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Lovers Leap Story - Negril75 - 03-31-2023
Well I've been meaning to tell this story for a while so the time and mood are right so here it goes!!
It was back in the early 1980's, summer of 80 I believe although could have been 1981 too. I was doing a solo trip from JFK to MoBay, about a week or 10 day trip and I rented a car upon arrival. I was single at the time and I had rented cars in Jamaica several times before. I bought the extra insurance just in case. So after arriving and doing the the car rental paperwork I was off to Negril. I always liked the road from MoBay to Negril so I took my time enjoying the lush scenery and fragrant smells along the way. Back then many rental cars were manual transmission and didn't have AC and my rental was such. Driving in Jamaica has many challenges such as driving on the left but a bigger issue for me was the standard transmission. Now on the surface one might say what's the big deal in in actuality think about how this is in reality. Instead of having the gear shift in your right hand it's now in your left hand. We're not talking throwing a baseball but my left hand doesn't work quite as well as my right. Not a huge deal but still a big difference from home and although I can drive a manual transmission vehicle it isn't my everyday habit at home. The ride from MoBay to Negril goes well, no problems and as I drive around the round about in Negril I take the left hand turn up the hill to what was then The Villas Negril. Perched on the hillside and overlooking town and Long Bay The Villas Negril was at one time an awesome place. My room was on the second floor within 30 feet of the swimming pool. A basic room with slider door and a small balcony to sit out and watch the happenings of Negril below. By the pool at the Villas was a bar and seating area for their in house restaurant. For years prior I had stayed on the beach but would venture up to the Villas pool to hang out. They had lounge chairs that folded flat and it was a great place to spend the afternoon. I would frequent the bar and buy a Red Stripe or two and I got to know the bartender Brimsley Hall. He was a local Negril guy who had been a bartender for years and was always wearing a smile and "No Problem" was his favorite thing to say. Although I had visited the pool this was my first stay at the Villas. Having a car was great I could drive anywhere I wanted so I started taking out trips, Sav, Bluefields, West End, you name it. So one day I was sitting at the bar and while talking with Brimsley we decided that on Brimsley's day off we would take a tour which included Bluefields Beach, Treasure Beach and Lover's Leap in St. Elizabeth. On the day Brimsley was off we met at the pool. It was a bright Jamaican morning and I was surprised to see that Brimsley had invited his girlfriend to come along for the ride which was fine with me. We set off and had a non eventful ride stopping along the way at places that Brimsley knew about. It is always great having Jamaicans along on trips through the countryside and I was happy that Brimsley was along for the ride. I had been into photography and I had my cameras with me so we would stop anywhere along the line to shoot some pics. We stopped in Savanna La Mar, and then Bluefields Beach. Further on we stopped at Treasure Beach. It was about lunchtime so when we got to TB we drove down to the water in Calabash Bay and stopped at a shop for some food and Red Stripes. Back then Treasure Beach was a very quiet community with very little tourism. We met a couple young boys and took some photos of them. The history of TB is that hundreds of years ago a Scottish Ship struck a reef off Treasure Beach and the sailors settled into the local population. As can still be seen in TB the light skin and red hair from their European ancestors is still apparent. After we finished our visit Brimsley suggested we check out Lover's Leap. Another landmark of Jamaica Lover's Leap has it's lore going back to the slavery day's on the island. The story of Mizzy and Tunkey two slaves who fell in love.
"Enslaved by Richard Chardley, Mizzy worked on a plantation in Santa Cruz in the mountains of St. Elizabeth. Mizzy fell in love with Tunkey, a young man from a nearby plantation. Chardley, jealous of Mizzy and Tunkey’s love and desperate to tear them apart, planned to have Tunkey sold to a plantation out of Mizzy’s reach.
Privy to Chardley’s plot, the lovesick couple arranged a clandestine meeting to thwart Chardley’s scheme and spend the rest of their years together. Giddy with the excitement of a young lover’s union, the pair headed for the caverns below a steep cliff.Little did they know, Chardley gathered a group to find Mizzy, who he knew had disappeared into the night. Upon discovering Chardley and his heinous horde stampeding towards them, Mizzy and Tunkey took a leap of faith and became the stuff of legend".
