Day 4: Are you from Africa?

Day Four is going to be rather short because all of those pictures are on my camera and not my iPod.

 Anywho!

We woke and got ready and started off on our day. We were headed to Appleton Rum Factory to see how some of Jamaica's finest rum was made. 

For those of you who have never been to a rum factory (and apparently a brewery as well) they smell awful. Like manure and yeast. For me, after about twenty minutes of being on the premises, the yeast (which was causing the smell) just reminded me of olives. 

It was very interesting learning about what goes into making rum. It all basically came down to the sugar cane and yeast. They showed us what happened when you separated the cane from the water, how they stored it, and the distillery. We were SO lucky enough to be on the tour with American tourists. When you first get to the factory, they give you a sample of rum punch and one woman in particularly could not handle her alcohol very well and just made a spectacle of herself. But cest la vie, they were having fun and so were we. 

We were all obsessed with this armored truck and this guy with a shotgun who cocked it several times...and then I got back in the van- lol 

Once the tour was over, you went back inside and were allowed to sample all the rums (I believe 13 in total) to see which you liked the best. 

I was sitting down and a local woman came up to me and goes, "Are you from Africa?" I smiled and politely said no. Emily got a kick out of it and said I should have said yes. This becomes a theme for the rest of my trip!

Once we all bought our goodies, we headed out to the van in horrible rainfall to head to the next stop of the day- Waterfalls! 

We were all curious as to whether or not we would actually be able to go see the falls, because it was raining so bad and the lightening was so bad. 

So we sat down and had a meal first. Lesson number one folks- Always stick with local food. 

I mistakenly ordered a Chicken burger because on the picture it looked crispy and delicious. False. False. False. It was something you would get in high school cafeteria. Never again. 

Chicken burger and I believe Yucca fries- no me gusta! 

With much luck, we were able to get on the tractor and go up to the falls. We thought we would be able to swim in them but because of the rain, the falls had risen and we would not be able to do that. But I will say it was something to see. 

Imagine five plateaus of rock that spilled into the next one with angry, angry water rushing down it. It was strange to see them. It was also a work out trying to climb up those tall a** steps to reach the top. 

But they were beautiful. 

For our final event at Taino Cove, because we were leaving the next day, we were going to get a special treat- The Shane Drummers. 

Two brothers self taught themselves to play traditional drums and actually just recently won a Nation wide cultural competition. They were blissfully funny and whimsical and played beautifully. 

I was the first to get up and dance the drums (we all know I'm partial to drums of anykind being a drummer when I was younger) and we somehow Wobbled to traditional African drumming and had a blast!

Shane Drummers, dark I know 

Check out their video!

It was a great last night at Taino Cove...until one of the drummers pushed me in the pool.