03-18-2015, 03:44 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-22-2016, 04:00 AM by suzengrace.)
I love that we all have opinions and can voice them here, even it they're popular or met with complete disagreement and downright hatred..we're still allowed to voice it and i thank the board for it...something you will never find on other boards..that being said, we all keep coming back to this board and others ..even if we're the most anti-Jamaica, never set-foot-there again.. we still all harbor (or at least i like to think it) of one thing HOPE..Hope that the tide will turn and some of the negatives will be less so..A place we fell in love with -no matter how,be it awesome vacations, family members,born there,a community of friends we visit who have made a life there:with businesses that that depend on tourists and their live-li-hood or those that followed a dream and endure the hardships that came with and overcome it and stay..Things are tough all the world an esp. for Jam.
Even thru all the BS i've seen and dealt with in this country i still have one thing that keeps my love and allure of the place alive ..
Take away the culture, the people ,the runnings and there is still the one thing , pure and simple: Mother Nature and how she has blessed that little land mass in the middle of the Caribbean sea.. When Im up in the plane,way above and can see thru the window that land mass in the middle of all that blue, I'm again reminded why one of the reasons,no matter all the f---kery, I come back....
I see the little road winding thru mobay on it's way thru hopewell with that waterwheel ,thru lucea and how you can touch history almost just driving thru the town and of course on to negril, ....where one can see a most beautiful beach,,that yes, one can visit the circus or retreat to the long bay public beach or go the half moon...and then the awesome cliff area..how can one not be enchanted by them??
Or you look the other way and see the road thru the north, thru upper mobay, past big resorts (where you feel little sad for the all visitors who just stay put -dont venture outside of mobay)past Rosehall and Cinnamon hill (Jonny Cash's old plantation home-hell , he knew a great place to have another home back in the day) on to Trelawny,take a turn and go to historic Falmouth-home to electricity before even New york city had it..now with cruise ships disembarking and locals not benefitting like it was planned..still a place with a lots of history and beautiful old buildings.. or take the road out to the north out of the country..where sugar was king and built the beautiful Hope mansion ..you also see lots of housing -tracts being built-again "progress" that sadly looks like all the housing communities in So Cali.-you will also see all the huge 3 story mansions that look like hotels built into the hills,I'm told by Jam's coming back that have $$ , quite a contrast to the little board houses not far from them down the lane ...If you're really adventurous and better to have 4wd..go to where mother nature has held guard..the cockpit country, the waterfalls, the mineral springs,the caves ,the nature ,the rivers and communities that still look like they have for quite sometime..just be prepared to be met with suspicion=not alot foreigners there...and then the road in the north continues on to runaway bay (a place kind of like old jam ochie before getting built up ) then on to ochie and all that lush greenery. keep driving to the hair pin turns leading to orcabessa and if you keep going to Port Antonio you will be rewarded with excellent roads and the most lush, real tropical scenery..a real tropical paradise with the lush blue mts as backdrop and the coconut groves and again hair pin turns thru nothing but eye candy and then you come to PA..with all its faded old glory ,old school charm...the jam of errol flynn,ian fleming and noel coward(btw that guy could pick a location-visit his old home and final resting place in orcabessa.views -the best in Jam)the beaches of PA...separated, secluded ,not easy to get to (winnfred-hands down my fav in Jam) Boston beach, home of jerk and lots of stands that cook it and funky little beach with surfers and music blaring from cars...keep on the road south and if you ever been on highway 1 in big sur cali..while its like a minature version.. the roaring ocean on one side and cliffs on the other all the way to machinael..which i love..you can see one the most beautiful waterfalls in jam in that area, Reach falls-go when its closed to public (i think Mondays) and pay the locals that own land nearby to open gates and have it all to yourself for a cheap $$..Now have been to Bath falls a few times and nothing to write home about-not anymore..too many higglers and its gotten polluted with trash and human waste(yes,you read that right).you're not missing out..but interesting the story and how long its been a round ,since 1700's people have made their way to its restorative waters..now on to morant bay, yallahs, -very nice beach at golden (something) hotel..very natural ,lots locals,love the vibe in that area..on to kingston..what a beautiful area..the mts, the sea the big city...such a setting for the capital...now the road continues over spanish town, clarendon, thru the santa cruz mts.. mandeville,up hills ,and down them with sprinkling of new communities (the closer to kingston) and old (further down the road..now we come to bamboo walk , black river, and back up the north way to the beautiful (and I think the next place to get more visitors in the future) Belmont/bluefields...and then to little bay(which is building up-but still like a fishing community as negril once was) and round to negril(which we will hope will stop building up -or at least be sensitive to the environment ). The place still on my list-and i've tried to visit a few times but didn't work out is Blue Mts..still need to go..came so close-but wasn't in the cards..I guess mother nature is saving the "best for last" for me... To the sunsets in negril to the sunrises in Port Antonio..thats why i still love this little country in the middle of the Caribbean sea..
