Living the Dream with Joyce: January 14th, 2015

Jamaica today, mon!! We docked at Montego Bay and got ashore in a fairly orderly fashion. Donna and I had booked tickets for a shore excursion to Ocho Rios and the Dunn's River Falls, so we climbed onto the tour van and took off to explore. Our guide was hilarious - can't remember his name - will have to ask Donna! We drove out of Montego Bay and through Ocho Rios, with lots of interesting and very entertaining patter from our guide, and stopped at a little roadside store to buy water shoes, which seem to be a necessity for climbing the falls! Absolutely gorgeous scenery! Interesting fact: we passed lots of houses which were in the process of being built - in various stages of construction. Our guide told us that families take years to build a house - they get as much done as they can afford, and as soon as there is a ceiling on one part, they move in and live there while getting the rest of the house built! A very poor country, Jamaica. It feels weird, being one of the "rich" white tourists here . . .
The Falls themselves were quite the experience! We changed into our bathing suits, leaving our clothes on the van, along with cameras and other valuables, since we would be clambering around rocks in water and that kind of stuff could easily be damaged! Along with another guide, we followed a path down to the beach, then all joined hands (around 20 or so people) and started to climb up the falls! Much to my chagrin, I am no longer the mountain goat I used to be! First, I have way too much weight on me to be hauling myself up steep rocks; second, I really didn't like having both hands occupied with holding other people's hands - having to climb upright, without being able to grab onto the rocks, made me feel kind of precarious. I made it to the half way point and then got out, with my legs shaking like crazy. Oh well, at least I got that far! I strolled around the area, taking in the beautiful flowers and trees - no camera, though, so no pictures. The trek back to the van wound through a whole village full of stands where people were selling crafts, etc. - and the sellers were downright aggressive and in your face about their products and how we should be buying them. Donna bought a lovely cobalt blue mug for her dish set at home.
The trip back to the ship was every bit as lovely as the trip there - and the guide tried, as much as possible, to take a different route, so that we could see as much as possible of his island. And yes, they really do say "Yeah mon" all the time - way more often than Canadians say "Eh".