Waagwan, 2011!!

When he arrived in Jamaica, Christopher Columbus was quoted as saying the following:

“It is the fairest island eyes have beheld; 

mountainous and the land seems to touch the sky." 

(1494)

I bring this up because this past weekend, we climbed up the "land that seems touch the sky!"

At Fiction

But to back up... Thursday, my lovely Kappa sister Abena came to JA from NYC!  We spent the day all over Kingston... driving around with some friends, lunch at Shanty Man (a Rasta-run Ital restaurant that overlooks the area of Papine), and ice cream at Devon House!  At night, we had dinner at Scotchies, which I believe Beyns loved... it was deeeeelicious!

Jasmine came back from Negril, along with her friend Joel from college.  Wanting to give Abena and Joel the proper welcome to Jamaica, we took them out to "Ladies Night" at Fiction and then to the afterparty (circa 2am) to The Building!

Somehow, we were able to rally early Friday morning, and Jasmine, Joel, Abena and I went to Lyme Cay.  Again, this is a tiny island off the southern coast of Kingston that is absolutely beautiful!  We enjoyed an afternoon of sun bathing, eating, and watching some foreigners play with their fishing harpoon (go figure).  Of course, we got more Devon House ice cream for our visitors!

Abena and me on the way to Lyme Cay!

Best New Years Eve Ever.

Me and My Harpoon...

Friday night (New Years Eve) was crazy!  Erica got back as well, so we had a big reunion for Apt 40 (now known to most in Kingston as "Studio 40" since there is a club called Studio 38 nearby).  We had a really nice dinner with different foreign food - Chinese Stir Fry, Indian curry, and Fried Rice.  We took turns sharing our New Years Resolutions - which included 1) not worrying until we had to, 2) working on the mind-body-spirit connection, 3) having a year for just US and no one else, 4) learning a new language, 5) saving money, and 6) incorporating aspects of our friends that we admire into our own lives.  All good ones, right?

New Years Eve Dinner

Rather than go out at midnight, we counted down with Dick Clark, wearing glow stick necklaces, and watched the beautiful firework show over the ocean, from our balcony.  It was the perfect way to start 2011!  Of course, we wanted to go out and celebrate for awhile, so we checked out the club called Privilege, which was fun as usual.

Happy New Year, from s40!!

Scary Jeep Ride...

 Saturday - New Years Day - we planned for the most daunting task of all:  to climb to the peak of the Blue Mountains.  Now, this ended up being a much more intense experience than any of us expected!  We left Saturday afternoon, making the hour-long trek to Mavis Bank (a town in the mountains) via public transportation.  Then, we were picked up in a 4-wheel drive jeep where we had to sit in the open-air back.  This jeep ride had to be one of the most terrifying but awesome experiences, as we drove through the mountains and ravines, deep into the Blue Mountains.

Back of the truck...

View from the Jeep Ride to the Cabin

Crossing Ravines...

Dominoes in the Cabin

We stayed at a cute little cabin called Whitfield Hall.  We spent the evening eating dinner (Jamaican patties) and playing game after game of dominoes.  There was no electricity here, so we did everything by candlelight!  After falling asleep around 10pm in bunk beds, we woke up at about 1:30am to begin the hike.  Yes, the hike was in PITCH BLACKNESS.  The smart thing to have done was bring enough flashlights; but alas, we are sometimes "halfbrights" and didn't think about that.  So the 5 of us and our Rasta guide shared 2 flashlights as we scaled the mountain.

Trekking in the darkness...

So in my mind, I pictured a semi-leisurely walk along a trail that eventually gets you to the top.  WRONG.  There really wasn't much of a "trail" - more like a ton of rocks and ditches that we had to cross.  Oh, and they were wet because we were literally in the misty clouds.  Also, the average incline was north of 45 degrees.  And lastly, the stars didn't provide as much lighting as expected because of all the trees, so we pretty much hiked in the darkness.  That ended in many stubbed toes, falls off the edge of the cliff (Joel), and just some overall struggling.

Halfway Point!

However, 4.5 hours and several hiking games later (circa 6:30am)... we made it to the peak, above all the clouds, and just in time for the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen...

Moments before the sunrise...

Watching the sunrise...

Beautiful clouds!

 

The random house at the peak

Nearby Mountain Peaks

Wata in the distance...

Getting to the peak was the perfect way to spend New Years weekend.  In my mind, conquering the mountain is very symbolic of how I hope 2011 goes!  For example, conquering our research, remainder of the stay in Jamaica, and graduate school in the fall.  It was certainly very much of a mental battle to make it, and we all felt great when we did.

We did it!

Fulbrighters at the peak :)

Joel, Jazzy, Me, Ash, Beyns and our Tour Guide at the top!

The 3ish hour climb back down was somewhat difficult, just because everything was slippery, but at least we could see where we were going!  Every step uncovered another beautiful view of the cities and mountains and ocean.

The trail...

View of Kingston

After napping for the rest of Sunday, Abena, Joel and I enjoyed round #2 of Scotchies.  We played some more dominoes, looked at pictures of the weekend, and then I sadly sent Abena back to the airport :(

We saw a double rainbow!

Monday = reality shock.  Not only did I return to work at the Ministry, but also my Business School class began!  This semester, I am auditing a course titled "International Business Management," an extension of what I took last semester.  It is being taught by the most engaging Trinidadian professor (who calls herself "empress!").  I was so excited to be reunited with my classmates once again!  Yesterday's lecture was about the difference between economic growth (usually measured by GDP) and economic development (indicated more so by life expectancy and literacy rates).  We discussed different theories of growth that explain whether developing and developed countries will either converge (neoclassical growth theory) or continue to diverge (endogenous growth theory) over time.  Some studies have plotted the different factors that contribute to growth to see what impacts it the most, historically.  The conclusion was that educating males specifically increases growth!  Apparently educating females is not as helpful, since it tends to hurt the fertility rate.  Hmm... Anyhow, the first day of class was really interesting, and I am excited to delve into this topic some more!

2011 is clearly off to a greaaaaat start :)