Rum, Yawn, Sleep

The photo prompt this morning is Yawn. I don't think I'm going to get chance to take such a photo, so that's 2 days I've missed. My head is so fuzzy from this flippin cold that I am incapable of thinking out of the box. Looking on the bright side though, we have actually got used to our matress & topper now, in fact we've had 3 or 4 goodnights sleep in a row. Then again, it could be the glass of banana rum we've been drinking before bed. We bought back 5 bottles of rum from the Appleton Estate in Jamaica. We paid for 4 & the 5th one was given as a gift from Virgin/Hotel.

Andrew was looking online last night at Appletons website to see if you could order some online but the computer said NO! So that's the best excuse I can think of to go back & get some more he, he. That reminds me of the day we visited Appleton. I was quite reluctant to go on an all day trip but I'm so glad we did it. We set off at 8am & headed South in an air conditioned coach via Montego Bay over the lush forest covered mountains

through St Elizabeth to the coast & the Black River. The water in the Black river is crystal clear but the peat on the river bed makes the water look as black as the ace of spades. We bordered a boat & toured the river looking at crocodiles, river birds (egrets & green heron) mangroves, ferns, water hyacinths etc. It was a great experience, even though it poured with rain & we got soaking wet, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves lol. Ordinarily, in this country, that would bother us. You would be freezing cold & have to spend the next 2 weeks in bed with pneumonia but in the Caribbean it's like taking a shower :O)

Next stop on our tour was the YS Falls. We pulled up & walked through a small gift shop made of the usual corrugated tin painted green, yellow & black. Hopped on board a carriage pulled by a tractor & driven up to the waterfall. We climbed the wooden staircase at the side of the waterfall through lush tropical plants & trees. At the top was a zip line which, for an extra $30, you could be strapped into a harness & wizz down to the bottom. Or you could gently amble, with the help of a guide, over, under & through the waterfall. Whilst we waited for the tractor take us back to the gift shop Andrew & Elena kept cool by playing in the plunge pool at the bottom of the waterfall. Our 3rd & final destination was the Appleton Rum factory. I'm not sure what I expected but when we saw the place with it's tall chimney billowing white clouds of smoke my heart sank. But, as always in Jamaica, nothing's as it seems. We were greeted with peacocks strutting around the well kept gardens & a giant bottle of rum. A friendly Jamaican escorted inside where a magnificent lunch of my favourite Jamaican food was being served. Jerk chicken, salad, rice & peas etc. Afterwards the guide took us around the factory explaining how rum was made. Then we were taken back into the gardens, where he showed us with the aid of a donkey, how they made rum the old fashioned way. He started by showing us how they crushed the sugar cane in the 18th Century. Then it was onto another crushing machine where he asked for 2 'human' donkeys. After some more sugar cane was squeezed we were given a sample of the fresh yellow/green liquid to try. It looked & smelt awful but it tasted divine. We had tasted sugar cane when we visited Dolphin Cove in 2004 but at the time we were just given a bit of cane to chew on lol! Anyway, back at Appleton, the guide explained the next process to us. The sugar liquid was spun in a centrifuge which separates the sugar crystals (brown sugar) & the molasses (basis of rum). He had a giant spoon & a big copper kettle & told us that the molasses had been warmed up (not boiled) until had had turned brown. We were each given a spoon & serviette & told to try it. With a twinkle in his eye the guide said he knew it looked like donkey poo but it would be the best shit we had ever tasted ROFL. It looked like caviar but was syrupy & sticky & really dark brown. Think treacle toffee on bonfire night. It was truly the best shit I'd ever tasted ROFLMAO!!! Then after some photo taking & much merriment we headed inside to the bar. A dozen bottles were lined up & each rum was explained to us, how long it had been kept in oak barrels, what to mix it with etc. etc. Now I drink Bacardi & coke occasionally & Andrew puts dark rum in the sauce we have with Christmas puddings but I didn't realise how many rums there were. There was a bottle of Blue Mountain Coffee & cream rum, Rum & Raisin liquor. Banana cream or Coconut cream with rum. Rum on it's own, over proof rum etc. & all were delicious especially the Banana, Coffee & Coconut. We could drink as much as we wanted which, for some, meant getting plastered but for me & Andrew we couldn't really be drunk in charge of a 13 year old!!The journey back to the hotel seemed so much nicer lol. We arrived back at the Rose Hall just after 8pm. It was a long day but well worth it :O)