McDonald brothers, Sugar Pot, puppies, and lizard

If you read the earlier posts from today you know that the McDonald brothers (twins) are friends of Uncle Paul and came across the island to get to Oracabessa. It turns out that their destination was a little place called Sugar Pot, right on the beach. Sugar Pot is a typical beach hut type of place, with the exception of the sign prohibiting ganja. The sign wasn't working too well, as the cook was occasionally toking a splif in the kitchen. The smoke would gently waft out and tickle our nostrils.

Anyway, Sugar Pot is the start of a dream by Josh, the Belgian guy seen here on the left. He is an engineer, and his last project was the beautiful new bus terminal in central Kingston (near Halfway Tree). While he had thought of southern France or Spain as a place to retire to, he seemed to have become stuck in Jamaica. His dream is to make this little spot into a kind of hotel/eatery/music place. He has just started in the last few months.

The McDonalds, Ronnie and Michael, live in the area and got to know Josh and his local partner. The McDonalds are record producers, and work in Kingston throughout the week.

Josh had asked them to come and get some music going every other Sunday. So here we all were, for lunch and music on the beach.

The scene was completed by some young pups lazing around the area, waiting for scraps and attention.

As soon as lunch happened, they were over at the table, waiting for dropped food and nipping at each other.

The other participant was a lizard lounging and lurking on the driftwood.

Lunch started with conch soup, created al fresco over a live fire. That was followed by chicken and fish, rice and peas, and cole slaw. All was washed down with Ting (local grapefruit drink) or Red Stripe.

So, the McDonalds turned out to be very interesting people. First they hauled out an actual tube pre-amp, the first tubes I had seen in probably forty years. I asked about them, and apparently the tubes were weak, but still functioning. It turns out that these guys have been in the music business since they were about three feet tall. They had built their first gear, tube-powered amps that drove 50-60 amps. They had built their first speakers by hand, as well. Then they started playing parties and progressed from there. Now they work in their studio all week and return home to Oracabessa for the weekend.

So, to recap, Red Stripe, conch soup, puppies, chicken cooked al fresco, beach, music. Why the hell don't we live here?