Nov 13 1982

That restlessness is tempered somewhat by excursions into the countryside. Today Deb & I (with Julie and Dan) went to Port Antonio as much to see more of Jamaica as it was to get away from the dogs and pressures of staying at the Waugh’s. Unfortunately, they have dogs in Port Antonio too. Some right behind the Montevin Lodge. I’m hopng the dogs are better behaved.

The trip was as eventful as I expected. A well packed stadning room only crowd on the way to Kingston “step forward please”. Then a 45 minute swelter in a minibus as it was packed for departure. As we waited we were assaulted with a continuous line of vendors hawking everything from Wrigleys chewing gum to sensemilla.

Finally, when the driver decided we were “well-done”, he proceeded on through the streets of Kingston. Through the thriving sidewalk markets over the potholes and down one way streets (the wrong way). We were on our way to Hope Bay. The drive was as uneventful (in Jamaican terms) as most rides are here. Except for an encounter with a similar sized bus heading the opposite direction at a very narrow sections of the road, at which the drive exchanged words and it retreated, the trip was fine.

We arrived at Hope Bay about a ½ mile past the point at which we needed to get off. Hope Bay is a small village situated between an extinct volcano and the ocean. The condition of the town was typical of most small, rural Jamaican villages. Everything seems to have been built 40 years ago. There are very few “new” buildings. Most look recycled. The guest house we sought turned out to be a bit more isolated than we wished. Though it looked in relatively good condition. So we packed ourselves into a VW microbus (very suspicious looking) and proceeded into Port Antonio.

Our first encounter was with Benjamin, a local who offered his escort services (for a fee). After assuring him of his worthiness and our poverty, we set out for the Montevin Lodge to set up for our overnight retreat.