Blue Mountain
We went to Blue Mountain this weekend, which is a pretty quick trip from Kingston. We headed up Saturday morning, at 8am (not my idea) and were up in the mountain by around 10. After checking in, we walked up the mountain, not quite to the peak, but to the GAP cafe (well know for its coffee and the fact Ian Fleming wrote parts of Dr. No in the house) which took about 3 hours. Our guesthouse, Mount Edge (http://www.mountedge.com/index.html) was clean and had cheap rates for volunteers. Meals are home cooked and the balcony has a great view of the mountains and Kingston. The owners of the guesthouse have a couple gardens where they grow fruits and vegetables, and are currently clearing land beside their property to raise sheep. They would like the make the property as self sufficient as possible, with mountain springs and great coffee it doesn’t sound like a bad deal. After our trek up the mountain, we had a afternoon snack of wine, cheese and bread and then hung out on the balcony until diner. Diner was French cuisine, prepared by the owner and was quite tasty. After diner we sat around the table, and had some interesting conversation with the owner and other guests ranging from productivity in Jamaica to Castro and Trudeau. Sunday morning we hiked down to a small waterfall, walked to coffee shop to try the local beans (first latte ive had since coming here) and then took in the view until we had to head back to Kingston. It was a relaxing weekend, but im pretty tired and the mosquitoes and various plants have me looking a little red and bumpy. The trip was very inexpensive, one night stay, diner and breakfast was only $2,000 JD which is $25 Canadian. Im sure we will be back next year.
Montego Bay
The last week of November, we drove to Montego Bay for work. DRF has branches and affiliate offices across the island and visited a couple locations. The purpose was to meet the employees at the other offices and get an introduction to the services they provide. It was an interesting trip and we came back with a better idea of the challenges they face. Over the course of the next year we will be working to help bring them closer to the head office in Kingston. To help the process, a couple volunteers might be stationed in field offices in Montego Bay or Spanish Town.
Salman, Jo and I decided to take advantage of the drive up to Montego Bay and stayed for the weekend. Friday was Eid and we tried to find an Indian restaurant to mark the occasion. The one Indian restaurant we heard of wasnt in walking distance, so we settled on Jamexican food. All the convenience stores in Montego Bay seem to be run by Indians and at the “Food 4 Less”, Salman struck up a conversation with the guys behind the counter. One guy just arrived from India and was pretty excited to talk to anyone that could speak Hindi. They offered to order Indian takeout from an Indian restaurant for us and have it delivered to their store for us to pick up. After spending the day on the beach, we ordered Indian food (which was very good), played pictionary and checked out the Montego Bay nightlife at the Bobsled Cafe (a tribute bar to the Jamaican bobsled team that plays “Cool Runnings” all day) and Margaritaville. On Sunday, we made a final stop at the beach before catching the bus back to Kingston.
This week will be a busy one at work, we had a big staff meeting Monday and the annual meeting is this Friday. Ive started working with the finance manager to help with the book keeping and im learning to use QuickBooks. There aren’t many weeks left until Christmas and im excited to be heading back to Canada on the 23rd.
