To Philly

We packed our bags on Friday and headed out for lunch with Patrick. We found a small palce called Salada which served salads and hamburgers. We got our food to go and sat in Central Park a last time to eat. Patrick then walked us to the subway station to travel to China town.

We we got to China town and found the area with our bus, people kept pointing us in different directions. Then when we found the bus, it was parked illegally and was ready to move as we approached. It drove around a while, and then a man came over to tell us to load a different place. As we stood a block away the bus then came back to the original loading place, and we hustled back with our luggage. Thank goodness they are so cheap, because the China town buses are not too organized. We drove through New Jersey and into Pennsylvania on a bus with a very poor driver. We weaved in and out of lanes and I felt like we were swaying from side to side most of the time.

When we reached Philadelphia, we walked to the Market street station and found tickets to Bryn Mawr. I almost missed the train as I was looking for brochures of the public transportation system. When we arrived at our stop, Bob, my mother's brother picked us up and took us to his home. Kathy was there preparing a salad for a friend's party. They toured us through the house, showed us where to find food, how to do laundry and the left us for a nice quiet evening. Marie and I had not had much down time, so it was fun to eat, read the newspaper and I watched a ballgame. Bob and Kathy came home later and we sat and talked about our trip and other life in general things. It was a great break from the hustle of the city.

South Manhattan

On Thursday, Marie and I woke up around 9 am and left the apartment to find the Tenement Museum. I stopped along the way and cut my hair at Lucky Guy's barber shop. I have never been treated so well during a hair cut. The man finished by massaging my shoulders. It was great, $14 and a cooler head for summer.
Marie and I took the subway back down to Chinatown and walked over to the museum. We got tickets to a 3:00 tour for FREE from Patrick's roomate, Matt. Matt belongs to the American Association of Museums, and because of that gets free tickets to any museum. 

I flashed the card and they gave us two FREE tickets. I may join next year.
The museum took place at 97 Orchard street. It was a tailor shop with apartments above it.  The apartments were furnished with clothing, furniture, dishes, etc. from different eras and the tour guides told stories about the families that lived in each apartment. It was very interesting as our tour was led by a man who grew up in an immigrant apartment in Brooklyn.
After the tour we took part in a Kitchen conversation around the topic of immigration today. There were people from Minnesota, Mexico City, France, Ft. Lauderdale, and our host was from Serbia. It was interesting but could have been shorter. It was like every discussion based Master's class I had been too.

After the museum, Marie got some Gelato from a close by shop and was happy with the Fig flavor. It didn't taste that interesting to me. We then wandered around to find the Brooklyn bridge and try and walk across it. I lead us slight astray but we found the edge of the East river and a view of Manhattan bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked quite a way already, but then headed back to the subway station to find a line to the Staten Island ferry.
When we got to the station there was a giant crowd that piled on the ship. If you go to NY, this is another FREE activity.

 

The Staten Island Ferry goes back and forth from Manhattan to Staten Island and takes mostly commuters from what I could see. The ferry passes right by the Statue of Liberty and gives the best view of Manhattan. We took a lot of pictures on the hour long ride back and forth.

Marie and I then walked to another station and found a line to Ground Zero. When we came up from underground, there was a quiet feeling about the place. The buildings fell in a two block area that is now fenced off and only accessable to certain vehicles. Pedestrians have to walk around the perimeter and are only allowed a glimpse in on the Northwest corner on an overpass and the South side near the firemen memorial.           

The absence of cars makes the feeling of the area slowed, somber and quiet. Marie and I were both pretty quiet during the walk. Two buildings on the South side were still marred by ash and soot and were being renovated.

We left ground zero and walked to find John's Pizza on Bleeker Street. John's pizza shop was great. Marie describes the wait staff as being a Puerto Rican construction crew that works at a pizza joint at night. They were not your typical waiters. The pizza was touted by some passer by's as the best in the city and the twenty minute wait was worth it. The crust is toasted but not too much, thin but not too crispy or doughy and the sauce and cheese were tasty. On the wall they had three pictures of celebrities there, a professional boxer, a linebacker for the jets, and Barbara Streisand.

After John's we returned home to find Patrick and his roomates playing videogames. We stayed up chatting again and packed our bags to depart the next day. New York was a great city to visit and I would love to go back again. It has a completely different feel because they built everything up. Not only is the financial district tall, all buildings are tall. It is quite the place.

