Part 3: Beautiful Beaches, No problem Mon!

In addition to it's beautiful beaches, Jamaica has such a lush rainforest and beautiful animals, plants, and flowers. Our resort had a little lagoon in between two of the beaches, and each day we enjoyed feeding a little duck friend, who would wiggle his little tail in excitement every time he got a snack. 

There were many turtles in the lagoon too, and it seemed that once I started throwing bread they all came out of nowhere! Several cranes joined in the feeding frenzy too, but they weren't interested in the bread. We realized they were using the bread as bait to gulp up a fish! Pretty smart! 

The resort is also home to many kittens. While they are basically wild, the resort has tolerated them because it helps keep the scavenger black birds away from the outdoor restaurants. This little black and white seemed to be more interested in finding a cool place to take a nap. 

The lagoon was absolutely lovely at night…

And we had to build at least one sand castle

Even our Denver friends didn't know what this tower was supposed to be...

An adobe! 

I can't wait to go back! We miss it so much all ready we hope you can make it for our Jamaican-themed Christmas party on the 22nd!

The "Real" Jamaica

This year we both wanted to experience a little more of the culture than last time. Last year our major (only) excursion was to go shopping. Anyway, this year we wanted a more "authentic" Jamaican shopping experience, and we definitely got it! Our bus driver dropped us off on a busy street in the middle of Ocho Rios. From every direction, Jamaican shop owners were shouting at us, "What's your name!" "You come to my shop!" "You want your hair braid?!" To say the least the Jamaicans are very persistent in their selling methods. One shop owner lead us through the market, which was like a maze of shops everywhere, sort of flea-market style. The shop owners are calling out to you to come look, but we had learned that to the Jamaicans looking=buying. Since the one shop owner lead us all the way back we felt obligated to buy something, so we ended up with a "hand-carved" turtle with a baby turtle on it's back, which was actually quite cute.

Lesson number one was to have figured out a better way to handle our money. While Joel was trying to pay, the other shop-keepers swarmed us, with about 8 of them in very close personal space. One lured me into her shop, and her sincere plea that anything I could do to help her would be much appreciated. I ended up with a beautiful sarong, despite already having brought four along. As we pushed our way back through the maze trying to escape the desperate pleas to buy more, I felt sobered by the destitute poverty most Jamaicans live in.

Jamaica has a very high unemployment rate, and those that are fortunate to have jobs live well below what we consider poverty in the US. We learned that the average Jamaican only makes about $75 every two weeks. One of our favorite bartenders was also describing to us how inefficient their public transportation system is, so most of the resort staff rely on taxis to get them to work. However, the taxis are also so inefficient that it can take them 1-2 hours to get home every day! Despite the considerable hardship most of the Jamaican people face every day almost all the resort staff with were incredibly friendly, welcoming, and grateful for the things they do have.

Seeing the struggles of the Jamaicans in the city just to meet their most basic needs for food, housing, and safety reminded me of how incredibly grateful and thankful I am for everything we have been blessed with. With Thanksgiving come and gone I was again reminded just how much I have to be thankful for.

Jamaica Me Crazy Mon-Part One

We had such an amazing time on our second trip to Jamaica. We spent 8 beautiful days there and had a wonderful time soaking up the sun and gorgeous beaches, the culture, the food, and just enjoying being together.

It started early Saturday morning with our long flight to Montego Bay. We had dropped Vesper off at the pet resort the night before and I felt happy knowing she would be well taken care of with lots of tummy rubs, swim lessons, puppy play dates, and puppy treats. Thankfully my sister Steph agreed to watch the other black and white, so with way too much packed in our suitcases we were off! Not long after take-off our pilot announced that we had a special message from the Air Traffic Control Tower. I immediately looked at Joel and thought, "Oh no, what are they up to!" Sure enough our friends at ATC wanted to wish us a happy anniversary and to have fun at the Justin Bieber concert!

Once in Montego Bay we breezed through customs and were off on a somewhat treacherous 2 hour drive to the resort in Ocho Rios. After the three Red Stripes we were handed at the airport and not eating all day, I almost forgot that in Jamaica they drive on the right side of the road. Despite the very narrow two lane roads, people walking all over the place, goats and dogs roaming, and some very annoying fellow passengers we arrived safely at the resort.

Many of you have asked, "Why do you go back to Jamaica?" Well.....

 The view from our palm frond hut

 Another beautiful day in paradise!

This one was the view of the resort from our sailboat excursion

 

 We are addicted to the beaches! The blue on blue water and sky, green palms and rainforest, and lounging on the beach is just so intoxicating (sometimes literally). The feel of the resort is so luxurious and romantic too, and after spending our honeymoon there it has a become a very special place to us. I love any vacation with Joel but this was extra special too, no cell phones or TV's, schedules; just the chance for us to have uninterrupted time together to re-connect, share, talk about the future and our plans, what we want our life to look like, all that good stuff.

When we arrived at Sans Soucci we were greeted  with "Welcome Home Mon" as we were directed to check in and handed glasses of champagne and a cool towel. All of the staff are amazing, and they really go out of their way to make your stay perfect and really made us feel pampered. Since last year was a special visit for our honeymoon, I wasn't quite sure what to expect this time, but we still got treated as extra special returning guests. Many of the great bartenders, servers, lifeguards and others even remembered us from last year. Despite getting rained out on the first day, we were treated with a bottle of champagne to celebrate our one year anniversary!

