Another day, another trip up the pyramid. Despite our best efforts, rain did not come, so the process of making sure the plants received water fell to us. Earl’s opinion is the dance worked for MN but not here. I have a feeling none of us are ever going to live that dance down… Breakfast kicked off the day after we forced ourselves half awake (fortunately Gary did not have to sing today to get us up and going, sorry Gary, no offense intended). June chose to serve us ackee and salt fish for breakfast. We were delighted when she told us she had Americanized it: bacon and extra salt. Our thanks went out to her.

After this we organized for work. Nick, Sarah, Rachel, Michelle, and I jumped onto and into the truck with barrels of water while the rest worked on the Avocados planted on the slope near the Manse. The truck rumbled down the roads to “the pyramid”.  Earl drove with Michelle in the passenger seat, and the rest of us were in the truck bed. Now, I’m sure it’s been mentioned that the roads in Jamaica are steep, narrow, and filled with pothole, but when you add two huge barrels with broken covers full to the top with water… You can imagine what happened to those of us in the truck bed. If only I’d had some foresight I would have sat inside the truck cabin; there were still three open seats. Hindsight is great and all, but it doesn’t always help all that much.

Once at the work site, we started filling up buckets and containers with water to lug up the hill/mountain. Among these were small plastic water bottles with holes poked in the top so that when left on the hill they would provide plants with a steady drip of water. Nick filled one and squirted a jet of water near the girls as a bit of a joke. As one of them was saying something along the line of “you just wait”, I took the opportunity to give the water bottle I’d just filled a squeeze. Unfortunately the water came out all over the back of Nick’s neck. Also unfortunately, it was a slight bit more water than I had anticipated. After another “you just wait”, we went to work. I am not going to go into details with this, but for those of you familiar with Wild Mountain’s “The Wall” ski hill, the pyramid is about that steep. Plus you have loose rocks and all kinds of plant and tree debris to worry about. Carrying water up and down it the entire morning, I’m almost amazed no one was injured.

Once finished, we rested at the bottom. Nick just happened to have a slightly larger container filled with water next to him. This is another one of those times foresight would have been nice. Needless to say, I got it full in the face and front of my shirt. After laughing for a while (both Nick and I), we high fived and one final “you just wait” was mentioned. I’m pretty sure that one will never happen though. By that time those who had been working at the Manse had finished and walked down only to find out we had just finished. We teased them a little for being slow walking down, and then piled into the truck and headed back to the Manse.

Lunch came about shortly after we arrived at the Manse. A delicious curry chicken dish served aside some rice. We were told that Jamaican cooking is often influenced by Indian culture as in the era of slavery many Indians were forced to come here.

Later today we took a trip to the local market and grocery store. This included a stop at the bank, since some, including myself, needed to exchange some more U.S. currency for Jamaican. At the market some fruit was bought and one or two other things, but the majority of our shopping we did at the grocery store. The market is basically a large tent structure with narrow lanes and sellers everywhere. This is where we go for fresh fruit and vegetables. People bring what they grow or otherwise acquire to stalls they are stationed at. Bartering is common. 

The grocery store is not what we think of when we think of grocery stores. It is a small building and has no refrigeration, so there are no fruits and vegetables.

Ezra

The team did a great job heading back into Egypt to water the baby avocado trees, which needed it  a lot. Some of them we planted last Wednesday and Thursday were looking bad, but the ones we planted on Friday are still green and healthy. Tomorrow we go out to give them a second drink. The team really enjoyed going into a Jamaican grocery store and seeing all the different Jamaican products, some of them are making their way back to Minnesota. We had a short work day and time to regroup and start to get our energy back. Everyone is doing well and spirits are in good shape. We are counting down the days when we will arrive back in Minnesota but still enjoying every day here.

Gary