Yankee Stadium

On Wednesday, Patrick woke up a little after Marie and I and we all ran through central park. We ran a lap around the Jackie-O reservoir and then a small loop around the north part of the park. Patrick and I commented on our Uncle Paul's letter about jogging on the farm, and Patrick said he didn't have the heart to tell Paul he could run miles without running by buildings. The run was nice with lots of trees, and it was all along wood chips or gravel, no pavement. We got back and showered before departing for the game.
I talked Marie into going to a baseball game with me. Before this trip, I looked in Washington DC, Baltimore, Philly, NY, and Chicago for possible ballgames and the most promising one was Yankee stadium. The Yankees were playing the Rays, and Marie found the tickets on Stubhub.com. We got bleacher seats in the far back, right under the Dunkin Donuts sign. The game was great, except the Yankees won in the bottom of the 10th inning. I was rooting for the Rays. It was fun to be in the house that Ruth built and see the monument park. 
After the game, we returned to the apartment. As we left the subway the skies dumped buckets of rain on us. We made it home fairly dry and ate leftovers with Patrick and his roomates. We then went to attend a movie, "Tell no one." It was a French movie that was Great. Before the show we stopped by Dylan's Candy Store. It was sensory overload. The stairs on the way down to the main store were all sorts of candy put in fiberglass. The soundtrack the whole time played candy themed songs, and there was even a wall of famous people who had come in, put their favorite candy in a dish and signed their names. Intense.
After the movie, Patrick took Marie and I down to the lower East side. This had a downtown Portland feel. It was a very alternative seen and there were lots of restaurants and bars. We settled on a sushi bar close to Tomkin's square and had cheap pitchers of beer and some sushi. We then travelled up the street and had amazing fries at the Belgium Fry Place all the time being entertain with Patrick's stories of running with bulls in Spain. We walked by Washington square and saw some big churches and more large buildings before we headed home. It was a very fun night with high spirits and lots of laughs.

Tuesday July 8

Marie and I woke up in Patrick's apartment to find his med school roomates and him out for the morning. We ate some cereal and went to meet up with Marie's old roomate Melody and her boyfriend Ira. We walked through central park and found our way to the Guggenheim Museum. On display was the work of an artist Louise Bourgeois. The artist was inspired by childhood pain and a rocky relationship of her parents. It was an interesting display, and in side galleries there was work from more modern artist than we had seen. We saw Picasso, Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, and Andy Worhol. There was also a room full of paintings from the Bauhaus movement. This inspired an Oregon wine maker and he made wine with some of the art on display for his labels.From the museum we went to find Indian food. There is a whole street, 20th, that is called Curry Hill. We glanced at 3 menus and picked a vegetarian, Hallal friendly restaurant. The four of us settled on doing the lunch buffet and enjoyed a variety of dishes.
From here we walked to Strand Books. Supposedly, Strand books has the most books of any place in the country, but I think Powell's challenges it closely. Strand was packed pretty close together and the book shelves seemed right on top of each other in some places, but it was still large. We said our goodbyes to Melody and Ira in the aisles and went to Times Square to find Broadway tickets. Everyday at one location in Times Square, all the broadway shows put the tickets availble on sale for a reduced price. You can only pay with cash and they are on sale from 3-5pm. We showed up around 2:45 with the rest of the tourist crowds and slowly pushed through line. As we approached we realized we did not have enough cash. Marie stayed in line as I ran to find an ATM. I got back and Marie was almost at the window. I pushed money through the crowd and Marie was able to buy tickets as street hustlers were trying to give me advice on tickets for money. We bought two tickets to Avenue Q. I would describe it mostly as Seasame street for adults. We then took the subway back to Patrick's and we cooked dinner. A simple pasta with a big salad. After dinner, we rushed back downtown to see the show. We went to the Golden Theatre and laughed alot in the following 2 hours. As we returned to the apartments one of Patrick's roomates left the subway at the same time and walked us home. We sat up talking about medical school and Oregon. We went to bed late.

