Hedonism II - Wet, Wild, Wicked Winter 2000  

Everyone always asks me, "Which is the best WWW trip, the summer or the winter?"  Last winter (1999) I had to say that the winter trip was better than the summer trip.  Then this summer (2000) was better than the previous winter trip.  Now I have to say that again the winter trip beat out the summer trip in the fun department (if that is possible).  I guess it really is true, each trip really DOES get better than the trip before.  This was my fifth trip to Hedo, and by far the best one ever.  The winter WWW gang was absolutely the best party crowd I've ever seen.  The one difference that I did notice this year between the two trips, was the summer group seemed to be more "out there" on the message boards and in the chat room prior to the trip than the winter group.  That is not a huge difference either way, but getting to know your fellow travelers before arriving at Hedo has always been one of the HUGE benefits of traveling with the WWW gang.  Many kudos go to Stacey and Keith for being the BEST in the pre trip communication department.  I loved corresponding with them before the trip, along with others.  I arrived feeling like they were life long friends, which I learned to be true after a couple of hours in the flesh should we say.  

Where do I begin??  Air Jamaica now flies direct from Phoenix, and they have about the best schedule (although only two days per week to choose from).  We leave Phoenix at 10:30 PM, arriving at Sangster at 6 AM...a whole day left to party.  The return flight doesn't leave Montego Bay until 5:45 PM...again, a whole day to party.  Can life get much better than that?  We were surprised at the airport by several of our Phoenix Hedo Gang couples, who showed up with a Hedo survival kit filled with all the necessary items we might have forgot to pack.  Condoms (yeah right we almost forgot those), silly string, WD 40 (actually that did come in handy on the window to make it slide better, wonder what they thought we'd use it for?), and various other sundries and such.  We boarded on time and had a very uneventful trip.  Denny and I were traveling with another couple from Phoenix, Alan and Kathleen, on their maiden voyage to Hedo, although not their first to Jamaica.  Last time they stayed at the Grand Lido...wonder where they will stay next trip?  By the constant smile on Alans face all week, I doubt it will be the Lido.  I had never taken the "bus ride from Hell" as it's so affectionately called, so we all decided ahead of time, that is what we would do.  Good thing, as it's dark at 6 AM in December in Jamaica.  We had been warned at the airport that some of the roads were washed out due the that weeks excessive rain.  I thought for a second about staying and waiting for the sun to come up, as I couldn't imagine the road being worse than others have warned.  We left the airport at 6:42 and after one quick stop for Red Stripe (no one indulged at the time of the morning) we were delivered to the front steps of Hedo at 8:30 AM, even with some washed out roads that only one car could pass at a time.  The bus ride was interesting, and not as bad as I had heard or imagined.  Gave me a good chance to see the countryside, although I still think the view from the Tim Air planes are worth the price of admission (we did fly back).  Of course, our room wasn't ready, come back around 1 PM...no problem, mon.  We got some breakfast and started immediately meeting the WWW crowd that had arrived before us.  We wandered down to the beach and found Delroy's exactly how we left it only 5 short months ago.  This is where things become a blur for the next 8 nights and 9 days.   

Since I couldn't do a day by day accounting even if I wanted to, I will try and hit the highlights of this trip.  Laughing is very important to me, and people who make me laugh warm my heart to the max.  This trip, my new found friend, Maaagie (see her trip report) probably caused me more laughs than anyone else.  She was brought from the cold of CT (by her parents, Steve and Nancy) to the warm sun and sand of Jamaica, and boy did that girl know how to cause a party to break out.  I'm still not sure if she was just a natural paaarty animal, or it was all the Bob sightings that occurred that really got her motor running.  Either way, she was a hoot, and Bob, (he calls himself HedoBob, we renamed him GlowBob due to his transportation of all kinds of fun glow items for "wear black and glow night") well, Bob definitely showed us all how to court a female at Hedo.  For those singles who wonder if Hedo is the right place for singles, take your advice from GlowBob.  He is a single who has traveled to Hedo numerous times and has more fun each trip than most know how to have.  I think he will tell you the secret is >respect'.  Having the heart of gold that he does helps too.   

Denny arranged for a private WWW welcoming party on Sunday evening.  This was a great way for everyone to meet.  I watched lots of friendships made and deepen during this time, as well as everyone just getting comfortable with each other.  If you plan to make a WWW trip, try as hard as you can to be present at the welcoming party, lots of fun at those.  Hedo did a nice spread of food, and of course, the bar was flowing.   

