we could stay in contact with her when we got home and send her some pictures. When we left, she gave both of us a kiss on the cheek and a big hug and told us we'd better make sure to email her when we got home so she knew we'd made it safely. She also gave me a hematite Buddha necklace and a Jamaica lighter to "remember her by". I can't remember what she gave Corey, but I know she gave him something. We did stop by a couple of the other shops on our way out and I found another bracelet and Corey found a necklace he wanted, so we bought those too. On our way out, we ran into a few more members of Corey's family and found out that his youngest cousin, who I think is 10, got his foot run over as they were crossing the street. The person didn't even stop to see if he was okay. Needless to say, he was in tears and terrified. I'm pretty sure I would have been too. I thought we had crazy drivers up here, the ones down there are insane. The shopkeepers all came out to see why he was crying and tried to cheer him up, hugging him and trying to calm him. It was amazing how they all came out to make sure one little boy was all right. Up here, I doubt you'd see that many people trying to make sure the kid was okay. He was in one piece and mostly unharmed, there was some bruising on his foot, but luckily nothing was broken and he didn't get hit full on or something.
We went back to the hotel and spent our final full day in Jamaica wandering the beach and taking pictures. I'll post those as soon as I get them back, because like I said before, my digital camera broke a long time ago and I haven't had the time or need to replace it yet. Corey and I wandered down by the water again when the tide was coming in to watch the fish and all the crabs and things making patterns in the sand that wasn't covered by water. There were tons of Jellyfish in the water trying to get back out to sea, but the tide just kept pushing them toward the shore. There were a lot of them washed up on the sand, a few of them were still alive, so Corey kicked then back into the water since he had tennis shoes on and I was only wearing sandals. I wasn't about to try and do it because I didn't want to get stung. One of Corey's cousins had gotten stung on the heel from stepping on one barefoot the day before.
We all did family pictures before we went upstairs to eat at the fancier restuarant for a second time. While we were at the restaurtant, one of Corey's cousins was picking on and having fun with the waiter for their table. Toward the end of the meal, he tried to ask Corey's aunt if she had a belt on, but it came out a little wrong. Instead of a belt, he asked "Do you have a strap on?" Corey was on the floor laughing, his sister was close, and I nearly choked on my food. His uncle piped up with something along the lines of "I don't need a strap on, mine's attached" and we all lost it. It took the waiter a moment to realize what he'd said, and I think he was laughing nearly as hard as the rest of us. When we asked him why he wanted a belt, he replied jokingly that Corey's cousin needed a spanking for being a pain in the ass for the nearly 2 hours we were up there.
Not long after that, I went back to the room to start packing our things up so we'd be ready to leave the next day. Corey was at the bar with his mom and the family from England that he'd met a couple days earlier. He came back to the room when I was nearly done packing and helped me make sure that we hadn't forgotten anything, then we both called it a night.
Day 7~
We got up at about 9am to eat breakfast before we left for the airport and wander around a bit more to say goodbye to the people we'd met. We got email addresses for a lot of them and we've already sent emails to a few to let them know we got home okay and all that happy stuff.
We got to the Montego Bay airport and made our way easily out of the country. When we got back to Memphis, we had to go through US customs, which is a pain in the ass. We had to claim our bags then wait in line for about 45 minutes just to get to the front. Out of the entire family, Corey and I got selected for questioning by one of the customs officials. There was nothing in our bags that we hadn't claimed, and they didn't search it, they just asked us a bunch of stupid questions about our trip and where we were going. I was asked if I was staying with Corey and that's the only thing the guy actually said to me, everything else was directed at Corey. We got through, re-checked our suitcase, and went on to our flight home to Minneapolis.
As our plane was taxiing out, they stopped and told us that there was some sort of malfunction with the computer that monitored one of the engines and there was also fluid leaking from one of the engines. We sat for an hour in the plane before finding out that the leaking fluid had been a little bit of fuel because something had stuck partially open and they'd gotten it fixed and the computer was fixed as well. Nearly an hour an a half late, we finally took off for home on a plane I wasn't sure I wanted to be on. Every time there was a bump, my first thought was "I'm going to die." Obviously, we made it home safe. Getting our luggage at the airport turned into a big problem as some of it was put on a second flight from Memphis to Minneapolis that took off at almost the same time we did. Everyone was panicking when their luggage hadn't come out with our flights things until they finally went to the counter to ask what was going on. Nothing was missing, nothing broke, and we made our way to the bus that would take us back to the cars. We ended up getting home almost 13 hours after we'd left Jamaica.
So here I am, sunburn turned to tan, even if my shoulders and back are peeling like a bitch and itching like crazy. Crystal, I blame you for my sunburn, you jinxed me :P I'm finally rested enough to not be lagged from the whole trip anymore, and I'm mostly happy to be home. I do kind of want to go back though, it was a lot of fun. For those of you who gave me addresses, you'll be getting something as soon as I get time to send everything off, so give me a little time before you start bugging me for stuff :P As I said before, I'll post photos as soon as I get them back from being developed. I haven't dropped them off yet, I'm probably going to do same day developing on thursday when I get my check, so bear with me a few more days and you'll have lots of pictures to look at :)
~Tina
Showing 1 - 5. [ Next ]
