We knew that we would run across a “workaway” host that just didn’t work out. Well Jamaica was it. As most of you know we were suppose to be in Jamaica till just after Christmas, but that didn’t work out.

Here are the events as they happened and why we left early (real early).
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A week before we left for Jamaica, the owners sent us an email, stating that they would not be in Jamaica when we got there but that Ulto would meet us and drive us to the inn. They also said the internet was very spotty since the hurricane. Ok, poop happens.

We landed in Jamaica on November 1st, phoned Ulto, who had no idea he was suppose to pick up. We got lucky, he spoke to another taxi driver and he drove us there.

We were told Alfonso would be at the inn and show us to our room. To this day we have not meet Alfonso. We did meet Danny (a rastafarian), and his boss Fabio (a local Jamaician).
Danny showed us to our room, which was very nice, and Fabio didn’t acknowledge we existed.

We looked around and discovered we had no toilet paper. We asked Danny about it and he told us we had to buy it ourselves and that he would bring us to the grocery store in town to purchase what we needed.

We got a cab to Falmouth (we paid for him as well) and he took us to the store. He had us buy toilet paper, laundry detergent (Note later that we found out that the washing machine is broken), dish soap and scrub pads in addition to staple items that are described as being provided on the workaway site. After buying all this stuff he asked if we would buy him a loaf of bread and we agreed. We needed Jamaican money for the return cab ride so he asked for $5 US which he exchanged for $500J. At the going exchange rate this $5US would be $646J. He apparently kept the excess.

When we arrived back at the inn, Danny convinced us that he should keep the chicken (6 lbs), rice, beans and drink mixes that we bought so that he could cook a meal for us on the weekend. We naively agreed and finally realized we were being scammed when he asked for money to buy spices for this meal. There was a cabinet of spices in the kitchen. At this point we realized that we had just purchased everything needed for the group meal that is mentioned on the workaway listing. That is assuming that the food would still be uneaten by the weekend. When we asked for the chicken, rice and beans back Danny had the nerve to ask if we would give 2 pieces to him. We refused as we did not come here to buy food for Danny and we emphatically resent being scammed.

Later that night we asked about a washing machine, we were told that it is broken (remember that Danny insisted we buy laundry detergent – for a washer that doesn’t work) and that we had to wash our clothes in the tub.

Even after asking continuously asking for a list of work we were suppose to do, Fabian did not give us anything to do other than rake the beach and barely acknowledge our existence.

We spoke to the owners, who told us not to listen to Danny, Fabian was very busy with paperwork and that they were not supplying staple like chicken, rice, beans even though the workaway site stated they would.

We really had a hard time deciding whether to leave or not. Then we met a couple on the beach that were supposed to be workawayers at the inn till the end of November (we would have all worked together). They told us to get out. They had left early for sooo many reasons, but said when the owners are there it is worse.  Apparently the owners are disorganized, cranky, and have made enemies in the community (we were told they are prejudice).   Given that, we think that starting an inn in Jamaica was probably not the best decision they ever made.  LOL

 

WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO …

The place has a tremendous amount of potential and we would have loved to have been part of it, however, we had had enough.

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We looked online and found a workaway host in South Carolina who needed someone right away to help with their southern plantation bed and breakfast they were starting.

On Friday (the 4th) we got up at 5:30 a.m., and headed for the door to meet our cab.  We had booked an 8:00 a.m. flight to Charlotte, NC.   On the way out Fabian saw us coming down the stairs with all our luggage and ask “Who’s there?”  I said “Good morning.  It is just us.”   He turned around and went back into his room without saying a word. So polite.

We had a layover in Atlanta GA, but decided to rent a car and drive to our son’s in NC, since the drive was 5 hours from Atlanta to Winston-Salem and our layover was 10 hours.

 

What a ride!

On to the next workaway.