A^2 Heads South For the Weekend

This weekend, Ashley and I were craving a getaway... so we headed for the southwest coast of Jamaica to the parish of St. Elizabeth (see circled).

We certainly made the most of having a car, snapping pics of our favorite road signs and... other findings on the road...

Jamaica - "Out of Many" (representing the country's diversity and rich history of different influences)

Pigs pon di road

View along the way...

We trekked through St. Elizabeth to the beautiful YS falls, on the YS Estate, which has 7 cascading gorgeous falls.  Unfortunately, it was pouring!  Gotta love the tropical showers.  Luckily we snapped some cute pics and did a little waterfall climbing.

A+A @ YS

We finally reached Sav-La-Mar, where a bunch of our friends live.  Little did we know, we were essentially staying at a bed and breakfast!  Our friends were so sweet - they arranged a room for us to sleep with fans and mood music.  Oh, and they are all chefs, so they served us some delicious curry chicken (and boxed orange juice!)... in bed!!! Talk about first-class service :)

Post-nap dinner in bed

DRY CRYYY!  Schoolus, Garfield, and Shevroy - the best hosts (and cooks!) in Jamaica!

Of course, we spent the night out on the town, trekking over to a few bars in Negril before reaching back as the sun rose.  However, determined to make the most of each day, Ash and I woke up early to drive over to Grangehill (in the countryside) and meet our friends!  The afternoon was full of adventures, starting with a motorcycle ride into the fields...

Beautiful open sky!

Me and Jarod pon di bike!

Ready to cut through that brush...

We swam in the river...

We had freshly cooked (like over a fire) Jamaican roti and callalloo with pumpkin, compliments of our chef friends (is everyone in Jamaica a chef??)...

Jarod making roti by the riverside

YUM - eating out of a calabash shell

We had fresh honey, sucked straight from the honeycomb.  Interesting fact:  you can move bees nests at night to avoid getting bitten!  Fresh and delish...

honeycomb!

That night, we had another phenomenal home-cooked meal in Grangehill of pumpkin rice and chicken.  I could seriously get used to this style of living (and eating(!  Once back in Sav, we went out with our "hosts" once again, to a deadyard (to celebrate the life of a friend's grandmother who passed away, with music and food).  Ashley and I decided that we are going to write it into our wills to have a deadyard when we pass away - to me, it's such a beautiful way to celebrate someone's life in such a happy and positive light.  I definitely prefer it to any type of mourning.  Anyways, we enjoyed the night out in the country!

In the morning, we hit the south coast... first stop, Treasure Beach!  Literally along the south, right at the bottom of the river, are these beauttttttiful beaches that are rarely occupied because it is such a non-touristy spot.  The sand has a lot of black in it, giving it a very unique look...  check out these "postcard" shots of Treasure Beach and the surrounding coastline!

 

Beach and Boats!

Next stop:  Lover's Leap.  Legend has it that way back in the day, two slaves were deeply in love, but the female's owner wanted her for himself and tried to sell the male to another plantation.  In an attempt to stay together, they leaped off this cliff into the ocean below.  Lover's Leap is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited - the huge cliffs overlooking the ocean below with just clear skies above.  In fact, it was difficult to even tell where the ocean ended and the sky began.  Absolutely breathtaking...

Lover's Leap - The Ocean Below

Where does the sky begin?

Last stop on the south coast trip was Little Ochie, in Alligator Pond.  Many claim Little Ochie has the most fresh and delicious fish ever.  We tried the jerk fish (mad spicy!) and fried fish.  Verdict:  yummy, but still prefer Hellshire :)

Back in Kingston, s40 was finally reunited after over a week apart!  To celebrate, we went out together to the nightclub Pulse to an event honoring female dancehall superstar, Lady Saw!  The event was star-studded, with other artists like Spice.  It was also a big dance party - our favorite :)

Spice (left) and Lady Saw (center)!

Exhausted, we spent most of Sunday sleeping... we did make time however for a very nice dinner of Indian food in the park, followed by the movie "Traffic" at s40.  In the movie mood, I also caught the new release "Hanna" on Monday with my friend Sanjay.  The movie was great (amazing cinematography and music, kind of reminded me of the "Kill Bill" series) but the best part had to be the movie snacks: Kingston's "best" red velvet cupcakes.  Thank goodness that Jamaican movies come with a mandatory intermission... perfect time for snacking!  Yum.

Sanjay. Me. Cupcake.

Now, looking ahead, lots and lots of work before... Easter weekend of fun!!!!!!  Stay tuned :)