China Town Bus/ New York City

Kirsten and Daimon decided to drop us off for the bus on their way to work. We said our goodbyes on before we left, because the drop offs would be on the go. We drove by Kirsten's work and she exited. Then Daimon dropped us off at the China town bus. Marie and I had our bags and a printed ticket from the day before. We walked up to the first bus we saw, showed our ticket and they ushered us aboard. We waited until the bus was full and the driver took off, 5 minutes before scheduled departure. A woman in back yelled for the driver to stop, frantically dialed her cell phone and tried to explain to the driver that her husband was coming, the driver told her to sit down and just took off. Beyond that, there was no complication. We drove past Baltimore and onto the Jersey turnpike. Our driver for this trip was great. Marie and I read books, and listened to music for the four hour busride. We started to get close to New York and tall buildings surrounded us on the skyline. We saw the profile and then back of the statue of liberty and then drove through the Holland Tunnel. We arrived in Manhattan's China town and called my cousin Patrick who lives uptown at Mt. Sinai Medical School. We hopped on the subway and met Patrick at our stop. He walked us to his apartment which is all student housing, but very nice and the most spacious stop on our journey. We sat and chatted and prepared our visit. Patrick had to take a test that afternoon/evening, so after a nice rest, Marie and I went to purchase groceries as Patrick took his test. The grocery store was small and cramped but had TONS. The aisles were shoulder width apart, but some people chose to try and maneuver shopping carts around. When we were done, I had never experienced the type of panic and disrespect as I did when it was time to stand in line for a register. It was my first taste of New York attitude. There were no "excuse me" and if you hesitated at all your spot in line disappeared to a more impatient person. Wow. We returned back and Marie and I waited for Patrick to finish his test.
We then went out for a night in New York. We stopped at a fallafal place and got food to go. We walked five blocks to Central Park and sat on a bench eating. Patrick explained how he did not believe the stigma of Central Park being dangerous after dark and he had jogged many times at night. As we sat we saw lots of people and many single female joggers. I do not believe it either. We then walked to the edge of the Jackie-O resevoir. We were treated to a great view of the city lights and Patrick did his best to pick out the sky scrapers: Chrysler, Empire State, Trump Towers, Rockefeller Center, etc. As we sat there we decided, heck, lets go to Times Square.
We took the subway and when we came out, we were immediately bathed in the tremendous glow of the lights. Even the sign for the Subway was glitzy. Every building had a giant Television projection on the side of it showing ads or the station's programming if it was housed there. There were lights everywhere, and tourists everywhere. The strangest thing is that there is no sound except the passing cars and an occasional honk from a cab. Many of the movies show time square in slience or hidden behind a soundtrack, but it is how it actually feels. We then walked by Radio city Music hall and found Rockefeller Center, where NBC is housed. We saw many of the broadway play houses, and Patrick showed us one FREE site in NY. There is a glass elevator in the Marriot Hotel nearby and it goes very high and very fast. We took a ride and I recommend it if you happen to be at Times Square.

We then saw the South part of Central Park and rode home. We met Patrick's roomates and stayed up late discussing medical school experiences, and novelties. It was a great intro to the big apple.

White House

On Sunday I had set up a tour with one of my friends from college who works as a speech writer for the president. We showed up at the White House, went through security and proceeded to the West Wing. Our first stop was the press room where most all the press conferences take place. We took our picture by the NPR chair and then proceeded to see the offices of the West Wing. We got out to the Rose Garden, saw the Oval Office, the Cabinet meeting room and my friends office in the building. Every hallway was graced by pictures of our president and his travels. The photos change periodically and give a view of the travels and the visits that come with being the leader of our nation. It was interesting to see the pictures and the message that they sent. There was also lots of art in the wing, and John commented on how much had Native American subjects and a Western theme. There was even a few CM Russell, a famous western artist from central Montana, in the oval office and nearby rooms.
The best question came from Marie who asked my friend, Nik, how often the president sticks to the script and how often he improvises. Nik said that the President does what he wishes, and many times will not follow the script much, even though he is very involved in the speech writing most of the time.
We then got to tour the Eisenhower building next door. The building houses many more White House staffers. The architecture was great and we saw the office which was Nixon's private office during his presidency.
The tour was great and I feel that I know a little better the workings of the West wing.
We then drove down to the Nationals stadium. I love baseball and just wanted to walk around it. As we were walking around, two of the teachers I work with in McMinnville yelled my name and said they were taking a tour of the stadium. We must have been 3 of maybe 100 people at the stadium at that point in time. Very random meeting. They had been in town for the 4th and were at the mall for the fireworks. Small world.

