Friday, August 13, 2010

Jamaica -Part I

When we stepped off the plane it was magical.
I had been waiting for this trip for more than a year. I had saved and stashed, planed and bargained.
With my BFF at my side, I was finally going on my dream vacation to Jamaica.

The couple weeks prior to the vacation had been a whirlwind. The job was working my nerves and school was just a big fat mess. I needed to flee. I needed to get away.
In my mind, I had pictured how it would be: warm days chilling on the beach with margaritas and pina coladas. Working on my tan. Eating great food. Enjoying the night life and dancing until sweat dripped down my legs. Perfect huh? Well...

The night before flying down I hadn't got a wink of sleep. From trying to pack last minute to finishing up some homework and being ridiculously excited, I'd neglected to get some rest in order to be pumped as soon as I arrived. Nevertheless, I was tired the first night on the Island.

I hadn't seen Kristina in over a year so I was super excited to finally see her. And when we did...it was almost like we were in high school again. Taking silly pictures, gossiping, laughing at our own inside jokes... it was great.

On the way to the hotel, it was a perfect 85 degrees with no clouds in sight. I'd like to tell you what I saw on our ride to the hotel, but 20 minutes into our 2 hour drive, I had fallen asleep.

Upon arrival we were told that the hotel was completely full so they would have to upgrade us to the most expensive sister hotel across the way. "Fine by me" I said, smiling.

Kristina and I changed clothes as soon as we got to our room. We planned to check out the resort and beach and afterward have dinner. I wore a royal blue mini dress by BCBG that had a cut-out back. Is was a little short on me because of my ample behind, but since I was in Jamaica, I decided not to pay any attention to the dimples in my thighs. "Ah... more to love," I thought.

After dinner, the excitement of the day just couldn't compete  with my exhaustion. The traveling accompanied by no sleep had seriously wore me down. Kristina and I had decided to take a nap after dinner and get up around 10pm to go to the local nightclub, Jungle.

When I woke up in the morning, I realized that I has slept the whole night through. I asked Kristina why she didn't wake me up to go out the last night.
"You were snoring the loudest I ever heard you snore" she said. "I've never heard you sound like that ever before so I figured you were just too exhausted and I didn't want to wake you"
I laughed. I was pretty tired that night but I really wanted to go out. I didn't want to waste anymore nights in Jamaica by sleeping.

All refreshed and energized, we spent the day on the beach working on out tans. We did some body surfing, drunk margaritas and pina coladas. And made plans for the rest of our trip, especially finding someplace to go out to that night.

Checking in with the hotel staff, we heard of a party at a local bar. Kristina wore these hot floral tap pants she got from Faith 21 with a lace-racer-back top. I wore a strapless paisley dress with sandals. Normally, I hate having my arms out but since the Jamaican men seem so appreciative of our bodies, I decided to just let go and wear what I wanted.

When we arrived by taxi to the party, we noticed that the bar was more like an outside bar on the beach. There were only a few people inside but perhaps they had a late rush later. Walking up to the ticket station, I told the girl I needed two tickets for Kristina and I.
"That's $60."
"What?!" I asked. I knew she could not be charging us $30 each to get into a party on the beach. I mean, there wasn't even a floor in the bar. It was sand. And this was a third-world country no less. I thought to myself even the swankiest clubs in DC only cost me no more than $20 to get in. And because of this and the hotel staff telling us it was only $10 each, I only brought $40 cash with me to cover us both.
I tried to bargain with her, figuring that it might work. Most people will take a bargain if you ask politely. I tried telling her that we were told $10 each. Finally, I asked to speak with her manager.
"I'm the one in charge and $30 is the entrance fee."

I felt defeated. And annoyed.
Kristina and I started to walk  away and realized that we didn't have a way back to the hotel. We already paid the driver to take us and pick us up from the bar but we told him it'd be at least 2 hrs before we wanted him to come back. We had his number but our cell service didn't work out there. We asked the girl whether she would be able to call  him on our behalf so he could pick us up. She agreed.

We walked toward the main road to wait for our driver. A man came walking down from the ticket station and asked whether we had a way home. Kristina stopped and spoke with him and told him we were fine, just waiting for our driver. I was too busy thinking about what we were going to do for the rest of the night that I didn't even look in his direction.

He asked where we were from and whether we were enjoying ourselves in Jamaica.
"We would be enjoying ourselves a lot more if we were partying with you instead of going back to our hotel" Kristina giggled. "Do you work at the bar?" she asked him. Judging from the way she giggled I figured he must've been attractive. Kristina left no suggestions that she was going to be a "good girl" on this trip. She was going to do whatever and whomever she wanted.

"No, I work with the tourist agency. I put on these parties for the spring breakers who come down here and book their trips with us. I'm so sorry that the girl couldn't let you in but that's how much we charge for spring breakers" he said.

He spoke deeply in a rich accent. It was a mix of British and West Indian. I finally looked up. He was tall and fit with a deep chocolate complexion. Clean shaved with one of the brightest smiles I ever seen. He looked at me and his smile seemed to widen more. It sparkled in the dim light of the evening. No wonder Kristina had been giggling and carrying on. He was hot. Think: How Stella got her Groove Back's Winston Hot.


He asked our names.
"I'm Kristina and this is my sister" Kristina  said. "Whats yours?"
"Bradley" he said, and held out his hand for us to shake.

We stood there for about 20 minutes, Kritsina being her usual sassy and fiery -self  while asking Bradley every personal question she could think of. He found it hilarious and so did I. Kristina and I could tell he was enjoying all the female attention. And while she was so witty, he matched her wit with charm while I stood by and watched them talk, watched his gaze fluttering from me to her.  He was so friendly, I thought.

We told him that we hadn't gotten a chance to party yet so he invited us to the spring-beaker's "booze-cruise" the next day. We told him we'd made plans to go shopping then but we'd take his number down in we decided not to go.

"Well," he smiled, "I can at least give you guys a ride to your hotel, since your driver clearly isn't coming back soon."
We both agreed and he gave us a ride back up the short road to the hotel.

In the car, Kristina was holding no prisoners when it came to Bradley. She told him how attractive he was and how she had been waiting to meet a man like him since she stepped off the plane. Boldness was her fortay. I chuckled in the backseat, my face getting red with a mix of vicarious embarrassment and pure humor.
He just laughed and smiles and told her what a firecracker she was. And boy, did she love to hear that,
We finnaly arrived at the hotel and stepped out the car. He stepped out with us to say good bye.

While we were getting ready to walk into the lobby when Kristina turned towards him and asked "Do you find me attractive?"

I almost tripped up the stairs.

He laughed again "Of course I do! you're a very pretty girl." he said. Then, he aimed his gaze at me, "But your sister... you sister is absolutely gorgeous."

I smiled nervously, said goodbye, and started toward the door. Kristina rolled her eyes and followed me inside.

"This is some bullshit," she said.
I laughed.

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