We Really Liked Jamaica

We really liked our day in Jamaica. We had signed up for a bus tour of several attractions and began our ride up the mountainside thru an area known as Fern Gully. Alas, for various reasons the amount of ferns growing on the hillsides are decreasing but we did see some. As we climbed the hills overlooking Ocho Rios where we debarked our Jamaican guide told us that Mick Jagger has a vacation home on the top of the hill and that the locals say that they know when he is in residence because the place is smoking. Apparently smoking pot is not against the law in Jamaica. That must be why Mick chose this Caribbean island. By the way Ocho Rios means eight rivers in Spanish.Take a look below at this Jamaican that greeted our bus with a fan fare at one bus stop.
Now isn't he beautiful and proud.
Look at me.

Look at me he seemed to be crowing.
So we did.

We toured Coyaba Gardens and found that many of the houseplants in Virginia grow wild and lush in Jamaica. For instance, philodrendons and begonias. You can click on the this photo to learn more.
I love the seed pods on this palm but I don't know what kind of palm it is. I think colors used in home decor reflect their country's vegetation. For instance, Sweden with long winters and lots of snow has lots of white and cool blues in its decor. So Jamaica with its lush green vegetation and colorful red flowers reflects that in its decor and its flag colors.

Green palms and a moss covered mill stone in this photo.

If you click on this photo which I took at a little historical museum in the Coyuba gardens, you will learn more about the Maroons, the first freed black men in the western hemisphere.

This is a cassava grinder. I also saw an iron contraption that was labeled a man trap. I don't know what exactly that meant except I'm thinking man trap is that like a mouse trap? Oh, good grief!

Do you like reggae music? Can't discuss Jamaica without mentioning the King of Reggae, the late Bob Marley. No Man! No Man! (That means no problem in Jamaican English slang.) No Man, I have a photo here of Bob Marley.
Here is Dunn River Falls where the strangest thing occurs here every day with the tourists. What do they do? They don bathing suits and rubber swim shoes and then hold hands while climbing up the whole length of the falls while getting sprayed with water coming down the falls. Did Jack and I participate in this activity? You bet your swim shoes we did not. We watched though and I made a video of people climbing and falling and getting rescued by the falls security team. I'll post that later today in another blog post.

I think the secret of a successful climb was continuing to hold hands. The person above you helps pull you along and up.
How did we end our day in Jamaica? By going to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Bar for drinks and dance. This place was humming with a dance rumble between the local Jamaicans and our Costa Fortuna dance group. Both dance groups were putting down a challenge to the other group to show your best dance moves. I made a video of this wild and crazy dance rumble that I will post later today. What is in my shot glass? I don't know but it was strong and I sipped it very slowly although my waiter exclaimed that the tradition is to throw it back in one long gulp. I wasn't up to that but I did admire the "secret" ingredients that made the Jamaican flag in my shot glass: red, green and gold.
Have I mentioned that for the last forty some years I have been collecting menus from my travels and adventures and have been having them framed to hang in my house? After such an exciting afternoon at Jimmy Buffet's I asked to purchase a menu but they gave me one for free along with my shot glass. No Man! No Problem!

Then back at the pier to catch the ship we got serenaded one more time with some Jamaican reggae music. The man sitting on the wooden box is playing the finger pipes that are nailed to the box.