Who knows where the adventure will end..

I don't have too much to report but I wanted to add some more pictures of Jamaica for you.

I had forgotten to add in the last entry that Jamaicans are very taxed. Sales tax is 16.5% and applies to some food even! The government says that they have to have such high taxes because they have to pay back the IMF. Honestly, I don't know how most Jamaicans survive. And unemployment is about 30%. But then again, they don't seem too worried about working either. Met a girl who worked here in the past recruiting and training people for a call center. She's now back in Canada and still working for the same company. She says the turnover in Jamaica is way higher than in Canada and that it takes about 3 Jamaicans to produce the same results as 1 Canadian. She was even telling me of the tricks they use to not work and not get caught and he threat of being fired is apparently nothing to worry about. No problem mon!

Last night I went to a party put on by one of the tour companies here. Mostly Jamaicans a few foreigners. Now this is not a joke but if you are prudish NEVER go to a Jamaican party unless it's a dinner party that you know will be tame. Won't go into any details here but it's wild!!!!

So here are the pictures I was talking about (No, there aren't any from the party although people there did have cameras. Hope none of those pictures make it to the Internet!)

Me at Dolphin Cove; Me doing the zipline and river tubing (Yes, I have a tough job!)

Another shot of 7-mile beach, Negril; American Croc at Black River in the south of the island; Y.S. falls, not too far from Black River

I know I had promised that I would update my blog more often but since I don't yet have Internet at home, I didn't. But at least I have pictures so you all can see some of Jamaica!

I just started working officially last Friday. Crazy busy weekend but now it's not so bad (until next weekend that is). The hotels here are really nice and most of them are new. For people looking to get away from the kids and be romantic, Couples is really the place to go. I only visited the 2 in Negril but they're fabulous. The Iberostars and Rius are also really nice. And although I haven't visited the Sandals, some guests told me the one in Mo Bay (that's what the locals call Montego Bay) wasn't that great. Overpriced for what you get.

Jamaica is so different from Cuba. The English influence has been really strong here. Lots of churches, and people actually go to! People are pretty conservative here as well and families are still pretty big. On my first night here, I was staying at the Riu MoBay and there was a wedding. I heard the groom's aunt give a speech at the reception and she was saying that in their family, people just don't get divorced. You talk it out, you work it out. I think like everywhere else divorce is becoming more common but I get the feeling that's it's still stigmatized here.

It's weird for me not to kiss people hello. I'm so used to Cuban and also Quebecois way. It's weird to just shake people's hands, even people you know! And sometimes people introduce themselves as Mr. For example the security guard at my place told me he was Mr. White. How strange!

As time goes on, I'll give you more of my impressions of the place. For now, here are some pictures. My apartment from outside; the beach at Riu MoBay; 7-mile beach in Negril; Cliff jumping from Rick's Cafe, Negril; Dunn's River Falls; Kingston seen from the Blue mountains

For those of you whom I didn't see during my short stint in Canada, things have changed again....I am not going to Mexico after all. On Thursday, I'll be flying to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I'm quite excited as this was where I wanted to go in the first place and I've never been to the DR. Plus, my friend Melany is supposed to come down as well for the winter so I'll have a friend. In the DR, I'll be the airport coordinator for Signature Vacations. It's a different role from the one I had before as a destination rep. I'll be living in an apartment and not in a hotel, but I think that's common in Punta Cana. I think all the reps live in apts. and not in the hotels. The advantage of that is that you can actually get time to yourself. When you're done work, you won't have some client come up to you an 10:30pm asking in the flight is on time tomorrow! I'm not sure exactly what the role of the airport rep is. I know that you're responsible for checking over the flight manifest coming from the company, ensuring the transfer buses are there, helping people at the airport with any problems they might have either when leaving or arriving. It seems to be a more operational role than destination rep, which is much more customer service oriented. I'll keep you posted.

Now, during my time in Cuba, I did take a few pictures (not too many because as you may or may not know, I don't really like taking pictures and always forget to do it anyways!). So here goes.

