February 3rd – February 10th

After Miami, Martin and I headed to Jamaica to watch the cricket ´´Caribbean Style.`` We had been eagerly awaiting this part of the trip and yet we were secretly hoping it would meet our high expectations. If anything, it exceeded them.

We arrived into Jamaica having taken a short flight from Miami. This was a unique flight because it would be the only one that Martin and I would fly together and so to celebrate this we held hands the whole way. On arrival in Jamaica, I was a little apprehensive to say the least, martin was a lot calmer but I sensed some nerves. After all, we were in the Murder capital of the world, Kingston. The taxi journey to the Guest house was interesting to say the least. There is so much randomness in Jamaica, more than anywhere I had seen before.

On arrival at the Guest House we were pleasantly surprised how good it was. It was very Jamaican, bright colours, hammocks and you could be forgiven for thinking you were in North Jamaica (the safer part). At the guest house, there were about 10 other English people which was useful because it was recommended we take taxis to most destinations. That day we headed to the supermarket, stocked up on all the essentials, red stripe and more red stripe. We also headed to Sabina Park Cricket ground to buy tickets. It was recommended that we buy tickets for the party stand and so we did. This was the best decision we have ever made. Eighteen of the Queens Sterling got us entry to the ground, access to the pool, free lunch and as much alcohol as you could consume. Good times.

The next morning, we arrived at the ground early to ensure we witnessed the first ball of the series. The atmosphere was a little subdued because there was a lot of English fans stranded at Heathrow and the locals tended to stroll in later. However we did consume our first red stripe at 9.30 and proceeded to drink many more thereafter. We soon realized that we were in the best part of the ground, everyone was looking over at the Red Stripe Party Mound with envy. We were loving it. That day we got well and truly oiled and on arrival back at the guest house, we both crashed and woke the next morning. Fourteen hours of sleep ensured there was certainly no hangover, just some serious dry mouth.

The cricket had been absolutely average except for KP steering us to a respectable total. Aside from the cricket we loved it. We were becoming quite popular amongst the locals and these guys certainly know how to have a good time. Any break in play and the DJ would play music. Once the music started, everybody danced, even MP and JT were known to have a little boogie. On one occasion I remember this local woman asking me if Martin had any West Indian blood in him because she said and I quote ´´ that boy has some serious rhythm.`` That boy had some serious red stripe and Jamaican rum in his system, I am not so sure about rhythm. That same day, I became a celebrity in Jamaica. I was interviewed for the Jamaican Gleaner, a national broadsheet. It was too funny, there is a picture of martin and I looking SMMashed. I will give you a little taster now,

´´ Amid the noise and banter, James Taylor, 24,of Manchester England is basically here to enjoy the carnival like atmosphere…….``

You can check the full article out for yourselves at http://www.jamaicagleaner.com/gleaner/20090206/sports/sports9.html. Definitely worth a giggle. The ironic thing is that the article was wrote about the barmy army to which none of us on the picture or interviewed were members of. I also said I was from Manchester and yet I had a Yorkshire Flag with me, I blame red stripe.

On the third day, I was so rough, contemplated not going to the cricket because I felt that bad. Nevertheless I soon had a word with myself and we were back in the Party Stand for the third day running. There were so many more places to sit but you simply had to be in this stand for atmosphere, crack and personalities. Honestly, it was the s***. Every lunch time there were a group of Red Stripe girls who would play games with the crowd for prizes. We duly obliged and were rewarded with many red stripe goodies, namely a towel, t – shirts and hats. We even managed to scoop some free sun cream, factor 45 Water babies was a result. It appears from some of the messages that we received that we made the TV a few times with our drunken dancing. It seems like the camera enjoyed our dancing to Cotton eye Joe. Classic.

We arrived on day four preparing for just one more day at the cricket because it was fizzling out into to a draw. However, we were so wrong, this was a day that I will never forget. We were skittled out for 51 and the West Indies beat us by an Innings. Even though we lost it was amazing to be apart of the celebrations that occurred as every wicket fell. There were echoes of ´´Yes We Can`` as the wickets began to fall and then a strong chorus of ´´ Yes We Did`` when they bowled us out. After the game concluded, we were allowed to enter the pitch which was really cool. We even played a few shots on the wicket using the sun cream bottle as a bat. Good times. We got to meet Chris Gayle and Ramneresh Sarwan, the two centurions of the test.

That night we drowned our sorrows by heading to Cuddys, Courtney Walsh bar in New Kingston with a few mates from the Guest house By the end of the night we were hammered and Martin claimed to know the way home so we thought we would brave it and walk. Boy was that a mistake. We ended up totally lost, Martin even asked a prostitute for directions which was greeted with a bemused look and so we carried on. Kingston is definitely not the place to walk around at night, when firstly you are white, secondly you are hammered and thirdly you have not had your rabies jabs. There are so many wild stray dogs here, not good. We did arrive home safely but we had to find a taxi after wondering aimlessly on unlit backstreets for over two hours, dodging bullets.

The last day in Jamaica was a much needed chill out day. We visited the Bob Marley museum in the afternoon which was really cool and then just hung around, preparing ourselves for our marathon journey to Brazil. We would both be on planes or in airports for over 24 hours.

We were both sad to leave Jamaica, it is an Island full of amazing people whom made our stay most enjoyable. We both said that next time England tour the Caribbean we may well find ourselves back here. It was seriously good times. Next stop, Rio. Life is good.