Purple tongues, lost voices, menage-a-trois, never-ending ganja, nude and prudes hanging together………total anarchy. What a wonderful 3rd week I had at Hedonism. Our story begins when me (Tony) and my friend Eric got there on Friday Sept. 3rd. It was his first time and my third. So, we took the bus there and on the way met a few people who end up being close friends. On the way we drank Red Stripe, stopped for a shot of rum that was passed around cause it was so strong, and generally got psyched up. This is why I recommend taking the bus in. On the bus we met Clint and Jean, who I hung out with along with other friends on the nude side. We also met Kathy and Julie, who, along with Eric, mostly hung out on the prude side. This is not to say they were not a blast to party with. I find it doesn't matter whether your nude or prude just as long as you can have fun, and boy could they dance.
Now, the first thing I'd like to mention about is for all you smokers out there and I'm not talking about cigarettes. I told Eric, "Don't buy it at the airport or anywhere else.
Wait till we get there and eventually we'll find others who are giving it away". Heed these words. Anyway, we ended up that first night spending $10 for a small amount to last through the week. By the end of the week, one hour before I left, I gave a couple who just got there two freezer bags filled with ganja, papers, and a pipe. For some reason I was the drop off point for people leaving. And watch out, the stuff is strong. That first night I forgot how much and English became optional. Speaking of Friday night, during the beach Olympics, if you think you can play the game where you run down to one point, put your finger on the ground, spin around and run back without falling down, you will have a rude awakening. It wasn't pretty when I took down three people I crashed into.
The weekend was fun. Sang and cheered in the piano bar at night. Drank and socialized with friends (Babs, Eric, Blair, Cynde) at the nude pool during the day. A lot of us were drinking Purple Rain's (Jimmy, Tracy, Leslie, Heather) and proceeded to acquire purple tongues and so was born the purple tongue gang. Let's not forget the Vodka Tings (Eric and Karen). Now I must say, this week, the nude pool area was wilder during the day than the Jacuzzi at night. The high point- three women gave a show like no other in the cool Jacuzzi. It brought about cheers from the crowd. A ten-foot blow up penis was a hysterical toy for a while. And the games, excuse me, but if a woman can get a guy hard in 15 seconds with a crowd watching and laughing and they've both been drinking heavily, then I'm really impressed. I know, I was one of them being "fluffed" as it were. She (Rebecca) jumped on me and I grabbed her ass and had her ride me. There was no way I was getting it up in that short a time but damn it was fun.
Monday brought about kareoke at night, which I love. Unfortunately, due to all the yelling, cheering, drinking, and smoking for the past three days, I was rapidly destroying my voice. But, I got up and sang anyway. I didn't sound pretty but I knew how the songs went and I had fun, which is the name of the game. During the day, three friends (Heather, Leslie, and Nestor) and myself decided to take a cab ride to Rick's to see the sunset. On the way, we stopped at Jenny's to try a little mushroom tea. Afterwards we stopped at another spot where they had a rope swing into the water. That was exhilarating. Then we got to Rick's. I couldn't tell if the tea was working because we smoked a joint along the way. In any case, Rick's is cool but you have to pay for your beers and it can get a little crowded, but it really is a beautiful place to see the sunset. I would like to take this moment to say that all of the Jamaicans that I met, from the people working at the resort to the cab driver to Dawn at Jenny's were all very friendly, helpful and pleasant to be around.
Tuesday's pajama night was great as usual. I wore a short, thin red robe with a black thong and bow tie. Then I had to lose the robe, to damn hot on the dance floor. Lots of dancing and fun. Then I had an interesting experience. About 4:30 in the morning or so, after relaxing for a while in the Jacuzzi, my roommate Eric comes back with Julie and Kathy both of whom are toasted. Normally, this isn't a bad thing but after partying hard all day and night, sometime your body has got to rest. Nothing happened but losing sleep. My point is watch out. If you bring a roommate figure a code you can put on the door for either busy with someone or sleeping. Speaking of prudes, I'd like to digress to earlier in the day when the mighty nudes marched onto the field and up the hill to take over the prude pool. It was a sight to be seen. J We fueled up with a drink and marched down the beech chanting all kinds of things like "When the nudes come marching in..". I lead the pack of about 20 or more of us and we grew in numbers as we went as people stripped down and join in the ranks. We comendered the pool and proceded to have a fun game of volleyball. But when we got out to get drinks at the main bar right during the middle of lunch and lunchtime spin that the staff said okay at least put on a towel. We conquered our goal so we complied.
Wednesday night was absolutely boring because of that stupid auction of art they had. Now don't get me wrong, I love art. But that was not the place to have an auction. They should have had it outside of the main stage somewhere else. But Wednesday is a day to recoup between the major parties.
Ah, alas it was Thursday and toga night is upon us. I was to busy partying and missed the toga tying session. This made me a little nervous since I hadn't done that in 6 years. But with amazing luck I got a good design tied together in less than 20 minutes, a record for me. The Toga party was a blast. Everyone had a great time and it was fun. I performed on stage by reading my "Twas the Night Before Hedo" poem accompanied by Eric "The Hedonism Blues Man" on guitar. It was a hit and a lot of fun to do. Then later Eric did his Hedonism Blues song while I danced with Karen and Tracy on the dance floor. That evening I eventually made my ass, as usual, to the hot tub. There met up with all my friends, including Jenny. All of us met Jenny earlier that day and she had the uncanny ability of remembering people's names, no matter how many, right after she met them. She rattled off over 15 peoples different names after just meeting us all. It was amazing. Anyway, that night her, another guy, Lee and myself continued to party until the sun came up. I never thought I was staying up that long. (Okay, get your mind out of the gutter, that is not what I meant….but I like the way you think).
Alas it was Friday, and the last day to enjoy before leaving on Saturday. Thank goodness I was forced to party less since I got such little sleep the night before. The group of us (Eric, Karen, Jimmy, Tracy, Tom, Joanne, Eric and myself) decided to make reservations at Rastafarri's Restaurant. I've never been there but I heard it was very good and it's true. From the appetizer to the desserts were all delicious. We even ordered champagne with our dinner. It was a nice way to end the week and a good diversion from the outside buffet. The next day we bought the last minute items, said our good-byes and took the bus back. The flight is better in this case because on the bus you're quiet, depressed, and usually hungover. A great time had by all. The DIF (Dreaded Island Fever) is starting to set in now. I will not let another six years go by before returning back….maybe one.