Jamaica: Amazing Places and Amazing People (1/20/14)

     Our last full day in Jamaica. It has been so amazing. It's going to be so hard to say goodbye to this incredible place. So how did Post Oak High School decide to say goodbye? With a beach day! We had a spectacular free day of relaxation on a private beach by the same owners of the  Good Hope property. For seven hours, we splashed in the crystal clear waves, laid out in the sun and tanned, built sand castles, and whatever else we decided to do on our free day. Emily and Isabella went on a nice walk on the beach. Ian, Jodi, and I spent quite a long time sculpting Megan and Riane into sand mermaids. We ate until our bellies were full of Miss Barbra's amazing Jerk chicken. Today wasn't all about us, though. Isabella, Iris, Emily, and Dr. Lee took a chunk out of their beach day to go buy a cake and some supplies. When they got back, we gathered around a table writing letters to people who have impacted us during our time in Jamaica. Then we surprised them all with the letters and offered each of them a piece of cake. We wrote letters to Miss Barbra, Aldain, Bev, Patrick, Mr. Harding, Dr. Conolley, and Blaise Hart. Miss Barbra is the main cook at Good Hope, who cooked us the most amazing food everyday for our entire stay. Bev and Aldain work at Good Hope, too. They help with cooking, cleaning, and anything else they can do in order to make our stay comfortable. Patrick was our driver who took us everywhere we needed to go. Mr. Harding is a Coordinator of Architectural Resources at Falmouth Heritage Renewal who gave us tours around Falmouth and taught us everything we needed to know about Falmouth colonial architecture and history. Dr. Conolley is the Executive Director of Falmouth Heritage Renewal. He shared with us his knowledge about the Taino, who were the native people of Jamaica, and took us to see petroglyphs. Blaise Hart is the owner of the Good Hope estate who was kind enough to let us stay here and use their private beach. None of the incredible things we have done while in Jamaica would have been possible without these amazing people. I am so thankful to each of them, and I know the other students feel the same way.