Villa In Jamaica

A few years ago, in the dead of a brutally cold winter, I was literally withering away in the cold. Missouri was in a deep freeze and I was really exhausted from it. Since I continually shop for travel bargains, I’m so glad I noticed when a new hotel listing came up on Expedia. A Montego Bay Villa had thrown itself into the mix of accommodations that I had become accustomed to seeing and they were running a New Year’s Eve Holiday special. I still had some days off from work to use, so I booked the trip. I would fly to Montego Bay on December 30 and stay until January 2. It sounded just like a few days of warmth that I hoped would recharge me.

The Villa was in the lower foothills of the Blue Mountains, and close enough that I could still see the sea.

This was quite a change of scenery from the all-inclusive resorts I was used to. The Villa had about 8 bedrooms most with their own bathroom and shower, a parlor, a kitchen, and various other sitting areas. There was also a pool, which none of the other guests seemed to use and a breadfruit tree laden with fruit was right next to the pool! I knew I had found the perfect chill-spot and I was sitting out at the pool within minutes of my arrival.

Peggy, the cook at the Villa, came out poolside and asked if I’d like to have my dinner there which I thought was an incredibly great idea. I settled on jerk chicken and dined poolside, while chatting on the phone with friends back home.

With the next day being New Year’s Eve, I made plans to go over to the Grand Palladium Resort for their celebration. Grand Palladium is one of my favorite all-inclusive resort brands and I still knew some of the staff there from my previous trips. Did you know you can buy a day pass to most all-inclusive resorts? For New Year’s Eve, GP offered a pass that was good from 6pm until 1am allowing me access to all their amenities for the festivities. I arrived in time to go to their Jamaican restaurant for dinner and then I headed over to the theater for their big NYE show. They had a champagne toast and fireworks display at midnight and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen at any of the resorts. When my pass expired, I had a cab waiting for me outside of the lobby.

For New Year’s Day, Peggy, the cook, had the holiday off so there was no meal service available. The security guard, Duran, suggested some options. I decided on carry out pizza from town because we knew Pizza Hut was open. Duran drove me into Montego Bay where I picked up a pizza and then we headed back to the villa. On our way back, we stopped off at a small, non-descript bar at the bottom of the hills and shot a few games of pool. It was a good thing we kept winning because Duran had been placing bets on our games.

The next day was my departure day, but my flight out wasn’t until evening. Duran offered to drive me into town for a while to do some shopping at some of his favorite stores. I picked up souvenirs to take home before we stopped off at the most incredible jerk center I’ve ever been to, Scotchie’s.

When you walk in the place, it is a mostly open-air tiki-type bar that serves all kinds of jerk meats and accompaniments. We ran into Sheba and Sheena, (two other guests from the villa) and turned it into a wonderful dinner together.

If you ever pass a Scotchie’s in Jamaica, stop in and eat there. I highly recommend the jerk pork and breadfruit. The stuff melts in your mouth.

I was sad to leave that evening, but I had such a rejuvenating break from the cold winter that would make it easier to get through the rest of the cold. It was also nice to be able to explore some of the local activities off the beaten path and not stick to the usual excursions. I’m always a firm believer of scratching beneath the surface when you travel outside of your country. It will open your mind and expose you to really unique experiences!

Flashback to Jamaica

Ahhh, Jamaica! One of my favorite places in the world to visit. It is an island in the Caribbean and is part of the Greater Antilles. When you fly into Sangster Airport, you land right on the beach on the North Coast.  So, as your plane descends, you feel like you are incredibly close to the water.  I remember being overwhelmed with the stunning blue colors of the sea.  I had never seen such beautiful hues.

This past winter, we headed down for a week of R and R. Since this wasn’t our first trip to Jamaica, or the second, or the third (have I mentioned it’s one of my favorite places?) we knew exactly what we did and didn’t want to do this time.  For this trip, we wanted to stay in Montego Bay, close to the airport, so I found a sale for the RIU Montego Bay on Apple Vacations.  If you’ve never shopped for a vacation on Apple Vacations, you’ve been missing out.  It’s one of the travel sites I watch regularly and they run some great sales on trips.  While we’d never stayed at this particular RIU resort before, I am a fan of the RIU brand, so this was an easy decision.IMG_0258In Montego Bay, I knew we would be close enough to see our friend, Paul (see post Everyone Should Meet a Paul).  I also wanted to take my husband Sonny to eat at Scotchie’s, which is known for their jerk chicken and pork.  I also love breadfruit, which I was hoping was in season.  Scotchie’s serves the majority of their dishes in tin foil or on paper plates, and with gravy (think hot sauce) made from scotch bonnet peppers.  Also on the itinerary, was a trip to Luminous Lagoon, which I’ve wanted to check out for a while.  The tour starts at sunset and takes you through the lagoon, which is home to phosphorescent micro-organisms that glow in the dark when agitated.

As the saying goes, ” the best-laid plans of mice and men, often go awry”, so did ours.  We had some transportation issues and didn’t get to go to Scotchie’s for jerk and due to a small monsoon (flash-flooding, thunderstorm) our trip to the Luminous Lagoon was cancelled.

What we did get to do was hang out at our resort, meet new friends, and visit with old friends.  Paul was able to come visit our resort on a day pass and he brought his wife, Tansia,  and daughter, Talia, along.  He also brought us a bottle of Sangster’s Chocolate Rum Cream.  If you’ve never tried rum cream, you must–it’s what every good dirty banana is made from.  I knew it came in flavors, but this was the first time I had had Chocolate. And since I can’t order it online back home, I was very grateful for Paul’s gift!

Paul, who is a jack-of-all-trades, entrepreneur, and a lifeguard, took us out for a quick sail around Mahee Bay in a small catamaran.  We also walked up the beach to watch a wedding with Talia and our new friends Don and Stephanie.  We sampled numerous frozen drinks “Jamaican style” compliments of a friend of Paul’s who was the bar supervisor.  It was so nice to visit with Paul and his family for the day.  Next time we hope to go visit the villa he is building just outside of the town of Lucea.blue drinkThe following day we got to take a snorkeling excursion/sunset cruise.  We loaded up on a big catamaran, cruised west down the coast a bit, went snorkeling, and ended up at Margaritaville in Montego Bay.

We did a little shopping on the Hip Strip before heading back for a cocktail at Margaritaville, and then headed back to the resort for dinner which was right on time.lobsterI’ve never eaten so many seafood dinners as I have at RIU Resorts.  It turned out this night was seafood night at the buffet restaurant and they had lobster tail available.  My husband ate nothing but lobster and I think he topped out at 8 tails.  I partook of the incredibly good lobster, but also enjoyed the shrimp and fish.

The next day was departure day.  We got to the airport early, which is great because Sangster Airport has excellent duty-free shopping and we love to shop there.  We picked up some souvenirs, and a little jewelry, and then finished waiting for our flight at Margaritaville with lunch and a beer!

Until next time Jamaica.  Soon come back!