Jamaica Day 2 : Local Shopping & Rick's Café

jamaican dollars

So, here in Jamaica, the exchange rate from US $ to JA $ is a ratio of about $93 JAD to every $1 USD. On our initial arrival on Sunday, we converted $200 USD at the airport cambio, and received something like $18,700something JAD in return. That's right... $18thousand something. We joined a long line of people raising an eyebrow when the exchange rates were calculated and the Jamaican dollars were handed out.

Today, Rob and I checked out the Time Square Mall, the duty-free shopping plaza directly across the street from Legends. It was there that we did some of our obligatory perusing of local gods at local, duty-free prices for souvenirs and gifts. We laughed when we found ourselves at the first register, and the cashier tells me I owe her something like $2,000 something for a few things. I'm sure we weren't the only ones to set foot in Jamaica saying, "Yeah, can you imagine if that were in US$?"


time square mall | negril, jamaica

merchant artists at time square!

beach artisans

snorkeler!

Once we'd checked off the names on our souvenir list [& snagged a few things for ourselves, let's be honest... haha], we headed back across the street, dropped everything off, and headed right back downstairs to test out one of our spoils, a snorkeling mask for Rob. It was a perfect day for some swimming, beach lounging and relaxing before we really get into the swing of things tomorrow.

We met up with Tara and Jordan for a little while, all trying to decide exactly what we were planning to do in the arena of off-resort excursions over the next couple of days. Cassie and Shayne had gone today on their first excursion, horseback riding through parts of the mountain and ocean terrains; I was really looking forward to hearing how their trip went. In the meantime, Rob and I went ahead and signed up for a trip to Mayfield Falls tomorrow, and the kayaking/ziplining outing on Thursday that would wind up being with Cassie and Shayne. Tara and Jordan seemed like they both had a solid idea of what they'd like to do as well, so we split off in our pairs to wrap up plans, get ready and grab a cab ride up to Rick's.

tara. jordan. cori. rob.
rick's café | negril, Jamaica

♥ this guy

l - o - v - e!

Kingsley, our cab driver, was what I would describe as the embodiment of a friendly Jamaican local. He explained a lot to us about the traditions and inner workings of the Rick's Café cliff jumpers, the boats in the surrounding harbor and even a little backstory on his life growing up in Jamaica. Rick's is known for its cliffs, but more than that, the locals who make a show for visitors of leaping from the highest perch, which is a mere 80ish feet above the water.

rick's café - bar/restaurant side

just a little cliff-side yoga, pre-dive... ;)

We wanted to see someone jump from the high peak.

But first, to conquer the 45-footer that I'd promised myself and the rest of our group that I would...

Woo! It's been a veeery long time since I bridge jumped, cave jumped or cliff jumped; yesterday at Samsara was a nice little re-introduction to leaping off land into water, so by the time I shed my outer layers and stepped up onto the platform, I knew there was no backing out. [Kalyn, for the record, this is the part when I really wished you were here, hahh!]

Anyway, the adrenaline from jumping was still in my hands as a tried to steady them enough to take video footage of a local making his way up to the high platform for a jump. Below him, a handful of other locals swam out to the landing spot to form a circle in the water.

more impressive stunts!

Rick's is also supposedly known for the sunsets. Unfortunately for us, it's so far been mildly overcast for the couple of days we've been here so far, but we did catch the sun sliding down behind the clouds, even if it wasn't one of the painted skies we heard about from many of the locals.

day's end in negril!

Once the sun went down, we decided to try out the café part of Rick's Café.

world famous!

The food was decent, though a bit more expensive than we perhaps would've ranked it, but worth it for the overall experience. A live reggae band carried us all through dinner, and after we ate and explored the various edges of Rick's cliffs, we hopped back in the cab with Kingsley for the ride home.

perfect tuesday with this guy (:

Our first excursion is tomorrow! Here we go! 

xo | cmd