One other special event for the WWWers is the private catamaran trip that Denny arranges.  This has been a sell out affair the past two trips, and the reasons are evident....the most fun one can have AWAY from Hedo.  The boat crew is great, and they just let everyone go with the flow.  Their desire to please everyone found the captain allowing the girls the chance to steer the boat with their tits.  Led by Kathleen, I'm not sure if we stayed on course or not, but we were returned to Hedo eventually and treated to a nice fresh water rinse as we were returning (from the sky Gods, not the crew) and a beautiful sunset that day.  As a matter of fact, that was the ONLY rain we got that week, and it lasted about 10 minutes.  The day we arrived, we were warned by everyone who was there, about how horrible the weather had been.  Denny explained that we would unpack the sunshine that we brought from Arizona and all would be "no problem" soon.  Of course, after it was unpacked, it was perfect weather all week.  We did hear rumor that the rains started after we left again....wonder if there was any truth to his story?? 

The WWW gang was very well represented in the Wet T Shirt contest, and I'm proud to say, it was another WWW sweep in winners, just like the summer trip.  Congratulations go to Ashley, Wanda and Jean.  I know this is Denny's most favorite activity all week......could it have anything to do with the wonderful lap dance he received from Lisa, or the eating the cookies off of Cindy (why can't they ever pick me for that), followed by licking caramel syrup off of Jean??  Not sure, but he sure does look forward to Monday afternoons.  This was the one spot that Edie stole Maaagie's heart from Bob, she actually rode Maaagie during the contest.  The crowd went wild.  I actually even got Hedo bucks this year, just for bringing all the WWW gals to the contest.  I think the coordinator thought it was going to be a bust, he only had about 2 or 3 gals, until about 12 of the WWW gals showed up.  It was a great contest, and wonderful participation.  Thanks to all who made some of Denny's fantasies come true.  Pictures to follow to all of you who played in those reindeer games.   

Following the Wet T Shirt Contest, 40 of the WWWers set out on our Partymons Magical Mystery Tour.  This has been a traditional WWW event since the trips first started.  Steve and Nancy (Maaagie's parents) arranged the transportation, and chartered two 25 passenger busses for our trek.  We made a stop at Margaritaville, and wouldn't you know it, Rupe (of Rupe and Patty) had a hard time keeping his clothes on.  Now you have to realize that Rupe has a hard time remembering to keep his clothes on at ANY time, so this was not an unusual event.  The funny thing was he somehow got about half the group to strip with him and swim out to the trampoline in the water.  The security guard just shook his head, and said, "have fun mon, it's your vacation."  I think the fact that we had about the most beautiful ladies on the beach with us made his job a little easier that day.  The group butt shot of 10 of them all lined up on the trampoline is one of those "priceless" pictures.  The rest of us hung out on the beach in their swing chairs just enjoying the music and the mango margaritas.  If you ever get there, you just HAVE to try a mango margarita.  We all piled back in the bus, and did a quick whirlwind of shopping and a stop at Mr. Kenneth's before watching the sunset and the crazies dive at Rick's.  The sunset was beautiful that night, and the crazies were out en mass.  One crazy Jamaican guy climbed a tree like a monkey probably 30 ft above the ground and dove, as if the cliffs werent high enough.  We returned just before dark and I think all will agree it was a fun afternoon, and a good way to get to know each other better.  Many, many thanks go to Steve and Nancy for making all the arrangements.   

One of the best things about Hedo everyone says is the people, and that is so true.  What is even better is finally meeting those people who I've made contact with throughout the years.  I would be remiss in not mentioning some folks that I've been chatting with for over two years now.  Toni the Tigress and Wayne, Boo and Boos (remember, she is the one with two boos) and Anal Waynal.  You were all better than I had imagined during our discussions over the past 2+ years.  Thanks to all of you for being some of the highlights of this trip for me.    

