Jamaica

The DJ in the cruise port of Ocho Rios welcomed my friend Andreas and I with Bob Marley songs, while overseeing one of the greenest islands from our balcony. I was eager to get off the boat to go to the nearby Mystic Mountain.

Right outside of the port I haggled with taxi drivers, who tried to charge a too high price and told me to walk when I said I would pay half. When I started to walk he came back to me and said "OK the price is fine!". I asked if I could pay by card but I couldn't so he would drive me in to town, which was like 3 minutes away, so I could withdraw money, but that would cost me extra of course. They just tried to get every penny of me they could and I'm so bored with that. For me it's better if you act nice and then you can get a tip instead, instead of trying to take 40 dollars for a 5 minute ride. It turned out the trip to withdraw the money was almost longer than the ride to Mystic Mountain, so we should have just walked there. Especially since the taxi driver wouldn't stop trying to sell us more rides, "you should go here, here and here" and we were like "no, we just want to get to the mountain". He would say "no problem, as we say in Jamaica" but I guess there was a problem in Jamaica after all, because 5 seconds later he tried to sell some other rides for us again. It was never-ending and I was so glad to finally arrive to the mountain, and I wouldn't mind if he didn't come back to pick us up. It could actually be nicer to walk back.

The skylift up through the rainforest to the mountain was overpriced too, but it was such a beautiful view over the forest and sea that I didn't care. 

I enjoyed every second of it until we reached the top of the mountain, and saw the spectacular view from the pool area. It's one of those views that you have to pinch yourself to see if it's real. I jumped into the pool before all the other tourists would arrive, while Andreas headed for the bob.

They had built a bob ride going down the mountain as a celebration of the 1988 Winter Olympics team from Jamaica, that signed up for the bob competition without having seen snow before. Since no one else signed up from the country they were automatically accepted, and let's just say they are lucky to still be alive.

Andreas raced the bob so fast that the cameras on the track didn't catch him, and then it was my turn.

I catched him in the start with my camera though 

I didn't use the brakes either and the bob came flying down the mountain in full speed, it was both scary and exciting at the same time. And even though it was going so fast, I tried to enjoy the environment of the rainforest as well. It was easier on the way back up when the bob was slowly pulled up again. The only bad thing about it was that it was over too quickly and I had wished we could ride it unlimited times.

Back up at the mountain I saw my first hummingbird hovering in the park sipping on some nectar.

Then it was time to enjoy the ride with the skylift once again, but this time going down. The taxi driver actually waited for us there, which we hadn't expected since I had paid him almost the full amount already. But he said he had a slow day with almost no passengers, so I guess that's why he came back to collect the last 5 dollars.

We went to the upper deck of our huge cruise ship, MSC Divina, and played some football as a homage to reggae legend Bob Marley. He survived a gunshot assassination attempt, but then died from a toe injury from playing football, so ironic.

Then we hit the Garden Bar for some drinks while the DJ played Bob Marley songs, while the cruise ship slowly left the green island of Jamaica behind.

* Best things about Jamaica – Bob Marley's music is the perfect soundtrack for a visit to the green island (no pun intended), I loved the tranquility of going on the skylift through the rainforest as much as I loved the adrenaline of going down the mountain in a bob, the view from the pool area was like a dream and we couldn't end the day much better than playing football with Jamaica in the background

* Most mediocre thing about Jamaica – I wish we had time to see more of the island, at the same time that I know it's an unsafe place to be as a tourist, so I'm both relieved I have been there without anything bad happen to me, at the same time I wish to go back to see more

* Worst things about Jamaica – nagging taxi drivers who tries to rip you off and the overhanging threat of robbery in the country

Best countries in the world according to the nerd (will be updated with every post):
1. USA
2. The Bahamas
3. Croatia
4. Montenegro
5. Andorra
6. Cyprus
7. Grenada
8. Turkey
9. Greece
10. Italy
11. Spain
12. Monaco
13. Malta
14. Jamaica
15. Netherlands
16. Belize
17. Saint Lucia
18. Iceland
19. Denmark
20. Sweden
21. Lithuania
22. Macedonia
23. Armenia
24. Portugal
25. Dominica
26. Hungary
27. Slovakia
28. Belarus
29. Slovenia
30. Austria
31. Russia
32. Barbados
33. New Zealand
34. Ireland
35. Germany
36. United Kingdom
37. Belgium
38. Poland
39. Saint Kitts & Nevis
40. Vatican City
41. Estonia
42. Czech Republic
43. Switzerland
44. San Marino
45. Honduras
46. Colombia
47. Costa Rica
48. Kosovo
49. Romania
50. Finland
51. Latvia
52. Azerbaijan
53. Georgia
54. Saint Vincent And The Grenadines
55. Antigua & Barbuda
56. Moldova
57. Norway
58. Ukraine
59. France
60. Bulgaria
61. Luxembourg
62. Liechtenstein
63. Trinidad And Tobago
64. China
65. Serbia
66. Bosnia And Herzegovina
67. Albania