What happens in Jamaica ... Stays in the live journal
Here it is - The story of spring break 2004 in Jamaica with Lavin and his boys from Assumption. Imagine a place where there's no worries ... Where you just hang out on the beach all day drinking pina colada's and listening to reggae, swimming in the Caribbean sea, drinking for free all night long at theme parties, and then sitting around a bon fire on the beach until the sun comes up ... Imagine a place where not only do they have fields of marijuana, but it's actually a tourist attraction and they have bus trips into the mountains to see the "ganga fields" or "plantations". It's like no other place I've ever been. I'm transformed. As I write this, I have reggae playing and incense burning just so that I can feel the vibe. It's all about being relaxed in Jamaica. Yeah mon.
We got there and the first thing they give us is beers and bags of marijuana on the bus ride to Negril. Literally, they throw bags of weed (called ganga in Jamaica) on our laps and tell us it's $30 if we want it. This was for about a quarter of weed which sounds amazing but on the beach they actually sell about an ounce for that! So by the time we get to our orientation, the entire bus is a big cloud of smoke ... And the people from our travel agency at orientation were like, "hope everyone is mellowed out after your bus ride". Blows my mind that this travel agency actually endorses smoking weed. So does the hotel we stayed at ... We would literally be sitting on the porch, passing a joint around, and security would walk by and laugh. There were no rules about bringing people back to your hotel, you could do whatever you want. All they say is "yea mon, no problem mon, much respect". Jamaica is the most care free and relaxing place I've ever been to ... I heard that it was dangerous but everybody is really nice ... Sure, you can't walk 15 feet without being offered anything from cocaine to a blow job, but when you say no, they shake your hand and say much respect mon, no problem. It's different from what I expected ... Whole different style. The hotels look like shit and hardly any of them even have pools or even hot water for that matter, but the cool thing is, you walk out of your room and you're outside on the beach. No hallways or lobbies. No building is even higher than 2 floors. That's the style. Very old fashioned.
I'm going to try to do a recap of each night as quick as I can ... First two nights we went to Risky Business ... It's the typical spring break bar. A stage for wet t-shirt contests, dancing on the beach, big screen TVs inside. I loved that place. It was open bar every night with our wrist band. At every bar it was either Red Stripe, Miller Lite, horrible rum and pepsi, or vodka and "tang" which is bad mountain dew. This is where MTV was taping a few of the nights. My favorite part is at the end of the night when they play the wacky music like "shout" ... I get so sick of techno and rap. I'd rather dance to the classics any day. And I'm going to think of Jamaica forever anytime I hear Sean Paul, Shaggy, the "sex on the beach" song, and the "you turn me on" song. Literally they played it every hour.
On Monday, we went jet skiing. Never been on an ocean before, it was great. I'm inspired to buy my family's jet ski and bring it home from Maine next summer so I can use it here. Spent the rest of the day in water and on the beach ... Monday night was at the Jungle, a huge night club where it's half indoors and half outdoors on the second floor ... Absolutely packed that night. More wet t-shirt contests and stuff ... Highlight of my night - after waiting forever in line where there was only one bartender and a ton of people ... I got behind the bar and started bartending ... Red Stripe aren't twist-offs so I was just pounding the tops off against the table, lining up the cups, and then pouring the beer at lighting pace and passing the drinks out. I smoked the other bartender. Made a few drinks for myself and retired. Fucking great.
Tuesday during the day we went to Rick's Cafe - rated one of the top 10 bars in the world. Beautiful place ... This is where you go cliff jumping. I forget how high the cliff is but when you jump, you hang in the air for a good few seconds so it's high. My entire body hurt for the rest of the week after I did my jump. Some of the girls take off their tops when they jump. I love it. Then you see the nicest sun set ever over the caribbean sea while you sit back with your frozen drink. That right there was heaven. That night we went back to Risky Business for national lampoon night. More wet t-shirt contests, toga contests, etc ... Come to think of it, I think there was a wet t-shirt contest every night.
Wednesday night was Mardi Gras night. Me and Lavin went to iParty before the trip so we had the best beads there. All the girls were coming up to us begging for these beads. Unfortunately, the hot girls aren't the ones that are willing to flash. They just expect you to give the beads to them for free or for a peck on the cheek. Don't worry, we didn't budge. I've still yet to go to a mardi gras party where most the girls are actually flashing. Anyway, the lines were even longer at this place than at the jungle. So Lavin just sneaks behind the bartenders and grabs one whole bottle of vodka. Then one of our other guys sneaked up and grabbed a bottle of Sprite. So we hid them underneath a tarp and made ourselves drinks the rest of the night. I loved it. We didn't get caught until the very end of the night and even then, they weren't mad. This was the night I stayed up until sun rise ... After the bon fire, I walked back to my hotel as the sun was coming up but my room was locked and I didn't have a key so I just walked to the beach in front of our hotel and slept right there in a lawn chair on the beach. That was the coolest feeling to wake up to the sound of waves crashing and open your eyes to broad day light. Stumbled back to my room, which was now unlocked, and slept until noon. What a life.