One of my favorite things about Jamaica and our resort especially is the amazing food. We kept joking that if it wasn't for the alcohol, we would probably lose weight! I have never had such fresh food, from farm raised chickens just off the property to the vine ripened tomatoes picked that morning. Red snapper is a local favorite, and it's no wonder since the fisherman could be seen bringing the fish in that day and serving it to us for dinner that very night.

Our favorite restaurant at the resort is the more formal Casa Nova. It was really fun to dress up and enjoy the  traditional Jamaican cuisine and some exotic dishes too. It was wonderful to sit back and listen to the Jamaican tree frogs or piano player while enjoying the five course dinner.

 A little sunburned after the third day

One of our favorite appetizers was the Shrimp Tasting- a perfect sample of three Jamaican flavors- Tangy Escovitch Shrimps/Artichoke Shrimp Mousse/Shrimp & Citrus Ceviche. I will attempt to re-create this for our Jamaican theme Christmas party. 

Some of the more exotic things we tried was the garlic escargot and mushrooms and a braised oxtail ravioli with a rum reduction and citrus glaze. Yum! 

Keeping with the British influence and colonial style of the resort, we were served soup and salad with each meal, including a delicious lobster bisque. 

Our favorite entrees included jerk chicken (of course!) and there was always a delicious fresh fish on the menu, usual the catch of the day red snapper. We also enjoyed beef tenderloin and lobster, and one of my favorites was a risotto with salmon skewers and this yummy stuffed shrimp with a butter sauce. 

The ending to any formal Jamaican dinner is Black Gold, or the Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, one of the most expensive and sought after coffees in the world. We learned that this coffee is so special (and expensive) because the Jamaican government made a new declaration that it can only be grown in a specific area, and has had regulatory protection to ensure that only coffee grown in this area of the Blue Mountains (the highest mountain range in the Caribbean) can be called Blue Mountain Coffee. It has a delicious mild flavor without any bitterness. After the first few nights Joel said I was cutoff from drinking coffee at night, because it must be so strong I was literally bouncing off the walls. It was quite an adventure but we managed to get two big bags to bring home. I have to agree with James Bond's declaration in Live and Let Die, " Blue Mountain Coffee…the most delicious in the world."

The other major advantage of the all inclusive resort was being able to enjoy the many imbibes of Jamaica. We would often start the day with a mimosa with a twist; we had the local Jamaican Sorrell juice instead of orange juice. We learned the Jamaicans often drink the Sorrell juice around Christmas-time, and use oranges and cloves to add Christmas flavors to this local fruit drink.

Our other favorite starter drink was a Jamaican style Bloody Mary, with Jerk Sauce to give it that extra kick. Rum is huge here, and we enjoyed many variations of rum inspired beach cocktails, and the local beer Red Stripe too. 

Since Joel is a HUGE James Bond fan, its just another reason to love Jamaica. The James Bond Series author, Ian Flemming, lived in Jamaica, and it was so cool to see many of the real-life references to Jamaica from the books and movies. While Joel rolled his eyes at me when I asked if we could re-create the beach scene with James Bond and Vesper, we did enjoy several dirty and Vesper martinis.

Need I say more? I hope we can convince some special people (you know who you are who never take a vacation and need one!) to come with us next time!

Yeah mon!

I am counting the hours until we leave for Jamaica! It's only 9:30am and I am just hoping this day goes by fast. While I would much rather be getting my mani/pedi, going on vacation always means tying up loose ends, telling my patients it's only a week, they'll survive, etc. Leaving the country for 9 days also meant me calling the pet resort numerous times to verify that the doggy baby was set for her swim lessons, had enough puppy play dates, and that they can contact her Auntie Stephany if needed. Since my sister has been great enough to house sit for us and watch Jane Cat  too I feel ok knowing both the babies will be in good hands.

We had such an amazing time last year I can't wait to be back and see some of the sites we didn’t get to see last time. I'm also looking forward to seeing some friends we made last year, and Joel's good friend Karl will even be getting married there (the day after we leave!)

More pictures to come….

It's a Dog's Day

Well, at our house, it's actually a dog's day every day! It seems that ever since Vesper joined our family we are getting outside more and more, which I absolutely love. We have also made it a point to take her on an outing at least every weekend. This weekend we went out to the so-called "Canine Social Event of the Year" for Animal Humane's Doggy Dash and Dawdle.

Once we finally arrived (their parking set up was horrible, we had to wait 40 minutes just to get in!) we were greeted by two adult male Springers. We have been wondering what our Springer will look like once she is full grown, so it was nice to see these beautiful dogs in their full grown Springer Spaniel glory. Although they were very shy, it was nice to see them since they are so rare (at least in NM).

 

I wonder if our Vesper could look like this in just a few short months! 

 





We finished the 2k without too much pulling, and I was glad she had another chance to socialize with so many other dogs. Vesper greeted almost all the dogs with kisses, and so many people commented on how pretty she is! She was especially excited about her new Bronco scarf, which did ignite some controversy!

 

As Joel said, "She will go to bed dreaming of playing fetch with Peyton."

 



 

We finished!

 

After seeing and smelling the pups and collecting some free treats and goodies we decided to head out to a dog friendly patio for lunch. We have always loved to grab a beer or wine on a nice patio, and the Albuquerque fall has been so gorgeous this year, so of course we love to bring the pup along. She is so good and content to people and puppy watch, and one of the server's at Gecko's was even taken enough with her to bring her some bacon!

For all you dog lovers here's some of our favorite dog-friendly patios:

Gecko's on Academy and Gecko's on Central

Village Pizza and Corrales Brewery in Corrales

Flying Star  (of course!)

Nob Hill Bar and Grill

Kelly's
 

What's your favorite puppy place?