Even thru all the BS i've seen and dealt with in this country i still have one thing that keeps my love and allure of the place alive ..
Take away the culture, the people ,the runnings and there is still the one thing , pure and simple: Mother Nature and how she has blessed that little land mass in the middle of the Caribbean sea.. When Im up in the plane,way above and can see thru the window that land mass in the middle of all that blue, I'm again reminded why one of the reasons,no matter all the f---kery, I come back....
I see the little road winding thru mobay on it's way thru hopewell with that waterwheel ,thru lucea and how you can touch history almost just driving thru the town and of course on to negril, ....where one can see a most beautiful beach,,that yes, one can visit the circus or retreat to the long bay public beach or go the half moon...and then the awesome cliff area..how can one not be enchanted by them??
Or you look the other way and see the road thru the north, thru upper mobay, past big resorts (where you feel little sad for the all visitors who just stay put -dont venture outside of mobay)past Rosehall and Cinnamon hill (Jonny Cash's old plantation home-hell , he knew a great place to have another home back in the day) on to Trelawny,take a turn and go to historic Falmouth-home to electricity before even New york city had it..now with cruise ships disembarking and locals not benefitting like it was planned..still a place with a lots of history and beautiful old buildings.. or take the road out to the north out of the country..where sugar was king and built the beautiful Hope mansion ..you also see lots of housing -tracts being built-again "progress" that sadly looks like all the housing communities in So Cali.-you will also see all the huge 3 story mansions that look like hotels built into the hills,I'm told by Jam's coming back that have $$ , quite a contrast to the little board houses not far from them down the lane ...If you're really adventurous and better to have 4wd..go to where mother nature has held guard..the cockpit country, the waterfalls, the mineral springs,the caves ,the nature ,the rivers and communities that still look like they have for quite sometime..just be prepared to be met with suspicion=not alot foreigners there...and then the road in the north continues on to runaway bay (a place kind of like old jam ochie before getting built up ) then on to ochie and all that lush greenery. keep driving to the hair pin turns leading to orcabessa and if you keep going to Port Antonio you will be rewarded with excellent roads and the most lush, real tropical scenery..a real tropical paradise with the lush blue mts as backdrop and the coconut groves and again hair pin turns thru nothing but eye candy and then you come to PA..with all its faded old glory ,old school charm...the jam of errol flynn,ian fleming and noel coward(btw that guy could pick a location-visit his old home and final resting place in orcabessa.views -the best in Jam)the beaches of PA...separated, secluded ,not easy to get to (winnfred-hands down my fav in Jam) Boston beach, home of jerk and lots of stands that cook it and funky little beach with surfers and music blaring from cars...keep on the road south and if you ever been on highway 1 in big sur cali..while its like a minature version.. the roaring ocean on one side and cliffs on the other all the way to machinael..which i love..you can see one the most beautiful waterfalls in jam in that area, Reach falls-go when its closed to public (i think Mondays) and pay the locals that own land nearby to open gates and have it all to yourself for a cheap $$..Now have been to Bath falls a few times and nothing to write home about-not anymore..too many higglers and its gotten polluted with trash and human waste(yes,you read that right).you're not missing out..but interesting the story and how long its been a round ,since 1700's people have made their way to its restorative waters..now on to morant bay, yallahs, -very nice beach at golden (something) hotel..very natural ,lots locals,love the vibe in that area..on to kingston..what a beautiful area..the mts, the sea the big city...such a setting for the capital...now the road continues over spanish town, clarendon, thru the santa cruz mts.. mandeville,up hills ,and down them with sprinkling of new communities (the closer to kingston) and old (further down the road..now we come to bamboo walk , black river, and back up the north way to the beautiful (and I think the next place to get more visitors in the future) Belmont/bluefields...and then to little bay(which is building up-but still like a fishing community as negril once was) and round to negril(which we will hope will stop building up -or at least be sensitive to the environment ). The place still on my list-and i've tried to visit a few times but didn't work out is Blue Mts..still need to go..came so close-but wasn't in the cards..I guess mother nature is saving the "best for last" for me... To the sunsets in negril to the sunrises in Port Antonio..thats why i still love this little country in the middle of the Caribbean sea..