"Second Honeymoon" - Day 2
by Xavier and Karen Murphy

We were awakened by a big sound on the zinc roof. Maybe it was a breadfruit or almond from a tree on the property. I peeped out the window facing the beach and could see Chris raking the property. Karen was still lying in bed half awake. I could smell something nice coming from the Kitchen. I hurried to do my morning ritual (brush teeth, change etc.) and headed for the Kitchen/dining area, which is located directly in the middle of the property and surrounded by all the cottages.

“Mawning Vivien, what's breakfast” I said.

“Jamaican food man.” She replied.

Vivien had known us from our last visit so me asking such a question was not rude. Ok we should be out in half an hour. I headed back to the room and Karen was almost ready. There was no sign of rain coming so we both put our swimwear under our clothes. We then sat in the wooden chairs that were outside at the entrance of our cottage. We had a great view of the beach and figured we had 10 more minutes before we head over to the dining area.

We heard someone talking coming down the path. It was Andrea one of the managers on property. We went out and met her by the entrance to the dining area. We were happy to see her and congratulated her on her recent marriage, which Lilly told us about yesterday. She had gone to Kingston to a function but it had been cancelled due to the rain.

We entered the dining area & sat down. There was a group from India also in the dinning area. Lilly had mentioned they were there for the test cricket match. India vs. West Indies. They were friendly. They were already eating and left pretty quick as a boat was waiting on the beach for them. The kitchen and dinning area are in one building, kind of cafeteria style. The kitchen is enclosed with a half door with a counter that opens up to the dinner area. While we sat Vivien put two plates on the counter.

I got up to get plates that were on the counter but Vivien beckoned me to sit down. She served us the plates and it was one of Karen's favorite. It was callaloo and dumpling. Next she brought us a plate each of fruit. The plates contained mango banana, pineapple, and orange. The food was good. We were stuffed and had to sit for a bit. Lilly, Bim and Andrea came up to the dinning area and we talked.

Next we headed for the beach. The sun had started to come up. Karen and I put our feet in the water. Cold. The rain must have made the water cold. We headed back to the shore & lay out on the lounge chairs facing the water. We talked and watched people go by. We watched tourists walk up and down the beach. Actually I was a Jamaican born tourist myself. We could see many of the other hotels coming life.

A small boat started to approach with a man with double-sided paddle. He pulled up on shore and pulled up a string of fish. A few of the people walking along the beach had stopped and were pointing in the boat. A crowded started to gather. They were all pointing at something in the boat. Curiosity had now set in so Karen & I got up and walked over to the boat. As we peered in we saw a string of fish in the boat and a big prickly fish. We asked what type of fish it was and some replied 'Sour sop fish'.

The fish was large with spots & looked like a ball with a tail. Never giving up an opportunity for a good photo I took up the string of fish. By now the crowd had somewhat dispersed & a people were buying fish from the fisherman. They were mainly the cooks from the resorts near by.

The fish was large with spots & looked like a ball with a tail. Never giving up an opportunity for a good photo I took up the string of fish. By now the crowd had somewhat dispersed and people were buying fish from the fisherman. They were mainly the cooks from the resorts near by. We walked back over to our chairs and lay on the beach some more. There was crab digging a hole in the sand close by. He was clearing his home from all the sand that probably went down the hole while people walk along the beach and the wind. Karen and I watched with interest for a while as he did not seem to fear us being by. He just went about his business. It is great having time to watch nature I thought. No meetings to rush to.

Lilly had started to hang out her wares on the trees on the property. She had shirts, towels, scarves and other clothing items she was selling. Karen went over to look and bought a few things. She picked out a few things she liked and took it over to Lilly who was at the beach view bar a few feet away on the property. She suggested that we go down to her stall in the Negril market the next day because she had better stuff down there. Karen made her arrangements for a visit tomorrow.

Chris had finished raking up so I asked him if we could have 2 jelly coconuts. There are trees all over the property. Chris promptly climbed one of the trees and picked 4 coconuts. I have seen people climb the coconut tree before but every time I see it I am amazed. After drinking the coconut water we asked him to cut them so we could eat the jelly or meat. It was starting to get cloudy so we went over to the bar.

This bar is an open wooden frame-building opening on beach with a few tables, chairs, a bar counter and a hammock. Lilly was braiding one of the guest’s hair. She had her daughter with her. There was a table there with a few games. Karen started talking to the guest who said she was from New York. Karen had mentioned she would like to take a picture for our trip report that would be going online at Jamaicans.com. The guest said she had heard of the site.

We played dominoes till about 1:00 pm then we headed over for lunch. We had the dinning area to ourselves. We had told Vivien we were staying on the property for lunch and asked if she could fix us up something. Most people eat lunch off the property. I know this sounds lazy but we just prefer lazing around and do everything close by.

Lunch was breadfruit, salt fish and lemonade. It has been a long time since I had roast breadfruit. Actually I meant good roast breadfruit. The rain started to fall as we began eating. Lilly “scampering” to get her wares off the tree and you could see some of the others on the beach running for cover. Once we were finished eating we ran over to our room/cottage, which was parallel to the kitchen. There are enough trees on property to shade you from the rain.

We sat on the verandah looking out at the beach watching the afternoon. It was really relaxing. We were both full from lunch and went in for a nap. The rain can do that to you.

We woke up later that evening and it had stopped raining. We went back down by the bar and played some more dominos. We both took turns lying in the hammock, which was hung on the wooden frame of the bar and did some reading. As they say Negril is the capital of casual relaxation. We hung out until it got close to dinnertime, then we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. Dinner was fish. When in Jamaica we eat fish. Karen and I had the dining area to ourselves. The rain had stopped and darkness had come. The sounds of the night had started. As we ate dinner we could see the reflection of light on the water. Another perfect night

Day 3 of my Trip report will be published next Month: October

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