Jamaica days 8-9

Sunday 5/29/2011

The trip is now hitting its one week mark. But it feels like it's been a lot longer than that. We've done and seen so much! anyways, the day began with breakfast at the hostel. Fried eggs, toast, cooked plantains, little dough balls that are like festivals, and a salad like dish. After breakfast we began the 14 mile roundtrip hike to the top of the tallest peak in Jamiaca. the scenery up here is amazingly beautiful.I find it really relaxing. We were told the hike was a gradual one with lots of ups and downs. It wasn't. It was steep the whole way up. the group broke up into faster and slower groups. I stayed back with the slower group, enjoying the scenery, stopping to take pictures and hanging out with them. They were all starting to get mad at me, because I was smiling the whole time and the hike was easy for me. It was super cool when we hiked up into the mist. Between that and the thick jungle, It was pretty epic. Finally Chelise, Holly, Mari, Bev, Wendi and I made it to the top. you couldn't see anythign from up there. The mist and clouds were too thick. We ate our snacks, mine was Shirley Coconut cookies (my personal favorite Jamaican treat). Spent around 30-40 minutes up there and headed back. Chelise and I walked down the mountain together telling stories, asking questions, and having a good time. about a quarter of the way down, Chelise slipped and fell. She bashed her knee up pretty bad but insisted on continuing down  without takign a break. So we walked the whole way down. We arrived back at the hostel where we were instructed "you all are required to take showers." Like every other shower I've had in Jamaica, This one was freezing cold. Mari called dibs on me tonight. I ended up cuddlign with both of them at one point or another. I'm starting to think there is going to be a big dramatic fight at some point. To be honest, I'm still trying to figure out how all this happened! At what point did women suddenly decide to be in love with me? Maybe it's the air here.

Monday 5/30/2011

Woke up about 6 a.m. again. layed in bed for a while, then got up and went outside to take in the Blue Mountain Morning. I just sat outside for about an hour, listenign to the birds. Ethan came outside and we talked about whatever for a while. Then it was breakfast again. Same food as yesterday. Then we loaded our stuff in the trucks and began the descent. It was much less scary/fun than the journey up. Mari didn't freak out at all. Then we had to wait for the bus again. So we sat with our gear on the side of the road. Josh C played soccer in the street with this little boy, and the Girls held a little jamaican baby. the bus showed up and we got on. Ethan made up a pretty intense story about Chelise and I, and told it on the ride back to Kingston. When we arrived in Kingston, we stayed at a fancy hotel that was recommended to us by our bus driver. There are T.v.'s air conditioning, hot water and everything! Ethan and I went and visited Mari and Holly's room. Holly flooded the whole place by taking a shower. Then it was off to dinner. Everyone wanted to go to T.G.I Fridays. But Ethan, Josh G, Josh C, and I walked down town to go to a Jamaican restaurant. On the way, The questioned me about how the girl drama was going. we had curried goat for dinner. Back at the room, Sage is now bothering me about being a player and trying to be my counselor or something. I was summoned to go to Mari's room. Went up there, and not a whole lot was going on. Sage had me jump on her back, and she carried me right out of the room and over to Chelise's. I hung out there the rest of the night. Then when curfew came, I went back to our room and took picture of Jace and Ethan doing ridiculous poses with their Jamaican money.