Day 2: Memorable lunch at Didi’s and other fun in Kingston
Haven’t figured out a bug in WordPress that has photos in the gallery at the end turned sideways and hopelessly out of order. Just deal with it for now and bear with us until we figure it out!!
Our hotel is in Downtown Kingston, home to a lot of hotels and restaurants, the US embassy and Emancipation Park. Old but very clean.
Woke up to a breakfast buffet. Nothing fancy, but the kids loved the fact that they could keep getting up for more cereal and pineapple.
James tripped and spilled cherry juice on the floor. All the Jamaican business people in the restaurant were patient and smiley, and the cleanup crew made him feel good by telling him over and over it was ok.
At 10:30 Didi and her driver for the week, Delroy, picked us up in his Nissan, and we went to the Bob Marley Museum.
Fun facts learned at the museum:
- Bob Marley’s dad was white.
- His dad was 55 and his mom was 18 when he was born.
- He was really competitive and a good athlete.
- He was shot in an assassination attempt in his home (we saw the bullet holes in the walls).
- He was known for his generosity and would always give something to the hundreds of people who lined up out front of his house every day.
- He died of cancer at age 36.
From there we went to the Hope Botanical gardens to see the zoo. We were the only people in the whole place. Bit sad but Didi wanted to take the kids so we went along.
I read this article once: “5 ways to be a better human at the zoo,” on the TED blog, which said you should do something interesting to entertain bored animals. There was this really curious monkey staring at us and when I told Teddy about the article, he started throwing his hat high up in the air and catching it. Every time he did, the monkey would do a deadpan jaw drop. Over and over again, same jaw drop in disbelief. It did not get old. Hardest I’ve laughed in a while. Poor little guy. Glad we could brighten his day? Sadly, no video of it.
After the zoo, drove to Didi’s bright pink house in Patrick City for a lunch prepared by daughter Michelle.
On the menu: Jamaica’s national dish of ackee fruit and saltfish made with ackee fruits from a tree in their yard, avocado, breadfruit, fried plantains and fresh lemonade and Red Stripe. There was even a Bob Marley portrait on the wall and reggae on the radio.
For dessert we ate Julie mangoes from a tree in their yard. “I think that’s the best mango I’ve ever eaten in my life.” -Teddy
It poured rain at that point. Very loud but relaxing on metal roof.
From there we drove to Devon House – a mansion and grounds once owned by Jamaica’s first black millionaire. Today it’s a public garden with shops and a museum — and a world famous ice cream shop called Devon House I Scream. National Geographic called it a top 10 ice cream spot in the world.
We did not disagree. Delroy got strawberry cheesecake flavor, Didi got sorrell, I got pistachio, Teddy got coconut, Willa got cherry and James got cookies n cream. Ate it at dusk in the gardens with a bunch of other locals. No tourists.
Drove home and went to bed.
Observations:
- No American tourists in Kingston.
- Only other white tourists we saw were Europeans and South Americans at the museum.
- Everyone we met was helpful and gushed over the kids. The lifeguard at the pool spent 10 minutes knocking down an almond pod from the tree with a pole, cracking it open and teaching us about it. The bellman played soccer in the lobby with James. A jogger in the park cheered James on as “Messi” when he was kicking the ball and a lady in the bathroom called Willa “Cinderella” when we were washing hands.
- A billboard discouraging litter read: Na Dutty Up Jamaica Mon!
