Day Four: Jamaica

Jamaica man. That's right. This beautiful island is home to beautiful beaches with the bluest water as well as stunning mountain vistas. Our shore excursion on the sunny isle of Jamaica had us riding dune buggies (you know....for those back home...Gators!!).
There are no problems in Jamaica.....just small situations. In order to avoid a small situation, it was safety first for all the drivers as well as their passengers. As soon as we got in, Jim said, "The steering and suspension are shot on this rig." We were about to find out why. The trail we went on was so rutted and rocky it literally took Jim both hands on the wheel to keep us on the road.
When our guide said keep up...he wasn't kidding. We hauled...our cookies....down that trail. We flew through orange groves and stands of water coconuts. Over and around and under and through.....at break-neck speeds.
We stopped at one point and our guide picked an Ugly Orange (it's official name) and peeled it and gave each of us a few wedges. I bit into it...(it's a cross between a grapefruit and a tangerine)and juice sprayed everywhere! It has a tough membrane (not fond of that word) like a grapefruit. It was sweet and delicious. But so messy!
Jim recommended putting the whole thing in my mouth to avoid the mess....Attractive!! Mainly the ugly orange is sold to juice companies. It was pretty tasty.
The Ugly Orange is like a huge grapefruit in size. Then we drove some more until we came to an old stone building with a water wheel. We learned that in the 1700's this was the Good Hope plantation. At one time there were over 300 slaves that worked here. The owner is said to be a good slave owner. He built a hospital for them and schools. He never had a slave revolt. Ever.
The main crop on the plantation was sugar cane. At one point this plantation was the largest supplier of sugar cane in all of the West Indies. You know what we get from sugar cane? Molasses. And do you know what we get from molasses? Rum.....at least that is what both our bus drivers were sure to tell us.
All of the buildings and bridges that are original to the plantation were made with stones that were once used as ballast stones on ships coming to the island to buy sugar cane and such. Most of them are still standing. We drove across the stone bridge that the slaves built using the double arch design. The key stones hold it all together to this very day.
We finished back at the gift shop and then rode our bus back to the pier. There were a lot of tourist shops set up to take however much money you were willing to part with.
Since I was lucky enough to get a cold (yes my first cold in a year and I get sick on vacation!), Jim and I headed back to the ship for lunch and a nap. We then met the walkers for 80's Music Trivia. We totally rocked that game!! We missed one out of 20...and if I had thought about it a little harder we would have walked away with the prize.
We hit the buffet for dinner and went to the game of love....picture the newly wed game but with one newly wed couple, one couple that had been married for 24 years and one that had been married for 58 years. It was so very funny!! The old couple was a hoot!! The boat was really swaying that night. I didn't mind it too bad though.
We took a Latin dance class from the most fabulous boy ever!! His name was Keenan and he was flamin' funny!!! We LOVED it!! It was beyond fun!! The wind was whipping pretty good so we called it a night around 12:30. Tomorrow is our last day on the ship. I am sad that it is almost over.