Thursday night we went back to Rick's during the day for cliff jumping and at night we went to a Playboy party ... Basically Playboy picks girls to model their swimsuits. I don't really remember anything else about it. I was really tired this night. This was the night when I was stumbling home after eating jerk chicken at about 3:00am and this fat black lady comes up to me on the beach and asked if I want her to come home with me. I said no I'm all set ... Then she says - you want a blow job? And I go oh no, I don't have any money. And she says how about for free? So I just stop walking and stand there for a second puzzled why this fat black whore wants to give me a blow job ... Then I just laugh and say no I'm good, thank you though. It was a "better decision or better story" dilemma ... But it was just so weird ... Who knows what would've happened. That would've been so funny to go into all of our rooms and be like - hey guys I found this whore on the beach that's going to give everyone a blow job. She had to be a prostitute ... The only thing she would've given me for free would've been a case of blue balls and genital herpes. The better decision defeated the better story. Sorry guys.
Friday night was the "foam hook up party" at margaritaville ... It was an absolute blast but I still feel disgusted when I think about it. They had this enormous foam pit on the beach and they kept pouring so much foam in it ... You could go underneath where they poured and jump around in the foam ... It went up to my chin so girls would be literally underneath the foam. Only problem - too many guys. First time I saw this problem all week but I guess when you advertise it as a "hook-up party" it scares the girls away. Plus even I was grossed out by the foam but it looked like too much fun not to hop in. I'm sure people were fucking in that foam pit and nobody would know. It was the last night so there was no end to the drinking for me ... Afterwards, I stayed at the bon fire on the beach all night until I fell asleep in my chair in front of the bon fire. What a perfect way to end the trip.
A couple days ago I was on a beach and swimming in the ocean and now I'm back to 30 degrees weather and going to work and school every day. It makes me look forward to summer so much more now. I'm bringing the Jamaican spirit with me. Sitting back at the beach, passing around a joint, and listening to Bob Marley. That's how you do it ... No worries ... So - after months of hardly ever drinking, and not smoking weed for months ... I smoked ganga after I woke up every morning and again at the bon fire every night before going to bed. I drank all afternoon and all night and somehow I never got sick and never even felt hung over the entire time! It makes no sense to me ... After those nights of being so hung over the next day after barely drinking anything, I was drunk for a week straight and I feel fantastic. I guess when you don't have to worry about waking up the next morning to go to work, and have zero responsibility except to relax all day on the beach, you have to feel great. That's my recap ... I wished I could write one each night while I was there but I think I pretty much covered everything. Lavin will have the pictures online soon. I'm going to go cry now because I'm back in cold Connecticut and I have class tomorrow.
MUCH RESPECT ... BLESS
We got there and the first thing they give us is beers and bags of marijuana on the bus ride to Negril. Literally, they throw bags of weed (called ganga in Jamaica) on our laps and tell us it's $30 if we want it. This was for about a quarter of weed which sounds amazing but on the beach they actually sell about an ounce for that! So by the time we get to our orientation, the entire bus is a big cloud of smoke ... And the people from our travel agency at orientation were like, "hope everyone is mellowed out after your bus ride". Blows my mind that this travel agency actually endorses smoking weed. So does the hotel we stayed at ... We would literally be sitting on the porch, passing a joint around, and security would walk by and laugh. There were no rules about bringing people back to your hotel, you could do whatever you want. All they say is "yea mon, no problem mon, much respect". Jamaica is the most care free and relaxing place I've ever been to ... I heard that it was dangerous but everybody is really nice ... Sure, you can't walk 15 feet without being offered anything from cocaine to a blow job, but when you say no, they shake your hand and say much respect mon, no problem. It's different from what I expected ... Whole different style. The hotels look like shit and hardly any of them even have pools or even hot water for that matter, but the cool thing is, you walk out of your room and you're outside on the beach. No hallways or lobbies. No building is even higher than 2 floors. That's the style. Very old fashioned.
I'm going to try to do a recap of each night as quick as I can ... First two nights we went to Risky Business ... It's the typical spring break bar. A stage for wet t-shirt contests, dancing on the beach, big screen TVs inside. I loved that place. It was open bar every night with our wrist band. At every bar it was either Red Stripe, Miller Lite, horrible rum and pepsi, or vodka and "tang" which is bad mountain dew. This is where MTV was taping a few of the nights. My favorite part is at the end of the night when they play the wacky music like "shout" ... I get so sick of techno and rap. I'd rather dance to the classics any day. And I'm going to think of Jamaica forever anytime I hear Sean Paul, Shaggy, the "sex on the beach" song, and the "you turn me on" song. Literally they played it every hour.