The ride up the mountain to Lovers Leap was quite steep and when we finally arrived the road leads out to a plateau the size of a football field. Back then there was no development or tourism spot at the top but the view was remarkable. a 1,700 drop off to the sea below. We parked the car and got out to survey the scenery. I gathered my photo equipment and Brimsley and his girlfriend looked out at the sea in the distance. His girlfriend left her bag in the car and I headed towards a path along the edge of LL. I walked about a hundred feet and I encountered a group of youths, 4 or 5 young men in their late teens. I asked if I could take their pictures and they agreed so I took a handful posing them with their baddest looks for the camera. I continued on down the steep trail shooting photos as I went. Brimsley and his girlfriend wandered around on their own. After about 20 minutes I hear Brimsley yelling frantically so I hurried back to the flat parking area where we left the car. Brimsley and his girlfriend were there but no sign of the car. Brimsley excitedly told me that the car was pushed off the side of the mountain and had crashed hundreds of feet below. I followed him as we followed the path that the car had created through the brush on the side of the hillside. Hundreds of feet below we finally reached the car. It was totally mangled laying on its 4 wheels. The car was totaled and Brimsley searched inside for the bag his girlfriend had left inside. Little did I know it but inside the bag were not only her personal items but a small amount of cash. A few of the youths from earlier had also come down to the wreck and Brimsley was screaming at them "Where is the cash mon?". Nobody answered but it was clear that someone had gotten in through an open back window and had taken the missing bag. Why they felt it necessary to push the car over the cliff I will never know. This was before the days of cell phones so the three of us started walking down the road we had arrived on. Brismley luckily flagged down a flatbed truck and we caught rides back to Negril arriving there at dusk. I called the Car Rental Company and told them what had happened. Lucky for me the Insurance I had purchased covered me from liability. The car was totaled about halfway down from the top. I am curious if anything remains of it after all these years. Anyway that's my Lover's Leap story for Friday!!
RE: Lovers Leap Story - oldtimer - 04-01-2023
Great story . Stories are the best . Way better than telling what was ate at the buffet . I have a story for N75 that I shared before . I'll tell it sometime .It was about a boat called Assumation in Bloody Bay . If you heard it before let me know and I won't retell it . Us old guys aren't getting too many new stories under our belts these days and we might tend to repeat , I say repeat our selves and then we are called senile ....hehehe
There is/was nothing better than to get the " day time " bag all packed up and then go for a " stroll " . A roll of TP and pair of dry shorts , a towel , a couple of pre rolled , a likkle bottle of Tia Marie to sip on , and a few $'s for beer , something to eat and enough to get a cab back to where a person was staying . Now there are a bunch of commas .
RE: Lovers Leap Story - Negril75 - 04-01-2023
OT, Don't know that story. Pray Tell!!!
Storytelling is quickly being lost on our following generations. Kids hardly read books and rather text than talk and so many of the Sunday Dinners we used to have as a family don't happen anymore. Sitting on Grandpa's lap learning about all the cool things a kid desires are no longer part of the Family Structure that once was so important to our society and culture....
And yes telling and hearing stories is why I like this forum. The menu at an AI and the cheapest beer in town aren't subjects that move me....
RE: Lovers Leap Story - CardBoardBox - 04-01-2023
So around TB, which tourists like very much, is a car on the side of a mountain and grandchildren sitting on GrandPa's lap listening to a story of stealing money, and on another GrandPa's lap hearing the story of pushing a car off the side of a mountain to distract from the theft of a tourists cash.
My appreciation of Jamaican culture has been refreshed.
RE: Lovers Leap Story - Negril75 - 04-02-2023
Yes I know it isn't a heartwarming story but as we all know here Jamaica has many flaws too. I have witnessed some bad things happening there mostly all in Negril!!
RE: Lovers Leap Story - CardBoardBox - 04-03-2023
For several years, I brought down 2 boxes of mainly baby clothes for a whore. I didn't know that was her profession. She befriended me walking on the road to Sav from her house, with her 5 picney, living next door to two sisters who also had 5 children. I enjoyed the conversations, siting on the porch.
I ceased this when she requested a clothes iron since they had no electricity. (Hind sight - someone else had current. Not all connections were legal.)
Many years later, a local was "hitting" on the tourists walking near the round-a-bout. He recognized me and remembered the clothes I used to bring. It was a relief I did not have to fend him off, or should I say it was nice he remembered and was appreciative of past events.
So, some good comes from the good we do.
A side note that on one of my early visits I was on the property with the 3 houses, not in eye sight of anyone as I was waiting for my "friend" to greet me, a tall boy came towards the front yard directly in my direction with a machette in hand. I froze and figured I was going to end up a statisic in the newspaper. You might know what quiet panic feels like. Turns out he was trimming the grass. Relief on a scale of "My life is saved."
If you want more of the total story, I met the grandmother one trip. A distingushed looking slender lady, who asked for a hat. The next trip I brought a hat. I also had an emerald green dress which I presented to her in a paper bag. She looked and closed the bag, not even showing it to her daughters. I found out that it became her Sunday go to church dress, which she was eventually burried in. It really was eligent.
Should end there, but background, baby clothes are expensive. But from yard sales, I'd get a whole box for $5. I say baby clothes but that included t-shirt and jeans, probably fit through age 8. That dress probably cost me a buck. Jamaicans have no problem with "used" things as long as they look almost new.
RE: Lovers Leap Story - Negril75 - 04-03-2023
Nice Story!! Thanks!!
RE: Lovers Leap Story - Firemon - 04-06-2023
Scottish Jamaicans you say! I knew there had to be an explanation for those Scotch Bonnet peppers!
RE: Lovers Leap Story - Negril75 - 04-06-2023
Lot's of redheads and freckles in Treasure Beach communities so I assume you are correct about the peppers!!