We then headed to a market and bought some food to bbq! On the way home, John, Daimon, Marie and I got out to see the zoo as Kirsten went home to start food. We saw the apes, invertebrates, and were headed to the pandas and birds when a tremendous rainstorm happened. We were all soaked and after trying to hide under a tree for a short respite we decided to keep exploring. The rain continued and we watched hippos swimming, birds drinking, and lots of erosion around a construction zone.

We got picked up, made the car wet and stink, and then ate great food. We all enjoyed an evening in, and Marie and I packed for NY.

July 5

On Saturday, we again took a late start to get downtown. Marie had a friend from high school, Anna, who lives in Baltimore join us for the day. We drove down near the White House and met up with Anna, who had also not been to the Nation's Capitol. Our first stop was the old post office which has the second best view of the city besides the top of Washington's Monument. DC offers great free entertainment.

After panoramic views and oohs and ahs, we walked down to the Capitol Mall, the big grassy field, not a shopping center, where a folk celebration was happening. Each year countries around the world and states are honored by celebrating their folk culture. This year it was Bhutan, Texas and NASA. There was no music or food from NASA featured (sadly) but we all enjoyed a Bhutanese rice dish and Texas "Dance Hall" music as we ate our lunch.

We walked toward the Natural History Museum and one of the worst crowds of the weekend. We tried to get to the minerals and gems, but instead found our way through the history of civilization and a section with mummies and artifacts from ancient cultures. It was interesting, except that it was shoulder to shoulder traffic. We finally found the minerals, and I was able to touch the moon rocks and a dust from Mars, on my way to viewing amazing gems and ore samples. The rooms were better organized here than in Harvard's Natural History museum, but some of the samples from Harvard were more impressive. The largest line was around the Hope Diamond, and Anna was the only one from our group who caught a glimpse. We then made our way to the National Art Gallery and viewed a room full of Van Gogh, room full of Monet, and the only Leonardo Da Vinci in America. It was two sided and very neat to see. There were also great statues and I wish we had a little more time there.
We then went to find a beer after a day full of tourists. We found a place called the Front Page and enjoyed some drinks and appetizers. Anna retreated back to Baltimore, but John traveled down to the capitol and met us there. We also ran into friends of Daimon and Kirsten's from college.
After a decision to meet up later in the evening, Daimon, Kirsten, John, Marie and I went on a mission to find Ethiopian food. We stopped a place and with much confusion finally got seated and served about an hour and a half after we came in. The food was tremendous. We then went to a bar called the Big Hunt and met up again with Daimon's friends. The walls were covered with Murals of men hunting mythical beasts and animals of giant proportion. It was quite enjoyable.

...as we celebrate our independence day...

We woke up late on the 4th and to avoid the incredible crowds downtown DC, we left. We drove down south into Virginia to see Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. We parked in a overflow lot and walked to the gate. Once we entered, the line for the mansion tour was about an hour long, and we only had four hours until closing. We stood in line and did some people watching as well as got to witness a reenactment of taking a prison in for questioning. We walked into the mansion, and the line moved slowly through each room as an interpreter spoke about what we were looking at and its place in history. The tour was good and the house was interesting. On the backside of the house, there was a rolling green that leads down to the wide Potomac river. Most of the visitors to Mount Vernon were out on the lawn with their families enjoying the day, and a George Washington character paraded the grounds and posed with tourists for pictures. We moved on (without our photo with a fake founding father) and walked toward the other buildings on the property. There were big stables with a horse and mule. There were houses for buggies, a smoke house, wash house, etc. At the bottom of the hill, there was a small working farm and a barn of Washington's invention, made with 16 walls and two stories. It was used to seperate the grain from stalk during wheat harvest by way of having horses trod upon the whole stalk, and the grain would fall between cracks in the floor to the downstairs. Workers would then collect the grain and clean it using a cleaner not to different from the one I used last summer on our Montana farm. The farm had examples of tobacco, wheat, and corn. There was also a replica slave quarters. One of the most interesting subject to me was the different type of fences that were used on Washington's farm. After the farm we walked to the burial and memorial area. There is a shrine to Washington and his family and a nice memorial for the slaves that were buried on the property.
At that time, we were slowly getting moved back to the entrance as the grounds were closing. We walked through the two museums at the entrance to the grounds which had on collection many dishes, paintings, letters, swords, as well as Washington's famous dentures.
We then drove through Alexandria and stopped for delicious fish and chips. We walked down to the riverfront for some ice cream and then headed back to DC. We arrived in the city looking for a most precious commodity, parking. After about a half an hour we found a parking spot, and took the metro to one of Daimon and Kirsten's friends apartment. The apartment is right above the Iwo Jima Memorial and from his window, we were gifted a view of the Lincoln and Washington Memorial as well as the Capitol. We all had a drink in hand as fireworks went off above the Capitol and ten minutes later were filled up with National Pride and the fact that things blew up for ten minutes. The fireworks were very impressive even while put to a soundtrack of what sounded like British 80's punk. We stayed at the party for a while and then retreated back to Daimon and Kirsten's for the night.

