On to Ocho Rios

January 7

Didn’t mean to post yesterday’s offering before covering our evening activities.

We stopped at the super market to pick up a few things for dinner, which I ate while watching the Bears-Eagles playoff game, which the Bears lost on a last-second blown field goal.

We were driven by Gilbert up a winding road to the top of a mountain, where we went to the Dub Club, a popular place for music. Climbed down some steep stairs to through the weed-infused smell to the happening club, where it was happening for people about one eighth (okay, a slight exaggeration) our age. So after soaking in the nice views briefly, we escaped the Dub (luckily, we’d asked Gilbert to wait) and drove back to the quiet refuge of Kay’s veranda and a couple of cold beers before retiring.

Did a wash this morning and had another lovely, leisurely breakfast on the veranda. I read more of Michelle Obama’s book, BECOMING, which I’m enjoying very much, both because it’s interesting and well-written and because we know the places and some of the people she talks about in Chicago.

Gilbert picks us up and drives us some two hours to Ocho Rios on the new highway through the mountains. Part of the drive is through heavy rain on a windy road. Kay tells him to get off the phone (good work, Kay) and Carol is very unhappy that there is no functioning seatbelt on Kay’s side. But we make it to Ocho Rios without incident and check into our very modest hotel, Rooms on the Beach. Kay has booked us “Ocean View” rooms, despite the fact that it’s the Caribbean Sea, not an ocean, that we’re on. Carol and I have a slight view of the sea, but Kay has none. When she complains about the lack of view, the lady at the desk says that “Ocean View” is just what they call the rooms. We speculate that some marketing guy thought that “Ocean View” was a lot better than “Sea Glimpse.”

It’s 3PM and we’re all hungry, so we walk to nearby Juicy’s where we have some delicious “patties” which are like flaky empanadas filled with your choice of different insides. This is a rough equivalent to our hamburger and I think there’s a brilliant franchising opportunity for these in the U.S. here’s Kay devouring one and a couple photos of the atmosphere at Juicy’s.

A brief lesson in Jamaican. “Yes” is “yes, man”, which is pronounced “yeh monn.” “Patties” is pronounced “pahties”. When the woman who works for Kay breaks something, she explains that “it dropped.”

We return to the hotel, where Carol reads and I nap. After our late lunch, none of us is hungry, so Kay passes on dinner altogether, and Carol and I have some thing light at the hotel. Then up to the room for blogging and more Michelle Obama.