This past Thursday, my school had their annual field trip. This year the destination was the port town of Falmouth, Trelawny on the north coast of Jamaica and it did not disappoint! Students, teacher parents, staff, and community members showed up to attend. Never having been on a field trip in Jamaica before I wasn't sure what to expect, but let me tell you this ended up being my favorite day in the Peace Corps thus far. I enjoyed it so much it inspired me to come out of my blogging hiatus.
The day started out with a 2.5 hour bus ride from the south coast all the way up to the north coast (only got a little bit car sick...so winning!). Once we arrived, we went straight into the historical walking tour of Falmouth. We saw beautiful Georgian architecture, the location of the old market, and one of the islands oldest functioning bars. While the students weren't so thrilled with the walking and the heat, I certainly found it fascinating! Even learning that back in the day it was highly fashionable for women to have lightning bugs sewn into their ball gowns for extra bling in their outfits.
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| Falmouth courthouse |
After the tour, we went to the dock and got to see a cruise ship up-close. My students and myself have never been this close to a cruise ship and we were all dumbfounded by the sheer size of the ship. The dock area was pretty touristy so the kids were all able to enjoy the shops and even got to learn how to drum.
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| Jamaica Land We Love! |
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| Me and the cruise ship |
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| Senior teacher, Mrs. James, showing us how its done on the drums! |
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| Strolling |
The final stop was the Jamaica Swamp Safari Village, in which we saved the best for last. This place was awesome! As soon as we entered the compound we were greeted by about 5 ten ft. long crocodiles with only a chain link fence separating us from them. These size and magnitude of these animals were pretty incredible and the be able to be so close to them was a surreal feeling. The first stop on the safari was the apiary. The apiary at this place was a favorite amongst the students who were given the chance to get to feed the birds. Next was a zoo type place with several rescued animals including a monkey, hawk, deer, boar, snakes, and more. This was substantial exposure to all of the students who haven't ever seen any of these animals. My grade six boys were still going on about the hawk just this morning. After this we were greeted by at least 20 more crocodiles and one of the sets from the James Bond movie Live and Let Die. And yes as you probably guessed its the scene with the crocodiles. Overall this place was amazing! To finish out the field trip, in true Jamaican fashion we went to KFC and frozen yogurt. BEST. DAY. EVER.
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| CRICKEY!! |
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| Holding the baby crocodile, trying to earn some cool points from the students |
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| A man grabbed the snake out of a bag and put it on me, naturally the students ran in fear while I was stuck with a snake on me... |