July 3

I am officially a week behind on my posts. WHOOPs.
July 3rd, we began the day by touring John Hopkins campus. Marie and I got to see John's lab and a few other buildings. We wandered around a place called Hamden, which is very similar to Hawthorne in Portland. Lots of little local shops that feature a variety of things. We ate lunch at a little Asian restaurant then headed downtown. We stopped at Camden Yards, the baseball stadium where the Baltimore Orioles play. I used to be a HUGE oriole fan when Roberto Alomar, the greatest player ever, played for them. I did not see into the stadium much, but Marie and I walked around the whole outside, as I recalled tales of Jeter's fake homerun that a fan caught, playing in the yard pretending to be the entire lineup of the Orioles, as well as tidbits about Frank & Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken.
We then walked down to Inner Harbor and found a visitors center. We escaped from the heat there and found, what I consider, the best water fountain in the East. It was cold, and with a steady, strong stream. We wandered up Federal Hill and looked at the city scape, then walked down along the water looking for a cold drink. We also frequented back to the great fountain in the Visitor's center. Around 5pm, we walked back toward Camden Yard and caught the train back to DC.
My sister in Law, Kirsten, picked us up in DC and drove us to her place. When we got there, Daimon, my brother, and she had planned to see a free concert in a park near their house. We went with a picnic of hummus and pita bread and saw two bands play. The park filled with fireflies as the sunset and the music was ok. We then decided to do a tour of the monuments at night. Daimon says there is no better way. We drove to the Jefferson Memorial, then to FDR. The FDR is my favorite, but Daimon tends to believe that it is not monumental. We then went to the World War II memorial which was not around when I came in high school. It is a fountain surrounded by 50 columns each with the name of a US state. It was a pretty impressive monument. We then walked to the Korean War Monument, which at night, has a very somber, and eerie feel to it. We then walked to the Lincoln and through the Vietnam memorial.
We all loaded up into the car, and then we met with one of Daimon and Kirsten's friends who works for PBS and the Newshour with Jim Lehr. We had some drinks, closed down a few bars and headed home.

Capitol Hill

Our first day in DC, Marie and I had a tour of the capitol at 2pm. We took a bus downtown around 10:30 and found the capitol (not hard), then decided to see some buildings. We walked into the supreme court first. There is a large hall with busts of the chief justices of the past as well as a view into the courtroom. Downstairs we found a large statue of Justice John Marshall and some of his accomplishments. We then wandered over to the Jefferson building of the library of congress. This building is very ornate in the decor and architecture. One temporary exhibit was art of European explorers and the new world. There was drawings of South America flora and fauna done by Maria Sibylla Merian who was also on display at the Getty in Los Angeles. There was also a piece on Christopher Columbus and the Taino Natives of Jamaica. This brought our trip almost full circle already.
We found a quick lunch next and then headed to Ron Wyden's office to check in for our capitol tour. Marie and I were two of twelve on the tour. We rode a subway from the Dirksen office building to the Capitol. We saw lots of architecture and statutes in the capitol. Each state was commissioned two statues but Oregon had three. We saw both of Montana's statues as well. We walked under the rotunda, the crypt where Washington was almost buried, and saw the Catafalque upon which former Presidents coffins stood on while they lie in State. We continued through the main floor and finally made our way into the House Chamber. This is the place of the State of the Union speeches, as well as the regular House business. We made our way out, and walked toward Union Station. As we got there, we bought our tickets to Baltimore and then found that the train was delayed. As we approached the doorway to get on the train, we saw a HUGE crowd trying to leave for Baltimore. Everyone near us said, "We have never seen it this bad." I guess that is the theme of our week. They ended up boarding two trains at the same time, and we had a fairly express ride to Penn Station.