I left the most moving part of my week at Hedo for the end of this report (thank goodness shes almost done, they mumble to themselves).  As you might have read in my summer trip report, in July, Denny organized a collection of school supplies for the local school children.  I was overwhelmed with the goodness of the WWW gang who donated some awesome things and a movement took a life of it's own during that time.  When I saw the amount of supplies that were donated, and watched the following months as other groups took on the same task, I decided that we needed to do Christmas gifts for the children of Negril.  Denny posted a suggestion that anyone who wanted to participate bring a wrapped gift for a child and mark it boy or girl.  I think some thought he meant plural gifts, as we collected I'd guess no less than 500-600 gifts.  Richard had access to some Lego sets, and probably brought 200 of those (I will let him tell his story of his hour and a half wait thru customs).  As the toys rolled in, I kept getting a warm fuzzy feeling that something good was going to happen.   On Thursday, Marc (the Sizzler, sure does seem funny seeing him in clothes all day long) who is now in the Public Relations office, arranged for a van to take us out to the same school we donated the supplies to this past summer.  Jim and Lisa graciously agreed to accompany us (Brian and Deb were suppose to go to, but we kept missing them and the van was ready to leave, so we left) to deliver the gifts.  We went on about a 20-25 minute ride up into the hills.  We went on the road back towards Montego Bay, and turned about 10 minutes down that road.  Wow......what an experience that trip was.  The houses, the people, the surroundings.....I have a completed new found RESPECT for these people.  They smile under what we would call the worst circumstances, and they are happy.  They don't have cars, and microwave ovens, and washing machines and TV's, the things we can't imagine living without.  They don't have computers and fax machines and phones.  If they need to get a message to someone, they walk and tell them.  Yet in looking into their faces, their level of stress is non existent. 

We arrived at the school while the kids were out at recess.  The teacher, Novia Parkinson, (the same teacher who visited Hedo last July) called them all inside and had them sit at their desks.  85 three, four and five year olds were a handful in my eyes.  We went inside, and saw their one room school.  Divided by small dividers about 5 ft high.  Their little desks were worn and broken in some cases.  They shared chairs with each other as there weren't enough for everyone to have their own.  At first, when we arrived the children seemed very shy and stand offish.  I realized after I got home, that probably many of them might never have seen white people.  I can imagine what 4 grown white strangers invading their school must have felt like in their little minds.  I can also imagine that they've never seen or been given presents like that.  We didn't take all of the gifts to this school, but we had a lot with us.  Each child got one gift plus one Lego set.  Their eyes softened and their hearts opened to us.  Several finally sat on Denny's lap and they smiled.  They sang for us.  They sang several songs about how God or Jesus loves us all.  I think we here in the good ole US have taken too many things to the extreme.  Teaching children that God or Jesus loves them isn't hardly a criminal offense, or at least it shouldn't be.   The teacher and her assistants put their names on each of their gifts.  She didn't want them to open them there, she said it will probably be the only gifts some of them get for Christmas.  My heart stopped, and I so much wish we had three more bags of toys.  Then again, I realized that to these children two small toys is more than any of them could have ever hoped or wished for.  More gifts than some have EVER received at Christmas.  My heart was full and there are still tears in my eyes as I write this.   

It's Christmas Eve, and I am still in the middle of wrapping the many gifts I purchased for my friends and family.   I think of how many of us bitch about the conditions at Hedo, the food, the music, the weather, the bumping,  waiting for a drink at Delroys and I realize how truly blessed I am.  I realize that what some bitch about is something that some of the people of Jamaica (much less most people in the world) will NEVER have the opportunity to experience.  I use to think that everyone should experience Hedo.  Ive changed my mind after this trip.  I dont believe Hedo is for some.  Yes, we do pay for our vacations, both with time and with money, and we are entitled to receive a fair value for that.  What some miss on a trip to Hedo is the lessons that are there for the taking.  The attitude, the true meaning of respect.....Respect EVERY TIME, as Delroy always says.   

Thank you......thank you to all my friends who have come into my life thru my adventures to the land I love.  No trip report of mine would be complete without mentioning a few people (besides the ones I already have) who made my trip special.  To the repeat Winter WWW folks, Steve and Char, Jim and Lisa, Rupe and Patty, Bernie and Elaine, Jim and Jodie, Danimal, Don and Donna, Clayton and Emily, TWayne and Julie (TEX and ASS as they are so affectionately known), Brian and Deb (you go new momma!!), Steve and Lana, thanks for allowing our friendships to deepen, and looking forward to it again next year.  To the summer converts, Rebecca and Jerry.....great having you both along this trip to see how the winter crew lives.  To the new friends I made, it was wonderful and I look forward to doing it again real soon.  Special thanks go to our dinner partners throughout the week, Mike and Maurya, Bruce and Cindy, Tom and Cindy, Harold and Lisa, Keith and Carolee, Robert and Barbara, Ian and Carla, Toni and Wayne, Wayne, Jerry, Keith and Stacey, Peter and Wanda, and Alan and Kathleen, (extreme apologies go to anyone I failed to mention, my brain is a bit fuzzy) thanks for the opportunity to get to know you all better.  Last and certainly not least, many many thanks go to Denny.  For his organizational and people skills, for all the lessons he teaches me daily and more importantly for being one of the most important people in my life.  I love you all.