We needed to get out of Montego Bay!

 On our return from our day trip we decided that if we were to salvage any enjoyment from our Jamaican stay, we would move to the resort strip at Negril. 

We took one of the hassling taxis to the bus park - on discovering it was the same company as the day trip man we complained about our treatment. He quite happily advised the brochure we showed him (that we had been shown to sell the trip) was from another company and we should have known that, so effectively it was our fault!  

We arrived at the bus park, found a local transport, agreed on a price to Negril and climbed aboard the crowded mini bus. However the bus stopped half way at Lucia and we were told we had to change buses and pay again! While Avan was trying to sort this with the driver, Heather was having a massive battle at the back of the bus trying to hang onto the backpacks as a crowd of about 10 taxi and bus drivers were all trying to grab them. Avan lost his cool and flew into them, we were both shouting and pushing and shoving to achieve some space and distance. At this time our original bus driver appeared and said we should take the taxi he had organized for us which we did. Bad decision!

The taxi driver took off, with us on board, laughing like a maniac, taunting the others who had been fighting over our fare. Once we cleared town, he started driving faster and more erratically. When he passed a vehicle on a blind corner of a narrow road doing what seemed 120 km in an 80 km zone, Avan demanded he stop and let us out. When he didn't, Avan whacked him over the head with his hat and opened the car door to show he was serious! The driver´s side kick in the front seat shouted obscenities and said the driver was going to take us to the police. Avan quickly agreed that was indeed a good idea and demanded that is where we wanted to go, to report the driver. The driver (who we noticed looked decidedly stoned) now decided the police were NOT a good idea and agreed to drive sanely from then on and did.

We arrived at our lovely little beach cabin at Firefly, Negril and finally unwound and relaxed. There were still a few hassles here but much less. We made some wonderful friends among the guests and enjoyed long walks on the beach, local jerk chicken, and (finally!) found live reggae music at nights. The beach where we were, was almost exclusively expensive all inclusive resorts, but our accommodation was locally owned, with little wooden shacks right on the beach. 

 So now we had settled down and relaxed a bit, we were ready to move on and see what St. Maartin had to offer.........