Upon arriving in Baltimore, we took a taxi ride the long way to my sister's boyfriend, John's house. Inside we were met with delicious peanut sauce and vegetables. John bought a house last year and is fixing it up one room at a time. He gave us a grand tour including a functioning worm bin in the basement, an on-demand hot water heater with telephone, two blow dart guns, an atlatl and a mastodon target. We discussed life, chemistry and plans for tomorrow.

Happy 4th

We are in our nations capitol for the 4th. I am two days behind on the blog, and I am trying to catch up. I apologize for the grammer mistakes, but I write these quickly as I have time on the internet. I hope everyone is enjoying their summers and has a safe holiday!

Flight

We left for the airport on Tuesday morning, and when we got off the bus in Montego Bay, Scott went on a mission to find us two foods we hadn't had yet: cheese patty and spice bun and cheese. We wandered around downtown, with much less hassle than the first time, even though we had luggage. We found a place called Tastee which serves Jamaican patties. Scott ordered us all a cheese patty which is the equivalent of an American fast food cheeseburger. It consisted of taco meat and cheese put in a flaky pastry crust and fried.

We then waited outside a store for it to open so we could get the spice bun and cheese. As we waited an armoured car came up to deliver the money for the registers. Two men got out with money and another walked up with a shotgun. The only troubling part was that the finger was always on the trigger.

We flew out of Montego Bay without issue and landed in Fort Lauderdale along with 3 other planes. A few people behind us said, "we've never seen it this bad." As we stood in line for customs, many people were chatting about how they had a connection in 30 minutes and that they would miss it. I would guess about 25% of our plane missed their connection. We stood in line for an hour and a half and were actually thankful for our extended layover.
We arrived in DC that night at 11 pm and my sister's boyfriend John picked us up. We drove to Georgetown to my brother's house and crashed for the night.

Community Center/ Last meal

Monday was a lazy morning. Marie and I tried our hand at snorkeling one more time. The water was cloudy, so we decided to stay out of the water. I tried to tan for a while, but I think I failed pretty miserably. After lunch we walked down to the community center in Belmont and saw where Carrie works. Next door is a sewing shop, where woman from the comnmunity make napkins and other items to sell, as well as do repair work on resident's clothing. Marie picked out a few napkins to buy. We wandered around Belmont and the beach untill Carrie got off work.

The villas next to Scott and Carrie are vacation get away sites for familys, and each Monday they do a social cocktail hour. Scott and Carrie are invited by the owners to come and discuss their experiences in Jamaica. Marie and I got to tag along and we were there with only one other couple from Pheonix. We discussed education and Jamiaca over a couple of drinks and then we excused ourselves to go catch dinner. We walked next door to a small roadside restaurant. We looked for Jerked chicken, but sadly the stand was out. We settled for Curry goat, fried chicken and festival. Festival are little deep fat fried corn ball dumplings. Yum.

We continued the merriment when we got home and participated in Jamican wine tasting. The islands only label of wine is RED LABEL WINE. I would describe it as a cherry juice that has fermented. There was LOTS of sugar involved. We also bought a ginger wine and a tonic wine called "Magnum" which is suppose to "put lead in your pencil" and the guy that sold it to us said it was "Magnum-ificient." The ginger wine tasted like red label wine except for the after taste, which was ginger. The tonic wine tasted like red label wine, except for the aftertaste too. It tasted like wet chicken, or branding cattle. Jamaica wine tastes like branding cattle.

