I'll 'ave tree heggs wit tat please

Oh Jamaica... you unexpectedly stole a little piece of my heart...

To be honest, I would have never expected this trip to turn out so well. The word "Jamaica" wrongly invoked solely images of too many resorts, too many tourists, and not as much culture as we actually experienced. Some times I can still be wrong (although... rarely ;)).

Jamaica. Some words that come to my refreshed mind now:
house arches designs. sorrel. Rasta. herbal remedies. heggs. sunsets. ackee. Route taxis. farms. ganja. Maroons. caves. jerk chicken. rum. trust issues. constellations. vegetable vans. daggering. whitewashed trees. dance hall music. cheesy pick up lines. sugar cane fields. pot holes. little value in education. bulla bread. homophobia. 11 kind mango trees. patwa english.

Of all third world countries I've been to, Jamaica seems like the least third-world third world country. Sure, people are poor, but they're not starving. They have an abundance of food-growing plants around them and most seem to have some sort of shelter. The forewarning to be VERY careful for pick-pocketers, violence, drugging, etc. was not at all necessary for the places we went to. Granted, the whole time we were in very non-touristy, off-the-beaten-path types of places. There, no one was considered dangerous (if they were, they were ousted from the community) and we felt safe walking alone late at night or leaving our stuff on the beach while we go for a swim.

Ok, before I ramble off more about my impressions, I'll recap our timeline :)

Arrived 12.29.10. Brothermon, a family friend of the couchsurfers (Sally and Ernie) we stayed with, picked us up and took us to Brighton, about 1.5 hrs away, half an hour outside of Negril. Brighton was an absolute delight: beach side, small village where everyone knew you as "Ah, Sally's white friends" and made friends with no problem. Sally and Ernie have been coming to Jamaica for the past 20 years. In the summer, they live in Sasketchewan, Canada, and for the winter they come down to the island and help out in the community and have semi-adopted some of the kids there that they help take care of.
Our first night there, Tony was visiting them. We had mentioned that for a portion of our trip, we wanted to volunteer, but the organization we had been in contact with was on the other side of the island. With Jamaica's curvy, pot-holed streets, it would take 6 hours to get there. "There's Peace Corps volunteers up in Accompong where I live. Why don't you just come up there?" Problem solved. But that's the second half of the trip. I'm getting ahead of myself.

So from 12.29.10-1.2.11 we stayed in Brighton. Got to know the people there, went to the beach, and Sally and Ernie took us to Negril for New Year's Eve. We spent the day on the beach, most of the time pretending to be asleep to avoid being hit on ("I saw your figure, but want to know your personality"), absorbed the sun, and took in the waves. When dinner time came around, we went across the street to get a meal. Unfortunately, 2 of us got food poisoning, and as we were sitting by the fires on the beach waiting for midnight to come around, decided it wasn't worth it, and headed home at 11 pm. Brought in the new year back at the house :)

Oh! One thing worth mentioning real quick: the skies. Wow. Never have I seen so many stars. You could almost feel claustrophobic of how the stars just envelop you.

New Year's Day was spent at Blue Hole in Brighton. A hole 25 ft deep that meets water -- Gwen jumped it, Maria and I climbed it. At night, they had a party. We sufficiently embarrassed Saneka with our "white girl dancing" and learned about daggering. But man, people can dance there. It's like everyone's born with rhythm in their hips.


1.2.11-1.5.11 we headed up to Tony's place in Accompong (with an afternoon stop at YS Waterfalls). Best decision we could have made. With a wonderful first part of our trip, this almost felt like a second vacation. Accompong is home to the Maroons, the only successful Jamaican tribe that opposed the British rule in the past and were granted their own governing of this piece of land. Very proud people. Tony has various huts on his property, which we stayed in. Best part of the place? Dowdy. Dowdy works for Tony and takes care of the place, including making us our delicious meals. What a character he is. In the 3 days we were there, we won him over even though he claimed "it takes years to make a friendship" (refer to: Jamaican trust issues).


We met up with Matt and Julie, 2 Peace Corps volunteers stationed there in Accompong. On the 4th they would have a "back to school" event for the kids of Accompong and hand out school supplies, play games, and have treats. We helped out with the event and had baked cake the day before for it. Those. kids. are. adorable. Julie warned us of the "chaotic order" that would take place the day of the event, but I gotta say... the kids were super manageable and more than happy to oblige to our quieting down techniques (which Gwen did a wonderful job of). The kids loved holding our hands, playing with our hair, showing us how to dance.


On the 6th of January, Accompong has a huge celebration, which was described as "Christmas, New Years, and Independence Day all wrapped into one". There would be ceremonies, food stalls, dancing, the whole shabam. We so wanted to be there for this, but since our flight was on the same day, we were told there'd be no way to be able to get OUT of the village in time for us to catch our flights. Our last night in Accompong we went to Dowdy's "shop" and helped bartend for a little bit. We were quite unsuccessful, as we only sold one cigarette -- seemed like most of the customers just came to scope out "the white girls" and were non-paying customers.

Quick insert about Patwa English (sorry for the spontaneous deviations... but otherwise I'll forget): so yeah, in Jamaica, English is the main language. When they speak with me (the white tourist), I understand 90% of it. When they speak with each other, I understand 10% of it. Patwa -- a mix of English, lots of slang, some African and some Spanish even.

On the 5th, we left the great village of Accompong in the mountains and headed back to a beach-side area: Half Moon Beach in Green Island. We took the public transportation, the Route Taxis, from Eldersly to Mo' Bay, from Mo' Bay to Lucea, from Lucea to Green Island. That was a fun experience. The first ride, which was 1.5 hrs long, consisted of a sedan filled with 7 people and our luggage. Needless to say, I still need a massage from that portion of the trip. Another side note: the driving. Am I freakin' glad we didn't rent a car. We would have been killed 9 times over. I'm super impressed by the driving skills of everyone we drove with, with all the sharp turns, many pot holes that require you to swerve constantly, and at 50 mph. Total cost of the whole trip? About $7.

Half Moon Beach was our last portion of paradise on the island. Owned by Andrew, an American, but Jamaican born and raised, he has several cabins ON the waterfront, a scenic beach, and bar/restaurant on the grounds. Sounds like the ideal life to me. Far from the main hubs of the island, people find out about this place by word of mouth (Matt and Julie had heard good things about it). For $50, we got a 2 bedroom cabin, complete with hammock outside. Not a shabby way to end our trip.


This trip made me realize a few things, make some resolutions (coincidentally around New Year's), and reaffirm some goals I want to make happen. One of these things is to live life more simply... Jamaicans seem to do a fine job at just that.