Dinner in Spanish Town

In September I went back to Spanish Town to see the family I had met four monthes earlier.  CLICK HERE to read how and when I originally met them.  Now when I read that old post it seems odd to me that I focused so much on calling it “the ghetto” because it seems so much more normal now.  I’ve become part of that family and it’s just life.

As usual my FAVORITE part of going back to Spanish Town are the girls.  I couldn’t wait to see how the baby had grown and I knew she’d started walking since my last trip.  And the two older girls are just pleasant and sweet and I really like spending time with them.

There were so many favorites on this trip back to the yard.  I couldn’t wait to give the girls their giant coloring books I brought for them, and after I did they were busy the rest of the day competing to see who colored inside the lines better.  Another of my favorite things was the baby gate!  Now that the baby is on her feet they had to be able to contain her somehow….hence the homemade baby gate.  And WHY do we spend so much money on fancy kid stuff??

There’s an ackee tree in the yard so on the menu for today was ackee and saltfish, my all-time favorite Jamaican meal. And the best part was cooking over open coals….the stove was out of propane today so we were cooking outside. I love the smell of coals, it reminds me of camping.

Late in the afternoon a carload of my friends came by to hang out for the afternoon, I’d be going back to Claremont with them later in the evening. And another brother and the father, whom I didn’t meet the first time, also joined us. It was a pleasure meeting them both, yet I still never got to meet the mother because she was at work. I did get the chance to talk to her on the phone again, and we keep saying “next time”.

It was a great afternoon in Spanish Town but we weren’t staying. We had already planned on going back to Claremont that evening. I was a little upset because I would have liked to spend more time so I promised next trip that I’d stay for a couple days for sure.

The ackee was fabulous as usual, the rum was flowing and the company was great. We all visited til well into the evening but eventually we had to hit the road. We had about a 1.5 hour drive back to our place and had other plans this night. I said my goodbyes and everyone walked us out to the car to see us off. I got to see the Coke truck that the oldest brother drives for work, parked out front. Then we all piled into the car and we hit the road…..until next time.

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