Living Life with Charisma: Jamaica

In Negril, our hotel was situated approximately right in the middle of the beach. The first day we got there, in the spirit of exploration, we walked to one end of the beach and back. During the course of this "short" walk of about 6 miles, I think we were approached, hassled and hit on by no less than 50 people, with absolutely no exaggeration! I think they could see our pale, tan-less bodies from a mile away, a sure sign of fresh-off-the-plane tourists!

So, a day or so later, when we were somewhat bronzer, Brunsli and I decided to walk the other way down the beach for a little exercise. So we took off to the north, this time our walk took us past a uninhabited section on the beach, closer to the road where there were no hotels. Part of this section actually had no beach at all, but once we got past the section we arrived at a beautiful, secluded section of beach with a nice large section of shallow ocean, so we decided to take a swim!

Oh yes, I forgot! We also happened upon a naked black man, laying out on a beach chair in the sun. :-0 Sorry, no pictures! We actually just tried to walk by quickly, eyes forward.....

Anyway, after our swim, we continued on, walking up the beach. At this point, we hit the all-inclusive part of the beach. Sandals, Beaches etc... Everytime, we crossed over the property line onto another resort, a nosey security guard came out and asked us where we were staying....

"Excuse me! Where are you staying?!? Are you staying at this resort?!?"

Now, there is no law against walking on the beach and I am pretty sure that we do not, by any stretch of the imagination, look like Jamaican hustlers or prostitutes..... After being asked this for about the 3rd time, we started to get a little attitude! We are just walking on the beach! Trying to enjoy our walk in the sun! Interestingly, when we replied with attitude, the whole demeanor of the guards changed. "Oh, no, there is no problem! Okay, enjoy your afternoon"

Sigh........

At the end of the beach, after four miles or so, was the infamous Hedonism, called "the Zoo" by Jamaicans ...... We, the only clothed people in the place (besides the folks who worked there) walked through, again trying not to let our eyes linger anywhere...... Talk about a let down! A whole bunch of older, pudgy and sagging pink (and sometimes red) white people! Nothing interesting to see.....

We crossed through the gate at the end, and there were these people standing there....

They introduced themselves, offered us a seat in the shade, and proceeded to offer us something to smoke (which we don't do, of course), some drinks - beer, champagne, water- and sheparded us around the ocean on a floating tube/raft!