Birthday and Donkey Races

When I was a kid, I was always jealous of those kids who were able to have pool parties or parties at Splash Down (the local water park) for their birthdays. Being that my birthday is in February, I never really had that option. But! Then I moved to Jamaica, where it’s summer all year round. So this year, I was finally able to have my summer birthday. It was sunny, warm and wonderful all day just as I had always hoped. And my dogs were even quite in the morning, meaning I wasn’t woken up at 5:45 by them barking their heads off! (Something that happens more often than not.) I was flooded with emails, calls, texts, Facebook posts and even a few cards throughout the day, and each one of them definitely made my day a little bit better. I even had a HUGE piece of cake at work, and managed to make it most of the day without getting “flowered” (it’s a Jamaican tradition that on your birthday, everyone throws flower on you…sometimes after spraying you with beer).

After work I went with a few friends to go cliff jumping. Negril is a seaside town, and there are 2 sides to it – the beach side, where I live, has a 7 mile long, white, sandy beach that is great for relaxing and leisurely beach days. The other half is several miles of jagged rocks and cliffs jutting out into the water. There are many, many points along here to jump off the cliffs into water, most being at least 20 feet up, if not more. Like I said, I’ve never had a summer birthday before, and I was excited to take advantage of finally having one. A few good friends agreed to join me on this excursion, and we decided to go to the “lighthouse” at Negril Escape, a very Peace Corps-friendly hotel whose manager we work with on a pretty regular basis. We all know how much I like clichés, and we all know what they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words. So let me shut up and just show you a picture of my friend, Eric jumping off the lighthouse:

After a few jumps, we headed out to a local spot for some great jerk chicken, another piece of cake (it was by birthday, after all) and another Red Stripe or two before heading home for the night. And yes, my friends did manage to flower me right at the end of the night with the help of a local store owner.

A few days later, some volunteers and I volunteered at a local community event – Donkey Races! It’s a fundraiser put on by the Negril Rotary, and it was a fantastic day. It’s just what it sounds like – donkeys racing around a circular track. And yes, there were jockeys. There were several heats and several rounds, and I got to see many donkey races throughout the day. Each one was more entertaining than the last was. Some of the donkeys just sprinted around the track, some bucked their riders off, some refused to move, some turned around and went backwards and some just walked and took their sweet time. We all helped out throughout the day and definitely took the time to enjoy watching the races. Again, this is something that needs to be seen to be believed, so please watch this video to get an idea of the day:

I’ve also posted some recent pictures online, and here’s the link if you’d like to check them out:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2309230&id=5301199&l=14096fe197