I visited Jamaica for the first time in 92, and it was “love at first sight”. My friend and I decided to go on a week vacation to Ocho Rios for no particular reason, just to get some sun and relaxation away from the hectic life in Los Angeles. Little we knew that we were about to discover

paradise.

We bought a package including air, hotel, all meals and drinks 24 hrs a day at the Americana (now called Jamaica Grand Hotel, one of the most beautiful hotels in the Caribbean).

When we arrived at the airport in Montego Bay I felt immediately the Jamaican Love in the air, and after I looked in the eyes of the first Jamaican I spoke to, I melted. It was the kind of melting you feel when you fall in love at first sight, and I thought, well, he was a very handsome and attractive person. Then I started to look around and feel

the eyes of so many people on me,- something I am not used to since in Los Angeles people seem to be invisible, and I felt flattered, not threatened, but warm, like the way I would feel if I was going back home to the land that saw me as a child.

After spending a week among Jamaicans their feeling of freedom, peace, compassion, strength, idealism, and their easy and readiness to laugh had rubbed on me and I felt like a different person. That feeling stayed with me even after a few months being back in the busy life in the big city of freeways.

Since then I have been there 4 times, brought with me my 12 year-old-daughter once, and going to spend my honeymoon there this coming April ’98. I am seriously considering some day living in that precious island of enchantment.