It is Good Friday, and in Jamaica this means (among many other more substantial, religious things) bun and cheese. The bun is sort of like Christmas cake in log form and the cheese is a bright orange concoction packaged in a tin. This combination is a big deal. All yesterday, I kept hearing people asking one another if they had had some bun and cheese yet. Even the guys on the corner washing windows asked me if I could bring them some bun.

For us Cuso volunteers, it is tradition to receive a Maxfield Bakery bun from Cuso Country Representative Tarik, for which Maxfield is a family business. I collected mine from the Cuso office yesterday and then walked with a friend around Halfway Tree on our way somewhere and then home.

Well, carrying this bun on its own caused quite a commotion. Perhaps it was the sight of a foreigner carrying a traditional Jamaican food, or perhaps people were just excited about Easter, I don’t know, but we had quite a few comments and many curious, hungry eyes on the bun I was carrying.

One man came up to me and told me that even though Jamaican men don’t like Easter bun, he would take it from me. Another asked me to open the package and give him some bun, in all seriousness, right then and there. And we got several other unintelligible comments related to the bun, as well of lots of other people just staring at this now famous bun in my hands. Finally, we visited a store where we got a bag for this bun so I could walk home in peace.

And no, I have not had my Easter bun and cheese yet.