October vacations and drama part 1.

 I thought I would be able to write all about my vacation today, but it stressed me out so badly earlier that I'm going to start, and if I can't finish until tomorrow/next week...it'll be ok.

I would give people "fake" names, but there are too many people involved that I would lose track and it's just not worth it.

Here's a preface to the preface: It has now been two weeks since I went to Jamaica, things have settled down a bit, but they got pretty bad. That being said, I now know all of the stories from everyone's perspective, so I'm a little less angry or on one side of the fence. I'm going to have to post this update in a bunch of different sections, because it's a mess. Chances are, I will throw in some commentary about what I now know/believe, versus what I believed at the time things happened...I hope this all makes sense.

Here's a little preface: Last year, at the end of July I went to the Caribbean Festival in Toronto called Caribana, where I met Kim and Ashley, who are from Canada. Paris, I know from Chicago through Mo and travels to Jamaica. I have talked to Kim occasionally throughout the year on BBM, and while we never really got close, I got a great vibe from her and we definitely wanted to hang out again. I had not spoken to Ashley in a year. When I was deciding to go to Jamaica, Paris was the one who finally convinced me to go.

I was hesitant because I would be going alone. She told me there was no way that she would be going, even though I begged her to come. I needed a vacation though, so I decided to meet up with Kim who would already be down in Jamaica. Paris talked it up for a million years it felt like. She told me all about the great times I would have, and where we went each night and all sorts of good stuff. Normally, I go to Montego Bay, but this time I would be making my first trip to Ocho Rios, a bit more country than Mo Bay, which is like a tourist town.

Ocho Rios is just about halfway between Mo Bay and the capital of Jamaica, Kingston. Kingston doesn't ever get a good reputation, but lo and behold, flying there is WAY cheaper. Thanks to tripadvisor, I also found a great bus that goes from New Kingston, to Ochie for really cheap. It would normally be like $150 USD to charter a taxi/shuttle from the Kingston airport to Ochie, but from New Kingston (about 20 minutes into town) it was $15 one way. I didn't want to risk missing my flight back, so I decided to fly out of Mo Bay with the Canadians on Sunday.

The Tuesday before I was set to leave, I get a message from Paris.

"Have you spoken to Kim?"

"No, I was going to message her tomorrow." I had spoken to her over the weekend and she just said to text when I was coming.

"She broke her arm in Jamaica."

"WHAT?!"

"Is she OK? Do you have anyone else's number down there? She was the only person whose number I had." She didn't help me.

Later that night I got a text from Ashley, Kim's sister, saying to text her when I got to Ochie. I asked how Kim was - she was still in the hospital. I was a bit freaked out, because I was going to be in Ochie before noon and I had to do all of this stuff that was brand new to me by myself.


I survived.

Other than wanting to kill this little girl who screamed the ENTIRE flight, it was fine. We got delayed an hour because Caribbean Airlines' main hub lost power and couldn't be contacted by air traffic control for clearance. I fell asleep 2 minutes after this announcement and didn't wake up again until our descent, where I got to hear the kid scream some more.

I was too tired/lazy to exchange my money for Jamaican at the airport, and I was also too lazy/tired to look for a city cab (red license plates), so I took JUTA (Jamaican United Transportation Association - I believe). It was a rip off. I only had American money, which they charge more in, and the driver had no more change. I ended up paying about $35 USD for a cab that should've been no more than $20, but I got to the bus station just fine, so that's ok.

I waited in the station talking to a Barbadian woman and watching a Jamaican kids game show.

The bus ride was great. I slept through it. The drive from Kingston to Ochie is through the hills, so it's very narrow and windy, and a bit scary. The bus had to honk around every turn to let the other drivers know he was coming.

I got to the station and texted Ashley. It was a five minute walk from the condo. Ashley and Khani (a 21 year old Jamaican guy - that turns out to be very important during this trip) come to retrieve me. I change clothes and we go to the hospital to see if Kim can get discharged.

Jamaican hospitals SUCK. It was really low amenities, third world type shit with ants in the bed, no TV, just weirdness. Not as clean as it should've been.

I got the whole story about her falling off of the back of a pick up truck and the other guy that got hurt (His name was Keron - or Karen, I still don't quite know the exact spelling, but it turns out that he plays a much bigger role in all of the drama than I thought. He was released from the hospital the day after the accident though, had some road rash on his face and chest, lost his nipple ring kind of thing but he looked ok when we saw him later on Thursday), and her horrific first night in the emergency room (10 hours on a board aka gurney, watching 6 people get stitched up from being stabbed, no AC), and how they let her go to her best friend's wedding for 6 hours with a nurse and gave her morphine shots in the ass while she was there. It was just awful. I felt so bad, but she seemed to be in OK spirits for just having had $8,000 USD emergency surgery that was almost refused to her because the doctor wouldn't do the surgery without money in hand, and so the insurance company had to call from Canada and give a credit card company. Bad, bad, bad. They also made her buy her own sling and medications before she could leave the hospital.

Sugar, Ashley, Jen and Kim with her broken arm

Anyway, we got her out at like 4pm when Sugar, the final Canadian (who I had heard about before but never met) and her boyfriend Max, came to pick us up. (Max was the driver of the pick up truck Kim fell off of - but it wasn't on purpose so it was overlooked.)

