Our First Visitor

It has finally happened. After so many people have shown interest in coming and visiting us in Jamaica, one of you has finally stepped up to the plate. That person is…. my sister Gabrielle.
Gabe came down to Kingston January 17. She then spent two exciting days watching us go to meetings at the Peace Corps office. YEAH! On the 19th we went up to the Blue Mountains and spent the night with another volunteer. Sunday we got up later than we should have and set out for the top of the world, or at least the top of Jamaica. Our goal, Blue Mountain Peak. The highest point in Jamaica. Unfortunately we made several miscalculations in our planning. We were assuming 8 miles to the top so we didn’t get out until 7:30. We then proceeded to hike three hours to a sign that said we have 6 miles to go. This was after hiking an hour to reach the beginning of the trail. As Carrie said in an earlier post, we didn’t quite make it but we had a great time.
After the Blue Mountains we came back to our end of the island and Gabe spent three days tagging along as we went to work. Almost as much fun as the Peace Corps office. We did take some time and show her around the communities where we work and she met a lot of people. Then last Friday we finally got back to the tourist activities. We went to Negril and met up with Keith. Most of the day was spent walking on the beach, swimming, and drinking Red Stripe. Then in the mid-afternoon we went down to Pirates Cave for some cliff jumping. It is about 25 feet there and Keith jumped several times and I jumped once. Then we went down to a shorter cliff so Gabe could jump a few times. We watched the sun set over the ocean and then headed home.
Saturday we went to explore Beeston Spring where I do most of my community work. We walked through the community and saw the sights, had a farm tour, ate a jack fruit, saw a doctor bird (the national bird), and relaxed. I did have a community meeting that night so we also saw the nightlife in a small rural town. It was another great day.
Since Sunday it has been mostly back to work. Thursday I go to Kingston with Gabe and she flies out Friday morning. I have been really busy so I haven’t had a chance to post much, but hopefully soon I will be able to upload pictures we took over the past couple of weeks to my Flickr page.