it's my last night. (at least, it's what i THOUGHT was my last night, lol.) oliver comes in from work and i have some jerk chicken for him. now, he's said in the past that he doesn't eat pork. and i've told him that i am filipino, and that filipinos love them some pork. the conversation never went much further than that. but tonight was the night that this conversation would take an interesting turn. he finishes what he wants from his chicken and puts the rest in the fridge and he sees another foil package in there. he says to me, "what's that?" and i say, "it's jerk pork." and he says, "you ate that?" and i say, "yeah." and he says, "I WILL NOT PARTAKE OF YOUR LIPS TONIGHT!" whoa! what? did he just use the words "partake" and "lips" in the same sentence? (i guess i better not tell him i had some earlier that week too.) lolololol

he continues to explain how much he abhors pork and that he doesn't want me to eat it around him....labba labba labba. now, i've heard that a lot of jamaicans don't eat pork, but i have a point that i need to make. so i said, "wait a minute...where does all of this come from?" he goes on to tell me about it being unclean. just what i expected him to say (he was raised in an adventist household). so then i say, "but you do eat conch, shrimp, crab, etc." and he says, "yeah." um, the bible goes into explicit detail of what is okay to eat and what isn't. it didn't just say, "don't eat pork." so i ask him, what about the rest of the rules? and he simply says, "i'm working on it." hmmm, ok. well, the day i quit eating pork i'm also going to quit the shellfish and whatever else the bible says shouldn't be eaten.

we stay up really late and his sister comes over after work to pick up some things. we're all standing in the parking lot chatting. then we head back to our room. it feels like we haven't slept for more than a few minutes and i hear jc and debbie at our door. they came to say goodbye to us before they head into negril for the day. after they leave, i am really depressed. i'm laying in bed crying and oliver is doing his best to comfort me. he helps me with the last few things i need to pack and carries my heavy suitcase upstairs so i can check out. i don't have to get to the airport for another 6 hrs so i have the whole day to kill before leaving. but he has to work, so we hug and kiss goodbye and he's on his way. i start crying again and go downstairs to sulk.

i spend a few hours at the pool. eat my leftover jerk pork (lol) got acquainted with wandabeinjamaica! and hang out with some puerto ricans for a few hours. then marie comes back from taking jc and debbie to negril and we run around for awhile. now, i've been craving conch soup all week long and it's looking like now's the time for me to try it. horace and marie take me to white house to get some of this long-awaited soup only now, i feel sick to my stomach and i don't want it anymore. i settle for a ting and we drive around some more. i go back to the pork pit hoping to pick up the jah cure t-shirt i was promised earlier in the week but the woman who has it is no where to be found. now i regret not coming for it yesterday. but marie tells me not to worry. her neighbor is jah cure's mom and she wants to take me to meet her the next time i come back. and since jomo is his cousin and kels says she can give me a t-shirt i'm not worried about it anymore.

eventually, it's time for me to head to the airport. i say goodbye to the people i've befriended at the gloriana and horace packs up the car.

here's a pic of me with o'neil. he works at the gloriana and since i've been there 3 times we've become friends.


this pic doesn't do him justice. he's really cute!

horace and marie drop me off at the airport with big hugs and prayers for a safe journey home. but....that's not where the story ends!

i check in and i'm told that my flight has been delayed until 2:40am. i'm like, "fo' real? bet! i'm going out tonight!" i gather a change of clothes from my suitcase. i'm having a good time flirting with the guys who search my luggage and another guy in the back room sticks his head out of the hole in the wall where the checked luggage disappears to and he's winking and smiling at me too. then i hear someone say, "lurissa!" it's the same chick who's always there watching me cry as i check in during all my other trips. "what? no tears this time?" she says. and i tell her i just got an extension and that i'm happy about it. marie is shocked that i'm not leaving yet and she comes back to the airport to drop me off at the gloriana. i'm strutting back to the front desk with a big smile on my face and the same young lady who laughed at my attempt to say "oliver's farrin cyaad" takes one look at me and laughs again, asking me what happened. i put my bags behind the desk again and i call the puerto ricans and tell them about the delayed flight. they invite me to chill with them until i'm ready to go out. later on that night i head to margaritaville and enjoy dancing with a fella until it's time for me to head back to the airport at 2am. only, stupid me doesn't think to call ahead. so i'm dropped off at the airport again and i find out the flight has been delayed AGAIN until 8am! mind you, it's the middle of the night. all the shops are closed, and there's no doggone air-conditioning at the airport! a lot of people are irate. some have already laid down on the floor to sleep. others are walking around trying to see if they can break into a water cooler to get some bottled water. the worry-free reps are there to answer our questions and they are assuring us that they are going to track down some cases of bottled water for us.

i am hot and sweaty from the wine session at the nightclub so i park myself under a fan and try to get some rest. at around 4am, here somes a rep. handing me a bottle of water. i am so sleepy, i'm delirious. but i can't sleep because i can't get comfortable. my head keeps bobbing forward. is it possible to be bored, restless, and sleepy all at the same time?

at 6am, the airport starts waking up and the shops are opening. at 7am, the worry-free reps are handing out vouchers for us to get something to eat. our plane finally lets us board and i'm telling you, as soon as we all finish our food, we are all knocked out! i wake up toward the end of the flight and notice that i've managed to somehow spill orange soda on my customs form. fortunately, the customs officer who collects the forms has a good sense of humor about the big orange blob in the middle of the form. lol

when i clear customs and start walking out of the terminal, there's jomo looking out for me. he yells, "tia!" and grabs my bags and puts them in the jeep for me. kels brings me up to date on the events of the week: my car drama, the house selling, the storm, 500,000 people without power, the tree falling in the spot where my car used to be. wow. it's been a busy week for the both of us! she said that jomo washed my car for me and when we pull up to the house, there's my baby all shiny and purty.

we're hungry and jomo makes us some egg sandwiches. i show kels my scrapbooks and my dvd from the bogue villa trip. after chillin' for awhile, i'm ready to hit the road and come back to my hyper little boy. my sister has been sending me text messages all day asking when am i coming back and that she sold my son since i was taking so long.

i think all these unanticipated incidents has really helped take my mind off being depressed and sad about leaving jamaica. i'm usually in a major funk for a long time but i'm not feeling that at all. i'm missing oliver of course, but other than that it's business as usual.

next trip is slated for october or december. i'd really like to go back for the jomo wedding reception though.

ok jc, your turn! can't wait to see your pics.