On the way back, Sugar told us that someone had seen Paris arrive. Now, Paris wasn't supposed to be there, but I was really excited she was. Little did I know the drama that was about to ensue.

I quickly learned that Khani was an instigator. He picked fights with Ashley whose nerves were completely frazzled from the whole situation. Basically, he acts like a little kid...but he cares, or at least acts like it. He's like a little brother, a really annoying little brother that creates a lot of problems. Still like the kid though.

Khani and Sugar

When we got back, we kind of hung out in the condo for a few hours, went to get some Jamaican food, ran all around Ochie doing god knows what, and then came back to get ready. Everyone was a bit upset that Paris never came over to check on Kim, nor did she call. Ok, maybe everyone was a little more than upset, and myself not knowing any of the situation at all, I was upset because Kim and Paris were supposed to be friends...I mean, Paris spent over a week talking Kim up and singing her praises, so why wouldn't she come to the hospital...don't worry, I'll get there.

I had brought a bottle of Absolut 100 with me. I wish I had brought two. Next time I will - I thought duty free might be open. Oh well. So we went out to this place called Amnesia that night, and boy is that an appropriate name because I don't remember much of it. What I do remember though, is Max buying a bottle of apple vodka (I chipped in) and me drinking a lot of it (actually I don't remember that, but I was told). Then Paris arrived.

She started trying to "talk" to me about the whole situation with Kim, but more so yell at me. I told her I didn't care about the history, or what was going on, I was just upset she let me flounder. What was explained to me though is that back in January, Paris met Khani and they hooked up. The next two times Paris went to Ochie this year, they hooked up. However, it was agreed by Khani, Mona (Paris' friend) and a bunch of other people that they were not together. When Kim had gotten to Jamaica, she met Khani. They hooked up. She didn't know that he had been with Paris. (I got to hear an entirely different backstory later - but that's for later)

Well, Paris felt some kind of way about this. She was FUMING. She started a fight with Ashley (according to Paris, Ashley is the one who approached her), who was just pissed/upset that Paris showed up and hadn't gone to see Kim in the hospital. She yelled at Sugar, who should have told Kim that Paris and Khani had hooked up, but just didn't get involved. She blamed Sugar for "everything" and she argued with Ashley for a while longer.

Looked like we had fun though?

Sug and Max "dancing"

I was blacked out at this point, more happened, but I wouldn't find out until the next day. Keep this in mind though, because this is all secondhand information. I am recounting the story that was told to me by the Canadians. Paris' story is quite different. In Paris' version, she went to Amnesia with the intention of talking to no one, but Ashley approached her. Once that started, hell broke loose. Apparently, I yelled at her multiple times in the Canadians' defense. I still don't know to this day if Kim knew about Khani and Paris being together, or if she didn't until it was already too late. Look, it doesn't really matter, because in my mind, guys shouldn't get in the way of friendships, especially Jamaican guys. The stance I took was that I didn't understand why this guy was so important. From Paris' perspective, it wasn't that he was important, it was that she feels like Kim pretty much betrayed her, and knew about her and Khani and didn't care or have enough respect for Paris not to sleep with him. She also felt that Kim was being spiteful over something that happened with Keron.

Reminder: I was completely blacked out at this point, so not only do I not know what Paris' story is until the next week, I don't remember anything that happened, nor do I remember defending the Canadians and picking sides.

I come out of my blackout having sex in the pool at the condo. It was my idea. I re-black out.

I remember Khani stealing my clothes, and me telling him that I was going to beat his ass if he didn't bring them back...so he did. I didn't realize he thought this was actually a real threat, which it might've been...

The next thing I remember is having sex on the couch in Sugar's condo.

Then I wake up the next morning.

Here's what happened when I was blacked out:

At Amnesia:

• I YELLED at Khani, telling him it was all his fault that everyone was fighting. I told him I would fuck him up if he wasn't a child. I smacked him, backhanded him and smacked him again in the face. Then I somehow got him kicked out of the club
• Summer, Paris' best friend from Chicago, got into an altercation with Max, Sugar's boyfriend. Max is known to have a temper. She really shouldn't have fucked with him , but she yanked his chain off his neck. He smashed her head against the table.(According to Paris and Summer, what happened was is that Max was instigating actually, kind of "harassing" Paris and then something happened and he charged at her. At this point, Summer got in the way, putting her arm up to protect Paris and that pushing Max away action, prompted him to hit her). All I know is that when we got home, Summer took everything too goddamn far and out of everyone, she's the only one I'm mad at. Oh and she thinks I need to go to AA, doesn't believe I was blacked out, thinks I watched Max hit her and did nothing about it, and that I'm condoning his behavior by still being friends with him...there's more, but I don't even want to waste my words on her.
• Summer pressed charges against Max and the police came to get him from Sugar's room (where I was asleep) in the middle of the night. The guy I had sex with, Wayne (not his real name), went with her to get him out. Apparently it took about 15 minutes and nothing further was done (don't worry, Summer decided to go back to the station once the Canadians and I left, in order to make a complaint against the police for not doing more - however, it turns out she did go to the hospital, so if I had known I would've gone to see her. I try not to be a hypocrite)

Thus concluding day 1 of my Jamaican adventure.