We've Met the "President"

Well I've learned something new.  Apparently, you don't have to wear shoes with laces, clean fitting cloths, or have teeth to be the president.  I know this because I met him yesterday.  Well at least he told us he was the President.  And he had the plastic "campaign" button on his torn shirt to prove it!  The words PRESIDENT were printed on there as clear as day...so who am I to doubt him?

This adventure in my flip flops started when we decided to take the Princesses to a different doctor.  They have continued having boils and we were running out of medicine.  Instead of the more upscale hospital, we opted for a more....I can't decide on the word (one eyebrow raised) ..... not upscale one.  We drove about 30 kilometers along the coast to a town called Falmouth.  Joshua had been to this doctor before, when he had to get a physical, for his drivers license.  So don't worry, mom, we were not just driving around looking for hand painted doctor signs.

The office was quaint and clean.  There was a waiting room with plastic lawn chairs lining the wall, and a motherly looking receptionist/nurse.  There was only one other person in the room,  so the nurse took us right back to the doctor's office.  This was a rather cluttered, but clean, office with two small book cases beside his desk and a wooden box marked Cuban Cigars, Havana.  He was very nice and explained (with a slight lisp) more about the boils....and even gave us a prescription for a cream to put on their mosquito bites to help them from turning into boils.

Next, we had to drive a few "blocks" to the pharmacy.  This was a very crowded store with a mismatched collection of merchandise. But, we got our medicine for half the price as before.  The doctor, also, only charged $J800 for each girl, while we paid $J2,000 for just Moriah last week.

On the way home, I spotted several sets of wrought iron outside furniture, sitting in front of a building.  We pulled off to see the price.  We had to climb up a steep bank and move aside a huge rusty ball of metal fencing to get to the furniture.  A man sitting on the third balcony of a nearby house started calling to us in Patwa.  He was really friendly and Josh talked to him for a few minutes.  Then the President appeared.

He came scurrying around a little wood building with only one wall.  He was jolly and very likable.  Telling us a very reasonable price for the furniture.  He told us to follow him through the maze of discarded metal and wood, to show us the bench where he worked.  He got mad at a big yellow dog, that he had to wake up and push out of his "office" (the building with one wall).  He made us smile though, when he claimed to be the President...proudly showing off his button.

In all honestly this hardworking man was very happy.  How many business men (making the big bucks) are stuck in stuffy little offices in tall office cubicles ...while this little man had the cool ocean breeze on all sides and a view of the whole Caribbean Sea right in front of him, as he worked.    Who is better off?
I Love Jamaica,