Jamaica Me Crazy!
Posted by Peter Owen | Filed under restaurant, travel
So a friend of mine, Doug, was mentioning how he wanted to maintain his medallion status on Delta Airlines and one of the closest places he could travel to do so was Jamaica. I mentioned that I would definitely go with him if he was serious. Well turns out he completely missed the deadline, but we did decide to go anyway with another friend of ours, Ben.
Through random internet research we decided to book a new hostel called the Reggae Hostelin Ocho Rios (the original is in Kingston). It was very nice and we booked 2 private rooms, but they also have shared rooms. It’s literally on a parking lot that leads directly to the beach that has two cruise ship docks off in the distance. If you’d like to see Doug’s walk through on YouTube then head over here.
After we booked the hostel, we bought plane tickets for $508 a piece from Memphis March 19 – 25, 2014. Ben lives in Texas so we all arranged to arrive Wed. March 19th in Montego Bay within about 45 minutes of each other. We hired a van to take us the 1.5 hour trek to Ocho Rios. The driver was great and pretty much gave us a brief history lesson. Remember they drive on the left there. I’m so glad we didn’t rent a car.
The first night we got there, we settled in and then went wandering for some food. We asked a girl in the market where her favorite place to eat was and it was a Chinese place. While we didn’t find the same place she mentioned we did find A Chinese place and ate there. It was alright. Afterward we bought some Appleton’s (Jamaican rum that the van driver told us about), coke, and beer and celebrated.
The next day we met a nice British girl (who looks German, but ISN’T!) named Stephanie. She was traveling around by herself for months and she said it was nice to team up with us so she wasn’t harassed as much as she had been. She was a great companion for the next few days! We went to the beach and met a man named Charlie who basically can arrange any type of tourist type activity so we signed up to ride in a boat to the Dunn’s River Falls. The ocean water was so blue and clear you could see 20-30 feet to the bottom. The falls were wonderful and it was nice to be on the water in a boat again.
There’s another beach on the other side of the city from where we stayed called Mahogany Beach. Despite the signs, it’s actually a public beach. It appears they just want to keep out the locals. A fresh water spring creates a moat around the beach until it finally flows into the ocean. It’s a very pretty place with some condos very near that you can rent out. There was Andy’s Bar & Grill that overlooks Mahogany Beach and the ocean. It was beautiful and the food was great too! Doug grabbed a video of Jahwayne.
One thing you must understand about native Jamaicans is that they will try to sell, refer, guide, anything to earn a dollar. Once they know you’re not interested or don’t have the money then they will mostly leave you alone, though I had one guy follow me into a restaurant trying to get me to go somewhere else. All in all the culture is very unique and it was a laid back experience where we got to meet so many travelers from all parts of the world. That’s one of the benefits of staying in a hostel.
The FOOD! The food was wonderful! One night we ate at Whalers Seafood Restaurant & Sports Bar which was phenomenal, but very difficult to find. It was located in a fisherman’s co-op that wasn’t well lit. I had the fish escovitch, which was just spicy enough and very flavorful. One thing I’ve noticed is the restaurants for the locals have cheaper food than the tourist places (obviously). I also had oxtail (wonderful!) and curry goat which was surprisingly better than I thought it would be. Meat patties are very popular. They’re basically like a better hot pocket with various fillings and were very inexpensive.
Lastly Ben had a much earlier flight than Doug or me so we all checked out really early and went back to Montego Bay. Doug and I were trying to get an earlier flight (impossible… thanks Delta!) when a “cab” driver and I use this term VERY loosely came up to us and offered to take us to Doctor’s Cave Beach. We accepted and went swimming in the crystal clear water for the last time before our flight.
Every time I travel I’m very glad I did and am extremely grateful for the opportunity. Until next time!