On Monday, we went jet skiing. Never been on an ocean before, it was great. I'm inspired to buy my family's jet ski and bring it home from Maine next summer so I can use it here. Spent the rest of the day in water and on the beach ... Monday night was at the Jungle, a huge night club where it's half indoors and half outdoors on the second floor ... Absolutely packed that night. More wet t-shirt contests and stuff ... Highlight of my night - after waiting forever in line where there was only one bartender and a ton of people ... I got behind the bar and started bartending ... Red Stripe aren't twist-offs so I was just pounding the tops off against the table, lining up the cups, and then pouring the beer at lighting pace and passing the drinks out. I smoked the other bartender. Made a few drinks for myself and retired. Fucking great.
Tuesday during the day we went to Rick's Cafe - rated one of the top 10 bars in the world. Beautiful place ... This is where you go cliff jumping. I forget how high the cliff is but when you jump, you hang in the air for a good few seconds so it's high. My entire body hurt for the rest of the week after I did my jump. Some of the girls take off their tops when they jump. I love it. Then you see the nicest sun set ever over the caribbean sea while you sit back with your frozen drink. That right there was heaven. That night we went back to Risky Business for national lampoon night. More wet t-shirt contests, toga contests, etc ... Come to think of it, I think there was a wet t-shirt contest every night.
Wednesday night was Mardi Gras night. Me and Lavin went to iParty before the trip so we had the best beads there. All the girls were coming up to us begging for these beads. Unfortunately, the hot girls aren't the ones that are willing to flash. They just expect you to give the beads to them for free or for a peck on the cheek. Don't worry, we didn't budge. I've still yet to go to a mardi gras party where most the girls are actually flashing. Anyway, the lines were even longer at this place than at the jungle. So Lavin just sneaks behind the bartenders and grabs one whole bottle of vodka. Then one of our other guys sneaked up and grabbed a bottle of Sprite. So we hid them underneath a tarp and made ourselves drinks the rest of the night. I loved it. We didn't get caught until the very end of the night and even then, they weren't mad. This was the night I stayed up until sun rise ... After the bon fire, I walked back to my hotel as the sun was coming up but my room was locked and I didn't have a key so I just walked to the beach in front of our hotel and slept right there in a lawn chair on the beach. That was the coolest feeling to wake up to the sound of waves crashing and open your eyes to broad day light. Stumbled back to my room, which was now unlocked, and slept until noon. What a life.
Thursday night we went back to Rick's during the day for cliff jumping and at night we went to a Playboy party ... Basically Playboy picks girls to model their swimsuits. I don't really remember anything else about it. I was really tired this night. This was the night when I was stumbling home after eating jerk chicken at about 3:00am and this fat black lady comes up to me on the beach and asked if I want her to come home with me. I said no I'm all set ... Then she says - you want a blow job? And I go oh no, I don't have any money. And she says how about for free? So I just stop walking and stand there for a second puzzled why this fat black whore wants to give me a blow job ... Then I just laugh and say no I'm good, thank you though. It was a "better decision or better story" dilemma ... But it was just so weird ... Who knows what would've happened. That would've been so funny to go into all of our rooms and be like - hey guys I found this whore on the beach that's going to give everyone a blow job. She had to be a prostitute ... The only thing she would've given me for free would've been a case of blue balls and genital herpes. The better decision defeated the better story. Sorry guys.
Friday night was the "foam hook up party" at margaritaville ... It was an absolute blast but I still feel disgusted when I think about it. They had this enormous foam pit on the beach and they kept pouring so much foam in it ... You could go underneath where they poured and jump around in the foam ... It went up to my chin so girls would be literally underneath the foam. Only problem - too many guys. First time I saw this problem all week but I guess when you advertise it as a "hook-up party" it scares the girls away. Plus even I was grossed out by the foam but it looked like too much fun not to hop in. I'm sure people were fucking in that foam pit and nobody would know. It was the last night so there was no end to the drinking for me ... Afterwards, I stayed at the bon fire on the beach all night until I fell asleep in my chair in front of the bon fire. What a perfect way to end the trip.
A couple days ago I was on a beach and swimming in the ocean and now I'm back to 30 degrees weather and going to work and school every day. It makes me look forward to summer so much more now. I'm bringing the Jamaican spirit with me. Sitting back at the beach, passing around a joint, and listening to Bob Marley. That's how you do it ... No worries ... So - after months of hardly ever drinking, and not smoking weed for months ... I smoked ganga after I woke up every morning and again at the bon fire every night before going to bed. I drank all afternoon and all night and somehow I never got sick and never even felt hung over the entire time! It makes no sense to me ... After those nights of being so hung over the next day after barely drinking anything, I was drunk for a week straight and I feel fantastic. I guess when you don't have to worry about waking up the next morning to go to work, and have zero responsibility except to relax all day on the beach, you have to feel great. That's my recap ... I wished I could write one each night while I was there but I think I pretty much covered everything. Lavin will have the pictures online soon. I'm going to go cry now because I'm back in cold Connecticut and I have class tomorrow.
MUCH RESPECT ... BLESS