WHERE’S THE SNOW!

It’s November 19….it’s 85 degrees, and there are no snow plows around! Ever see the movie “Groundhog Day”? Well, that’s what it’s like in Jamaica. Not the radio alarms..(they wouldn’t think of it….”I’m late…no problem”) but the weather every day. Sure, we get some rain and wind (every now and then), but I’m still soaked after walking a mile to work or the library. I know some of you think I’m wacko, but I was telling Margaret this morning……”can’t wait to get a few days of cold air in my lungs when we get back home for Christmas.” Someone at the hospital told me back in September that we would need sweaters in November and December! How does it go…”yeah, right!” The only time our room fan has been off is because of a power outage. Not really “skrinarplaining,” but never realized I missed the seasons, especially the fall, so much.

The only place that we will need sweaters is our planned trip to the Blue Mountains in the middle of December. No matter where you are the weather is cooler at 7,000 ft +. Speaking of this trip it should be a real camera lover’s hike. Apparently, the guides take you to the “cabins” after hiking for a hour or so…where you eat and go to sleep (cot) and are awakened at 2 am. The hike continues for the next 3 hours or so until you arrive at the peak and are there just in time to witness the sunrise. The Blue Mountains rise to the aforementioned heights just east of Kingston and provide a beautiful easterly view for those living and visiting Kingston. Those who have taken the trip say that if the clouds are at a minimum you can see Cuba to the west and of course the sunrise to the east.

Things have been going pretty slowly the past week or so and particularly this week as we have had two functions cancelled at the last moment, even though there was no rain and no power outages! The EKG project came to a rousing halt as the machine from Mayo died about a week before administering the first EKGs….talked to Mayo and they are sending a replacement.

But we are treating this as a “fall” vacation week as we are heading to Ocho Rios (first time) for a Peace Corps conference – called the Early Service Conference – from Wednesday to Friday. Then, rather than head home we decided to travel just east of Montego Bay, about 1 ½ hours west of Ochi (both MoBay and Ochi are on the north shore) and spend the weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun morning) at Ironshore, just outside of MoBay. The tourist season (if there is one this year with the economy) usually starts around mid-December and lasts through April. This area is considered the tourist mecca. We hope to get a jump on the snowbirds and play golf while there are only a few people on the course.

Since this blog seems to be based on the weather we thought we would try and give you a sense of the roads (although experiencing them is much more fun). The roads, of course, are affected by the weather, particularly the rain. Last Friday, Nov 7, I was in May Pen (10 miles down the mountain)…and experienced the normal bad roads. On Saturday, tropical storm Palermo skimmed Jamaica and so we had some pretty heavy rains. On the way down to May Pen the next Tuesday the road was horrendous….the picture we posted shows the depth of the asphalt on top of “marl (crushed rock beneath the asphalt).” I saw 5’ X 8’ sections of the asphalt that had simply separated from the rest and floated off the marl, leaving big crevasses in the roadway. The only unsettling thing about going to Blue Mountain is the total time of travel… approximately 7 hours….”are we having fun yet?”