About an hour into this country, my first impression was that Jamaica SUX!
Fortunately, that impression only lasted a moment.
Got off the plane to see a crazy long line for
immigration. After waiting about half an hour, I finally
got to the counter where the woman told me that because I didn't have the
address of the hotel, she couldn't allow me to enter the country. (And I'm pretty sure Jamaica's a tourist economy, so I'm going to myself, "really? Is that your smartest move? To discourage people from coming?" But, I'm coming to Jamaica, so I go to the tourist board where a very
nice gentleman named Stefan Anders says, “oh, you’re with the church
group.” He let me log onto his computer
(because of course my iphone died as soon as I turned on the 3G…) and retrieve
my emails with the hotel name, then he looked up the number, escorted me
through immigration ("You’re a child of God.
You shouldn’t have to wait in lines."), and through customs. At customs, when I told the woman I had some
rubber bands in my bag, she made me go through another inspector who looked at
me like I was crazy for even coming to him.
Both the stumbling blocks were black women. The black men are awesome.
So Stefan said we were VIPs. The airport has no lounges
except private ones for resorts that people are paying to go to, so I went to
the VIP lounge. The ladies there were
like, “no, you’re not a VIP. We have no
knowledge of that.” (In their defense, I
think VIP is probably a brand, as opposed to our being VIPs through the tourist
board.)
So actually, it doesn’t completely suck. The guys are cool, the ladies are just plain
weird. I would like to write more now,
but need to find my church hat and go look for my group. But first I think I’ma get a patty and a ginger
beer. The only place I could wait is an
outdoor bar, and people are smoking, which I don’t like. But it’s better than milling around a
non-air-conditioned airport. Really, folks?
This is the Caribbean. Why would the airport not be air
conditioned? It’s 82 degrees outside,
and this is the first of April.
****************************************************************
Wow. Been here a few
hours now, and just being here is an attitude adjustment!!! It seemed that when I went back inside the airport the AC was on (maybe it's relative). After about half an hour of it cycling and my trying to restore it, my iphone miraculously resurrected itself. Between going outside to work on the iphone and computer and standing inside the arrival hall, I waited for -- I don't know, a couple of hours? I think every skycap in the Montego Bay airport knows me now. They play great music here, and when I'm bored, restless, or excited, I tend to dance. I did a lot of dancing this afternoon. The rest of the CME group came, Stefan
escorted them through immigration (they didn’t even have to wait in the line,
although some of them have horror stories of the folks in immigration and customs, and the ridiculous Jamaican customs declaration form), and we all got into a bus with Bishops Reddick and
Lakey. We stopped at a restaurant where
they’d pre-ordered meals for us. And
while I’m not officially vegan or veggie, I gave my jerk chicken away and made
do with the peas and rice and steamed veggies.
No reason, really – except that if I’ve been eating vegan for the last
several weeks, it doesn’t seem to me to be the brightest move to make a dietary
change while I’m in another country. The
tummy doesn’t always revolt, but why risk it?
Jamaica, a former British colony, has that peculiarity of
driving on the left hand side of the road.
I kept trying to put myself in a space where it could be normal or
reflexive, but to me, it just seems like they’re driving on the wrong side of
the street. Of course, I’m dying to get
behind the wheel! It seems we spent
about three hours driving steep and very winding hills through the beautiful
countryside between Montego Bay and St. Elizabeth. There was a storm ahead of us, and the changes
in pressure sort of lulled me in and out of sleep. My mind resisted the idea of sleeping the
first time in a new country, but it was just sooooo mellow! Along the way we saw groves of trees and
tried to figure out if they were mango, orange, or lemons (and at some point the driver pointed out ackee trees, but I'm not sure which ones they were); we saw pelicans high
in some trees; we saw LOTS of cows: skinny brown or red herds, big stocky Black
Angus herds, big white Brahmas, and I don’t know what else. Cows and goats. Lots of cows and goats. The driver also gave us a bit of history about St. Elizabeth -- it was the first place in Jamaica to have a hospital, telephones, or electricity, among other things. This brother was obviously quite proud of St. Elizabeth. We drove past so much stuff so fast -- this place demands time to explore it!
By the time we got to the hotel, my mood had changed
completely. They greeted us with some fruit punch type drinks, and though we’d
arrived early and they said our rooms weren’t yet ready, they let us in. I have a huge room with a balcony that
overlooks the ocean. That pretty much
trumps anything else that has or will happen on this trip. I mean, it’s 10:30 or 11:30 at night and
someone somewhere is playing music with a bass line so loud my lights are
flickering. Yes, it’s annoying, but I’m
thankful that I have Goody powder (for those of you not from the South, Goody
powder is like a powdered aspirin) and sleeping pills. It’ll be fine.
Dinner was a deliciously flavored pumpkin soup followed by
a buffet of tropical salad (something long and white and shredded, with cukes
and tomatoes and maybe some mango thrown in), canned green beans and carrots,
potatoes, rice, jerk pork, curry chicken, and pan fried fish. I had the salad and veggies. There was an orange chiffon cake and
chocolate cake afterwards. I had those,
too.
My room is a bit of a walk from the main hotel. It’s down a bunch of stairs and through some
not-very-well-lit vegetation. I took a
wrong turn coming back after the evening meal and got my feet all wet cuz I
stepped in a puddle, and then I was by the swimming pool, and then I had to
keep myself from going to the ocean because it is literally pitch black
outside. As much as I want to go hang
out by the water, I know it’s not wise.
It’s cool from my room – all I can see is the white caps as the waves
roll in. I’m trying to figure out if the
music is coming from next door or from down the beach somewhere. I really can’t tell, but sorta think it’s a
club or something down the beach. I SO
want to open the door and have the ocean lull me to sleep, but am not sure if
the bass line would counteract it. There are a few options for breakfast tomorrow. While I don't normally eat breakfast, I'm going to be adventurous tomorrow. There's an option for ackee with saltfish or calaloo with saltfish. I asked her to make me a vegan breakfast of ackee and calaloo with no saltfish. We'll see. If it's marginally tasty, it'll hold me til lunch; if not, I'll have my nuts and seeds.
Bishop Reddick read us the schedule for the rest of the week. I'm not prejudiced because he's a fellow Dukie, but he is methodical and organized. That's good. This will be a typical Annual Conference, plus they’ll
be electing delegates for General Conference.
I think Wednesday will be the perfect day to take off; I also think
that, next time, I’ll take a couple of days either before or after the
Conference to explore the rest of the Island.
They’re talking about doing it in low season next year; that would be
good.
I know this is a bit of a pointless ramble; at the end of
the day, it’s been another day traveling.
I’ve met more of my CME family and have come to a new country. I’m pretty tired, since I’ve been up for
about 20 hours now. But I feel great, and despite the functionaries I first
encountered, am beginning to understand why people love this little island so
much. There’s so much more I could write
– the people are just so friendly – but I’ll have to save that for another
time. I’m going to sleep now.
Here is a link to pics of the day.
Here
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