Hike

On Sunday, we woke up early to go on a hike with people who work with Carrie and a few other Peace Corps Volunteers. Carrie's office is in a business space called the Reliable Adventures Jamaica. It is a tour company that works with Sandal's Whitehouse and takes tourists into the local mountains to experience nature and learn about the history of the island. We started at around 8 o'clock on a road near a village called retirement. Wolde and Dacita were our guides and they were very knowledgeable about all of the plants and animals along the trail. We stopped at a farm along the way and bought soursop and bananas. When we reached the peak, or zenith, we were treated to a great view of the coast and hills. Wolde continued to express how lucky we were to see the most beautiful place in the world. We started our hike down and Dacita went into the history of the island. We learned about the Taina Natives, Christopher Columbus, the British, Slaves, Maroons, and the current political parties. It was a very informative hike and was a great experience.

When we returned to Scott and Carrie's house for lunch. All eight of us on the hike came back. Dacita made a soursop juice that was incredible and Carrie and Scott made a bean salad that we put on homemade tortillas. It was a delicious lunch, especially after our long hike. After the meal Wolde and Dacita left, but Kelly and Matt, the other peace corps volunteers, stayed for a while. We went down to the water and Marie and I tried to snorkel. The water was cloudy so we returned to shore. We threw rocks into the water for a dog that lives in the yard, and then we went back to the house. The six of us sat around reading, talking and enjoying each others company.

Aunt Kem/ Hike/ Art's House

On Saturday Marie and I awoke to having nothing on our early morning schedule. We decided to try snorkeling again. Scott joined us with his goggles and we walked back to the sea. The water was much clearer. We saw lots of fish, a few types of coral, tube worms, sea cucumbers, and sea stars. It was my first time snorkeling and I only took one gulp of water, when I foolishly tried to adjust my apparatus with my face in the water.

host site. When Peace Corps Volunteers first enter a country they are hosted by a family tAfter we were tired out, we all went back to the house and changed to visit Scott and Carrie'so get a feel for the communities and the way of life. Scott and Carrie were placed with Aunt Kem, who is amazingly hospitable. We took a bus to her driveway then walked uphill about a quarter mile to her house. When we arrived she and Ms. Vern, her housekeeper, were working very hard in the kitchen preparing our meal. Carrie went into help and learn how to cook more Jamaica dishes as Scott led us around the yard. The yard had many fruit trees in it, and lots of flowers. We wandered around the yard for a while enjoying the wonderful surroundings, then returned to Aunt Kems balcony to relax. From her balcony you could see much of the south coast. It was a great view that required lots of time to take it in.

After a brief nap, we sat down to the table and had dinner. The meal was: fried chicken, yam, gravy, potato salad, pumpkin(squash), lettuce salad, and fried plantains. The entire meal Aunt Kem kept saying, "Oh I have nothing to feed you, this isn't enough food." After I took fourths as well as my brother, there was still plenty of food on the table. Any time we would clear our plates, she insisted that we ate more. It reminded me of my grandmother who always tried to feed you, even if you weren't hungry, and if you ate a little bit, it meant you needed MORE!
The meal was great, and followed up by rum, raisin ice cream. When Jamaicans make rum ice cream it is RUM ice cream. I felt like I had just taken a shot after each bite.

After a brief chat of previous Peace Corps Volunteers living with Aunt Kem, it was time to hike home. We walked along the main highway for a little bit, but it certainly is not safe where there is no shoulder. We hiked along a seperate road for a while, then met up with a small trail that cut across peoples properties. It was about 6 miles back to Scott and Carrie's house. We all enjoyed the walk after we had stuffed our bellies so full.

When we got home, Scott and Carrie told us to change into our swimming suits because we are going to the neighbors house, where there is a pool. We changed and grabbed some towels and walked next door to a house that is HUGE. Cindy, a woman from Colorado who is a massage therapist and care taker for the house, greeted us in the kitchen as she was cooking a pot of bean soup. The house belongs to Art (?) who was the head of the Vietnam Memorial Installation, as well as one of the organizers for the Atlanta Olympics. Cindy lives there year round, and is alone most of the time. Art and his family come down every so often to enjoy a week in Jamaica.
Carrie took Marie and I on a tour and Cindy continued to cook. As the soup simmered, we all went to the pool area where it overlooks the sea and Scott and I swam as we all enjoyed conversation. That night we enjoyed the sunset, great bean soup, and good conversation. Scott and I also enjoyed the end of Army of Darkness and the end of three baseball games. Scott is excited to have neighbors with a satellite so he can watch TV every once in a while.