Cruisin' - Part Dos

You know how some people are called Anglo-philes or Franco-philes?  Because they love everything English or French?  Not me.  Not even a little bit.  I swear I was switched at birth and should have grown up in Mexico.

I am a Mexi-phile.

A Mexican-wanna-be.

So of course I was most excited to get to Cozumel on our cruise since it was the only Mexican port of call. What a wonderful way to end the cruise with a day in Mexico.  And you already know what this means, don't you?

No matter how nice Mexico is, no matter how gorgeous I found Grand Cayman to be; nothing prepared me for how gorgeous and seductive Jamaica is.

I am in love with Jamaica.  I loved all the people I met.  I love the accent!  That should go without saying. The lush, tropical green-ness was espectacular, to use the Argentine vernacular.

Our boat docked at Montego Bay.  I didn't see a great deal of that fair city as I was on a tour of Croydon Plantation.  Check out the website of this gorgeous place.  I'll wait.  Immediately, I was taken on a wonderfully air-conditioned tour bus up the windy road up the mountain to the Croydon Plantation.  Donald, our bus driver immediately put on the Bob Marley tunes and we all were mellowed out and happy to be there.  Natalie, our tour guide was the cutest thing you ever saw!  I wanted to fold her up and put her in my pocket to bring her home with me.  Her two kids might have missed her, don't you think?

Let me show you a bit of the Jamaica I saw:

This is from our ship looking at our entry point.  It was very cloudy and lush, that was my first impression.

This is from our tour bus.  Just green as far as you can see.

Look up there!  The Uptown Cuisine Restaurant.  Very Rastafarian.  And don't you love how they put the green trash can in front of the green part of the building?  Love it!

And in case you missed eating at the Uptown Cuisine, why, right up the road is the Lick Finger Cook Shop.  Is that the cutest thing ever?

This is at the Croydon Plantation.  We were way up at about 5000 - 6000 ft. elevation and had the most gorgeous panoramic view.  I will get some of those shots in here, don't worry.

Now, you may not be able to tell what this is.  It is a close-up of the leaves and fruit of the almond tree. Yes, these little green things will become the almonds we all know and love so well.  Next, is a better shot of that same tree.

Look at that tree!  Isn't it gorgeous?  The other thing you should notice is that it is on an encline.  We really were up at the top of the mountain.

See that up there?  That's not grass.  That is a field of pineapple plants.  Gorgeous!

Look at that one!  That's a Neem tree.  I know!  I was so excited.  I use Neem oil, Neem shampoo on my dogs.  Neem is good stuff.  It's like tea tree in that it is so versatile.  My very first Neem tree.

This is the bottom half of an Ackee fruit tree.  You know the song "ackee fruit, salted fish is nice, and the rum is fine any time of year"  This is the tree the ackee fruit comes from.  Apparently ackee fruit and salted fish is the National Dish.  Unfortunately, they only served us one meal and it was jerked chicken.  Which was wonderful, but more about that later.

Now get a load of that view.  What would you give to wake up every day and see all that?  Heaven on earth, that's what that is.

This is a close up of a few of the TWENTY-SEVEN different varieties of pineapple they grow on this plantation.  See the cute little baby pineapple growing up top of the plant in the middle?  We were given tasters of 7 different varieties to try.  And yes, they did all taste slightly different from each other.

Another panoramic shot of the view.  But what I want you to notice is the pine trees in the front there.  Pine trees.  In Jamaica.  Did you ever think you would see that?  I believe they were called Jamaican Pine trees.  Beautiful!!

And believe it or don't, but that little guy up there?  That is a coffee plant/tree.  This is where the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee comes from.  The best coffee on earth comes from these little trees.  Each of these coffee plant/trees has a companion banana tree right behind it to give it shade so that they get just the right amount of sunlight to grow the world's best coffee beans.

Next is a more close-up shot of the coffee berries/beans.

See them all in there?  All different stages of ripeness.  Aren't they gorgeous?  Aren't you tired of me going on and on and saying how gorgeous everything in Jamaica is?

Well you are in luck, because right after this picture we made it to the pavilion where they had prepared a lovely Jamaican meal for us. And right when we got there the heavens opened up and poured rain like you wouldn't believe for the next few hours.  And this made for a very interesting ride home down the mountain now that the roads were all wet and running with lots of water.

Back to the lunch they served us.  We started out with a lovely little cucumber dish.  They were sliced paper thin and then marinated in a sweet vinegar/sugar concoction much like you use on sushi rice. Then we had a greens dish called Callaloo.  Tasted like greens.  And I like greens, so that was fine. Next was a rice and beans dish.  The rice was a basmati type rice with little red beans added in.  Then we had jerked chicken.  I don't know if the correct name is "Jerk Chicken"  or "JerkED Chicken".  Regardless, everything was wonderful.

Also they gave us little cups of the coffee grown there and then led us to a booth where they were selling said coffee.  And that is where I bought as much coffee as I could carry.

There were also lessons on the steps to produce the coffee, and on the honey they raise there.  So I had to buy honey too.

It was a prosperous day for the Croydon Plantation with me and my family all visiting and shopping there, is what I am saying!

We got lots of lessons in how to speak in the patois from our tour guide, Natalie.  By the end of the day, we were all saying "Ya Mon" to anything they asked us.  "No problem Mon".

Jamaica hasn't seen the last of me.  I suspect there might be a love affair brewing for me and that island in the sun.  Sorry Mexico, but sometimes a girl has to step out and see what she is missing.

One love, baby.  or not!