North Shore Amour Travels: Jamaica

I think I got the winter malaise a little early this year... in the middle of February I started fantasizing about sunshine and outdoor activities and basically any outfit that did not require the flannel tights I practically lived in this winter. The weeks wore on until... *snap* I became utterly and completely obsessed with getting away for a few days. I checked for last minute deals to anywhere warm, and lo and behold, there was a pretty decent deal (and more importantly, direct flights) to the Grand Bahia Principe in Runaway Bay, Jamaica. I discussed it with G, who was in a bit of a winter funk himself, and we agreed on 3 nights; a long weekend to soak up as much Vitamin D and sleep and rum as possible. In that order... or do I mean in reverse order?

Jamaica was, on the whole, lovely. Runaway Bay is on the north side of the island, between Montego Bay and Ocho Rios; a 45-minute coast-hugging bus ride from the airport. The expansive, orange and white resort was on a huge property dotted with palm trees. Little stray kitties inhabited the nooks and crannies of the property's stone structures and mostly avoided the people. The sea was shallow and warm and very salty, and black and yellow-striped fish zipped around our ankles while we swam from one end of the beach to the other. The color of the sea was stunning - it sparkled bright turquoise in mid-day and faded to royal blue and dark navy as the day wore on. It was amazing that the colors were made by nature. They were beautiful. 

The best food at the resort was the jerk chicken, available daily. On one of the days, the accompanying sauce was labeled "CAUTION: DEVIL FIRE SAUCE!" The devil fire sauce could melt your face off if you weren't careful, but it was wonderful in small amounts: bright with citrus and (I'm guessing) habanero peppers and (I'm guessing again)pureed tomatillos. We required quite a few Red Stripes to clean the burn out of our mouths after lunch each day. Poor us.

I'm not ashamed to admit that we didn't leave the resort during our short trip; we were after sun and sand and sea and that's exactly what we got. If we ever find ourselves in Jamaica again, I'd like to make it to Ocho Rios or Kingston, but with only a few days we wanted to maximize the hours spent bumming on the beach, reading books, walking, talking, swimming, playing cards, and discussing plot concepts for a novel neither of us has time to write. We took very few pictures, but here is one that we took early in the morning on our last day.

Note the blistering sunburn.

When I came back I felt like I could taste the arrival of spring in the air. Maybe it was a fool's hope (because it has YET to warm up), but that was the beauty of this little escape: it allowed me to once again have positive, powerful, wishful thoughts. On the morning we got back I went on a run to the lake and pictured the melting of the not-so-miniature icebergs that had formed near the shore. Come on, spring, you can do it!! 

XO from Jamaica.