Montego Bay, Jamaica

After two days at sea on the boat, we had our first port- Jamaica! I'm really glad it was our first port. Otherwise, I would have been more disappointed with Jamaica. 

Here we are waiting to get off the boat in the morning.

Dave and I had signed up for an excursion (zip lining), but it wasn't until later in the afternoon. Since we had the whole morning with no real plans, we decided to get a pass for a 'hop on hop off" bus. It seemed like a good idea...

But this was how we were feeling after we paid and got on the bus.

Montego Bay just seemed really poor and dirty- and the people will NOT leave you alone. They want you to buy something, or to braid your hair, or for you to follow them somewhere. Driving through town was SCARY, plus there was no where that we really wanted to go. We got off the bus at a craft market (the last stop because the other stops came and went and we never WANTED to get off the bus). The craft market was a nightmare. Imagine 40 Jamaican women all wanting to shake your hand and show you the stuff they make, and want you to  buy it, and teach you secret hand shakes, and braid your hair (at least 20 ladies touched my hair...). Needless to say, we were uncomfortable and got out of there as fast as we could.

We went to eat some jerk chicken- which everyone said was really good. Not really good. And really expensive.

 THEN we went back to the port to go on our excursion. We got on a CRAZY bus with a crazy bus driver and drove up a windy "two lane" road to get up into the jungle. And let me start by saying that Dave really wanted to zip line, and I wanted him to be happy, so I agreed :)

 But I WAS SCARED. I was feeling nervous before we started, but the real anxiety attack happened after the second zip. Holy freaking cow. MUCH too scary for this wuss. But by then, what could I do? I had to finish. I tried really hard to not think about what we were doing. And sorry Dave- I was in a horrible ticked off mood for most of it- but only because I was scared out of my mind.

 This must have been before we actually started :)

 This too

 Then holy crap!!! That's me in the middle of the Jamaican jungle two hundred feet off the ground.

REALLY beautiful, but really scary. I think half of my problem was that we had already had an 'interesting' morning in Jamaica. My impression was not the best. And I thought that if I was going to do something life threatening, I would rather do it in a country that didn't seem so poor and old.

 It's crazy how they love tourists. When we went to get back on the boat there was a marching band.

I'm not saying that I'd never go back to Jamaica. But it definitely won't be my top choice :)