This is Donovan. He was our tour guide through the hills and into Montego Bay where we did some shopping. Being just the four of us, he pretty much took us wherever we wanted to go. Here you can see Donovan cutting open an almond nut that he had picked from the almond tree below. Maybe the fact that he carried around a machete was a little nerve-wracking in itself. But we were in drug lord country. These hills and these beautiful houses are either owned by drug lords or Americans (insert irony here).
He also picked the fruit from the Ackee tree for us to observe. If you eat it before it naturally splits open, it is extremely deadly. I was nervous that he was going to find one "ripened" for us try - thankfully he couldn't find any and we just looked at some he saw in one of the markets in town.

Shopping in one of the markets in downtown Montego. Shopping here is stressful and not a lot of fun. As you've probably heard, Jamaicans are very aggressive sellers. Not that they are mean, but because they are all trying to survive. A twenty dollar sale that day can make or break your having dinner that night. I am not a person who likes to say no, so it was not a lot of fun for me. The desperation was way too sad. I can't remember this woman's name but she earned one dollar for taking a picture with you. How can you say no to that? And Keith was finally offered marijuana too. Not that we were looking to buy anything but we had heard all the stories of being offered it right off the plane and we hadn't experienced it until the day before we left. Did we look THAT conservative and stuffy? He was able to say "no thanks!" and that made him happy. I mean you can't go to Jamaica without a "I was offered some" story now can you?

This is new construction, believe it or not. Because of hurricanes that frequent the area, concrete replaces wood. This house would probably sell for $600,000 US dollars.

A 19th century sugar mill. Most likely belonging to our dear friend Annie Palmer from Rosehall. Our area and our resort was all Rosehall Plantation property at one time. I think our friend Donovan would have let us crawl around inside of it for an extra twenty bucks.