Day 2: Exploring Jamaica, "Is This Love?"

On Sunday, we had the day to ourselves in order to prepare for our upcoming project and explore Jamaica.  

Hellshire Beach

Sipping coconut juice, swimming, visiting with horses and slow jam'n on Hellshire Beach. 

Guest Blog: Christopher Kajander

"I Thank God That I Finally Found You." 

       I had an epiphany on Hellshire beach. I was waist deep in the turquoise water listening to 90s Slow Jams.  All the hits from my middle-school dance days rolled out of 8-foot speakers that framed the entrance to a beach hut where they served fried parrot fish and warm Red Stripe for the locals, cold for the foreigners.  Boyz II Men, KC and JoJo, R. Kelly—all the artists who first defined love for me, their songs providing my first opportunity to slow dance with a girl— were blending my beach experience with a strange mix of nostalgia and newness. These songs that lived and breathed in the middle-school gymnasiums of my youth suddenly felt so perfect on this strip of pristine white sand on an island far from home. Paul Perry and I sang along while Colleen and JingJing laughed at our attempts to hit the high notes. I didn’t know it until then, but all my life I had prayed for something like this. In that moment I had an epiphany: After  listening to Slow Jams on a beach, I’m not sure I can ever go back to Slow jams without a beach, or go to a beach without Slow Jams.

Robert reaches enlightenment, again, while contemplating the many ways to describe how much he enjoys his lunch. 

Catch of the day.

Dawn, a HGSE doctoral student from Jamaica, shares her knowledge on Jamaican culture and customs.

Paul is mesmerized by the repertoire of 90's slow jams played on the beach and the fact that he and Chris are able to sing the lyrics to each one.  

Terryl finds that sunshine, pristine sea shores and delicious fresh fish are all conducive to  academic debate. 

Tribute to Bob Marley is ubiquitous across Kingston.