stubsadventures

Although a trip is always an amazing opportunity, I have come to prefer travelling around, staying in multiple cities/towns in smaller hotels compared to staying at all inclusive. It only took one day for Poncho and I to figure out it was time to turn this trip into an adventure.

We got off the resort as much as possible and planned half day trips to take full advantage of the already paid for food (which was amazing). We again took a jaunt out of town but this time to a much quieter section and did some shopping and had drinks at Margaritaville.

One of my favourite things was when we hired a cab driver to take us into a different parish (like a province or state) to check out the Green Grotto Caves. Most of the things to do around the hotel were of course packed with people and the kind of thing you can do in any country. People were getting dropped off at these places by the bus load. Instead, we went a half hour out of town and had the time of our lives. At the Green Grotto, it was Poncho and I, and three other Jamaicans. The caves are just beautiful, and are a significant part of Jamaican history. Underground there is an amazing lake which will go down as one of the most breathtaking places I have ever been.

Our cab driver Rob was amazing. When you’re trying to figure things out in Jamaica and are asking questions, you will get a significantly different answer from person to person. One person will tell you a destination is fourty-five minutes away and another will tell you it’s four hours. Rob was the only person who was right about all of them and always took good care of us. He would show us where to get our tickets for things and be sure we got inside safely. I was able to learn a lot about Jamaican industries from him, it was cool. I believe I may have asked him in the ballpark of 350 questions.

Sticking with Rob, we went on his advice to check out a place that did rafting down a river on a bamboo raft, Poncho had her heart set on it. We were the only people there, which was awesome. The rafts are loaded into the river right before you get on it and that is a process in itself, the pictures don’t relay the sound of the huge crashing bamboo. Once going down the river, it’s amazing how much white water there really is. The raft through the jungle was an amazing way to spend an hour and watching him negotiate the white water was something in itself.

That evening, we had the great pleasure of experiencing the luminous Lagoon. An hour cab ride from our hotel, the lagoon is filled with an algae that “glows” when it’s agitated. Although at first, you could barely see anything and it seemed to be a bit of a tourist trap, as the sun went down, the lagoon got brighter and was actually a pretty amazing sight. The best thing to compare it to is the northern lights. Even when people got in to swim, their hands and feet lit it up because of the motion. although the pictures aren’t perfect, I was the only one on the boat to get any at all!

Jamaica was awesome but mostly because it was the first international adventure with Poncho. Sharing something like that with your best friend is something I will cherish for a long time.

Stubs.