We're Here!!!

Wha a gwan? This is how we say hello in Jamaica, it means "What is going on?" Irie man - means everything is good. I've been keeping a journal of what's happened since we left. We were going to fly out of Ft. Lauderdale airport so we had to drive for 4 hrs from Tampa. However, that didn't go as planned because it took us 6 hrs. The drive was very frustrating but we had no choice so we prayed and kept going. We got to my parents house at about 10 pm and by the time we got to bed it was already past midnight. After a rough drive from Tampa to Ft. Lauderdale, I prayed and hoped that we would have a smooth trip to Jamaica. Thank you for praying too because God heard our prayers. We were supposed to get to the airport between 2-3 hours before our flight. This is the policy for International flights. We got there a little before 8:30 am for a 10:35 am flight and would you believe that there were only about 3 people in front of us. We were so amazed and happy. We were checked in quickly and got through security in all of about 30 minutes. It was fantastic. I was a little nervous when it was time to board the plane and I noticed that they were not calling the passengers yet. In the end, we boarded the plan and left the airport on time. Yea!! We also made it to Jamaica 10 mins before our scheduled time. God is faithful!! Imagine my excitement as we left the airport and traveled for about 2 hours to the hotel. I was wide-eyed in amazement and wonder as we passed by familiar places. As we were driving through Montego Bay, Adryana yelled, "Mommy, I love Jamaica!" My heart melted. I was so happy that my child could appreciate were I grew up. It was awesome and I was soaking up every minute of the whole experience. I was beaming with excitement; it finally hit me that I was really here. Wow!! We are in Jamaica. I wish I could tell you every moment has been like the way I just described. However it was not always wide-eyed excitement. The hotel was amazing, just as beautiful as before. Immediately we got lunch (we were starving, and we had no food on the airplane). We also had some delicious ice cream. We were all very tired so we went to our room and relaxed. Arjay was very fussy and we just thought he had been so overwhelmed and tired from the trip. However it was not the case. He was sick!

Day 2
We tried to make the most of this day by first having breakfast at the hotel. Very delicious food. We enjoyed some Jamaican food as well as American food. After this we left the hotel to visit my aunt at her job. She works on the 7-mile beach strip, so it wasn't far away. She sent a taxi for us and we were on our way. We talked with her for a little, then left to go to the Cambio (money exchange store) to get some Jamaican cash. You can use US money, but you get ripped off more. Next we stopped at the hotel where Greg needed to register for the Reggae Marathon (which would be the next day). Greg planned to run the half-marathon. He was very excited about this. After that, we are back to my aunt's workplace, which is a tourist gift shop. We finally connected with my cousin (the one who is having a birthday party in Jamaica). I was so happy!! She and I are not only cousins, we are also best friends and very much like sisters. We danced, hugged and squealed in excitement. It was great!!
Through this all we could tell that Arjay was definitely getting sicker. However, my cousin wanted us to go to dinner with them ( a large group of 40+ people, who came from Norway where she lives). It was very exciting and any other time we would have enjoyed ourselves more, but the mood was somber because we knew Arjay was getting worse. We ate at a restaurant on the cliff side of Negril where we watched a beautiful sunset while we waited for dinner. The conversations with my cousin and her friends were great and the food was delicious. However, immediately following dinner we told them we were leaving because Arjay was so sick. By the time we got back to the hotel Arjay was roasting with a fever. Needless to say, it was a horrible night of no sleep, constant worry and giving Arjay cold sponge baths and tylenol. It was also the night before Greg's race and there was no way he was going to get 8 hours of sleep.

Day 3
Greg still got up at 3:30 am and headed off to the Reggae Marathon, which was scheduled at start at 5:15 am. I was up from constant waking up with Arjay. After he left, I sould not sleep, even though Arjay was sleeping. I decided to finally unpack all our suitcases and organize our clothes. I stayed up for 2 hours, stressed about Arjay being sick while we are on vacation and worried about Greg's race. He didn't get enough sleep and running in Jamaica is tougher than in Florida. There are different circumstances such as the humidity here and the horrible road conditions. After praying for a long time, I finally felt calm enough to go back to sleep. When Greg got back I was proud to know that he finished his race (the half-marathon is 1hr 43 minutes, which was better than he anticipated. The rest of this day was spent worrying about Arjay. He didn't seem to be getting any better. Finally, we took him to see the hotel's doctor. We were told it was a viral infection and nothing can be done except what we were already doing (tylenol every 4 hours, cold sponge baths, take temperature and make sure he was getting enough fluids). We also were told of a pill similar to motrin that we should give him. We left feeling a little hopeful that it wasn't anything more serious. We were pretty much bored in our hotel room until dinner time. Unfortunately, there is no room service here so we had to go to the dining room. Arjay was fine throughout dinner though. It seemed like he was finally starting to get better. The children's tablet they recommended (which we bought at the gift shop) was really working. Arjay slept much better tonight. Things were finally looking up. By morning, Arjay's fever was gone and we were all excited!!!