Sometimes I get messages from people telling me how they wish they could travel the world. I normally respond by asking if they have traveled back home. They usually say no! I get this feeling that I’m very repetitive when I preach to people how beautiful Jamaica is and how much it has to offer in terms of attractions. The point is simple! So many locals here in Jamaica haven’t taken the time to fully appreciate what we have! Why would you want to run out and explore a foreign country when you haven’t even seen what home has to offer!
Nothing drove this point home more than playing Tour Guide to my friends Audi and Agnese late last year. The story goes like this! I met Audi in Barcelona a couple of years back and we hung out for around three or so days before she left to go back to Denmark. During this time I invited her to come to visit Jamaica and she said sure. I didn’t take much stock in it though because plenty of people I meet in my travels say they’re gonna come visit but never usually end up coming. I mean you’ve only known me for three days, you’d probably be a little crazy to come visit me halfway across the world! Nonetheless, we took each other’s contacts and messaged from time to time. Then she messages back one day and says she is really serious and she wants to know if she can carry a friend. None of this is strange right? Of course, I say sure, not knowing who the friend but trusting in good energy.
I’m not sure if there are people who can relate to this but I’m the kinda person that’s more anxious about my guests having a good time than myself. So I was stressing out about if they would like the arrangements I made or if they would hate Jamaica! Remember that I barely knew them so I didn’t know what kind of travelers they are! To make it worst, their very first official day had me going to work whilst they just lounged around my home. I couldn’t wait for the next day when I’d be able to show them the countryside ie. beauty that I promised. In my head they were probably thinking, is this all there is to it? Well, that was all in my head because they claim that they were already enjoying themselves.
Still! I couldn’t wait to impress them. To get out into the country and show them how much more there is to Jamaica! The first real stop I planned was to Reach Falls which I hadn’t ventured to in over five years. To fall in love with your country again is to see a stranger falling in love with it for the very first time. The look on Agnese’s face as she marveled at our river tour is not one I’ll soon forget. She looked like she had found paradise. To be fair the two other locals who came on the trip had never done the reach falls ‘tour’ before either. Even though I had done it, I have to admit the beauty of this landscape still blew me away. So we were all pretty amazed.
To go a little more into how my sick mind works I’m thinking touchdown, they love it! Now I just got to keep them impressed and pray that nothing goes wrong on the entire trip until I see them off at the airport. I won’t go over every scenario like a stuck record but the looks on these girls’ faces as we island hopped is a memory I hold near and dear. They loved the waterfalls, the beaches, the cliffs, the mountains, the food, the people, and our hospitality! I’m probably rambling on at this point but basically, they fell in love with Jamaica. By the time they were headed out to leave we were all bawling our eyes out because we had made such an intense connection! After seeing there admiration I had given thought to doing small private tours where I show foreigners a little taste of Jamaica. I don’t know if I’d ever actually do it, but I’m curious to know if anyone reading would be interested in discovering Jamaica from a local! Drop a comment!