The first picture is Alex’s grandmother’s house. The window next to the door (on the right) is my room. At night, we sometimes see frogs and/or toads in the house. Although Alex and his family are afraid of them, I tell them not to kill them because they eat insects like cockroaches, which I still have not gotten used to! That’s Alex sitting in the back room which is part kitchen, part tv room.

Some pictures taken from the front porch.

Alex and his little brother Cristian at his cousin’s house (Nice smiles!). His cousin, Lidi with her new baby. Alex’s grandmother with the baby. Cristian with Jack’s brother.

So the adventure began early….Thank god Jan came with me to the airport. Hehehe. For those of you who were wondering, my bike box weighed 47kg!!!!! As you can imagine, they didn’t let me take it on because it was too heavy. Health and safety reasons. F.Y.I., as I had read on the website and should have remembered, no single piece of luggage can weigh more than 32kg. And, if your bike box contains things other than your bike, you have to pay. I had to pay for 1kg excess baggage but since my carry-on was 17kg and the max is 15, I had to try to fit some of the stuff in my other suitcase. So I was kneeling on it while Jan was trying to zip it up! We looked quite funny. In fact, people who were waiting in line thought so too! Jan took the box home and is keeping it for me. Thank you Jan.

As for Jack , he died. Apparently, he fell in love but his girlfriend lived on the other side of the road. You can guess the rest! I was sad when I heard.

Alex’s cousin gave birth to a healthy baby boy on September 16th.

They denied Alex his parole so he still has to go to the place where he does the work during the week. Luckily, his stepfather knows the guy who gives the passes so now Alex should be able to get his pass for Friday morning and only have to go back on Monday. It only cost a bottle of rum (although I’m not sure but it may cost one every week). Alex’s mother saw a friend of her husband’s who knows a guy who knows the guy who decides to give the parole or not (parole in this case means that although Alex would have to go to work for the state for the rest of his sentence, he’d be living at home). So, he’ll go speak to him and see what can be done. That’s how things work here. And we thought networking was important in Canada!!!! Speaking of which, today, I bribed my first government official. I needed a paper that usually takes 1 week to get. I needed it in the afternoon. I learned that bribes here are a lot cheaper than I thought. I was going to give the lady $20 but Alex’s mother told me that 100 Cuban pesos ($4) was plenty. I gave her $5.

Other than that, things are falling into place. Had a bit of a frustration attack the first day here. First when I went to the store and couldn’t find stuff that I wanted like toilet paper!!!!! Found some today but once again, it was because I saw a lady walking down the street with it in her bag so I asked her where she’d gotten it from. Would you believe that’s the 2nd time in my life I’ve had to do that???? Was also frustrated when I went to immigration to get the family visa and they told me that I needed a marriage certificate that wasn’t more than 3 months old (new law) because I could have gotten divorced in the meantime! But then I decided to take a deep breath, relax and told myself that everything would work itself out and it did.

No pictures with this entry but I promise that the next will have some.

I've decided to start writing in the blog again since I'll be leaving Canada soon (in 5 dodos!). This entry is more of a test because since I have a camera, I'll be adding pictures to my blog

As for the title, well, it's not 100% true. I will be going repping again with Signature Vacations, either in Cancun or Playa del Carmen. But first, as always, I'm going back to Cuba. I'll be going to Cancun from Mexico, probably in November.

The picture I uploaded is of some of the crazy people I was working with here in Montreal at the Holiday Inn Select Motreal Downtown. I had a great time there, met lots of great people (some not so great - that's you Gerard! Ben non, tu'l sais que j't'adore!).

As always, I don't know how often I'll update my blog but it will be a good way for you guys back here in Canada to get some news about where I'm at and what I'm doing.

And if anybody wants to come visit me during the winter....you're all more than invited. Of course, I suggest Playa del Carmen or the Mayan Riviera. I'll come see you there.

That's it for now.