Another Blue Mountain Trip in beautiful Jamaica

On Friday 24th July 2009, just after midnight, a group of us crazies left Kingston in two SUV's for another trip to Whitfield Hall, from where we would hike to the Blue Mountain peak.

About two years ago, I had pledged never to make that trip again, not because I had any difficulty going up, but because the descent was treacherous, due to the overabundance of loose gravel on the trail. On this occasion however, I decided to break my pledge and join them, since my daughter Michele who lives in Denver, had not been home for about 5 years and she wanted to do the trip. Also, my 14 year old grandson Shadrach had never been to the peak. This would be my 4th trip.

The original plan had been for us to leave Kingston at 2am on Saturday morning, drive about three hours up to Whitfield Hall then start hiking at 5 am at first light. Arbitrarily however, my ex husband Michael decided that we should leave at midnight losing at least an hour and half well needed sleep. I knew that was a stupid idea, but no one else objected, so I just went along.

When we got to Whitfield Hall at about 2 am on Saturday 25th July, we all had to sit all night, just as I had feared waiting for dawn to break. Some lucky people did get to sleep but I didn't.

The next morning 18 of us set out on the hike. At first it was quite cold, but as we ascended it became unusually warm. I was afraid that Shadrach couldn' t make the trip as he looked extremely flushed, but soon he ran off with his cousins and we never saw them again until we got to the peak where they told us that they had been waiting for over an hour for us.

It was a much easier climb than I had remembered although we had to rest often to accomodate Charles who was recovering from an illness and who should never have undertaken the 4 hour climb, but Betty was off the island and as they say.....when the cat's away....

Anyway, we made it without any mishaps and as usual, the scenery all the way to the peak was absolutulely breathtaking. We hung around up ther for a while, just cooling out and taking photographs. We wanted to take a group photo, but Shadrach and Tashna ran off and the group dispersed .

As I feared, the trip down was treacherous as I slipped several times and nearly sprained my ankle a couple of times. In fact, coming down, Howie led me down Jacob's Ladder like an 80 year old geriatric but I swallowed my pride as it saved me from spraing my ankle. In fact I appreciated his assistance even more when on arriveing back at Whitfield Hall , I saw where one of our group had sprained both ankles and actually had to be literally carried by her boyfriend Andrew, part of the way down. Had that happened to me, there would have been no one strong enought to carry me down!

At Whitfield Hall, my toes burned and my leg muscles compalained vociferously but after a wonderful meal of delicious rice and peas and chicken, all was well for the drive back to Kingston.

As if that was not enough exercise for one weekend, my super fit daughter advised me that we would br riding to Hellshire Beach the next day.

I did not have a problem with that since I love to ride and my riding muscles are well tuned as opposed to my mountain climbing muscles.

As usual we left out from Hope Pastures just before 7 am, Howie, Michele, Tashna, Damit, Michael and myself. It was a fairly easy ride but Tashna who had raced Shadrach down the mountain the day before gave up near Independence City and jumped into the support vehicle.

We had a great ride, a wonderful swim, excelllent fry fish and bammy and a real shocker when the bill came. For guess what, we had failed to get the prices before we ate! But c'est la vie. We survived that bill and even decided that we would ride to Hellshire Beach one Saturday per month for breakfast.

But guess what, my poor legs nearly never survived the next day as my hill climbing muscles really revolted then and I ended up walking like a 80 year old geriatric the whole day.

Thank God for pain killers.

A Great sumnmer Vacation

In the month of July 2009, my grandson Shadrach visited me in Jamaica and we had a wonderful healthy vacation, but Ai will only tell you about one truip today. We went to an all inclusive hotel in Runaway Bay and it was absolutely fabulous.

While there we took time out to drive a few miles to take a tour of the Green Grotto Caves. This cave has a fascinating history dating back to when the British and Spanish were fighting for control of our beautiful isle. It is the second largest cave in Jamaica spanning some 28 square miles.As it is in close proximity to where Columbus landed, later settled for a year and the Spanish brought the slaves, it provided an excellent place for runaway slaves to hide.
When the British arrived in the 1600's, the Spaniards promised the slaves freedom if they helped them to defeat the latest invaders. The slaves took the Spanish governor to hide in the Green Grotto Cave, but unfortunately the British won the war and he surrendered so the slaves never got their freedom.

In the early 70's the Green Grotto Cave was developed as a tourist attraction and was leased to a member of the private sector for operation. Unfortunately the lessee, being totally ignorant about environmental issues, went merrily on his way to destroy many of the stalagmites and stalagtites in order to convert the front section of the cave into a nightclub. Can you believe the destruction this has caused considering the number of years it takes stalagmites and stalagtites to grow?

However the inner section of the cave is preserved and it is most educational to take the tour. Years ago when I first went on a tour in those caves, we used to get a boat tour on the underground lake (The James Bond Movie Live and Let die had its submarine scene in filmed in that lake) but because of drownings and near drowning mishaps, that segment of the tour is no longer offered. Anyway we walked to the mouth of the lake and the waster is so crystal clear and still that all that is underwater can be easily viewed.

The most fascinating thing about that tour (apart from the practical lessons about rat bats!) was the formations inside the caves depicting various easily identified objects. For example, there is a clearly defined map of South America, the map of Jamaica, batman in his cape etc.

That tour is well worth the time.

Michale Jackson

I watched Michael Jackson's farewell yesterday with sadness and absolute awe. For while I had always liked his music, I did feel sorry for him as a person who had been deprived of his youth and was now as an adult doing all sorts of weird things as he sought to recapture the past.

I had forgotten that he was a person. So when Paris said goodbye to him and described him as the best father, I was speechless and overcome with emotion. And when other speakers pointed out how he had opened the doors for blacks in every area eg. Tiger Woods, it is something that I would never have considered on my own accord, since in my books he had spent his entire life striving to become white and develop caucasian features.

The most pleasant reminder I got from the farewell was the outlining of his absolute generosity of spirit. For example, how he sought to use his immense talents to raise funds for the sick and hungry, long before "Live Aid" was conceptualised.This generosity of spirit was earlier revealed just after his untimely death when his will was found and it was announced that he had left 40% of his estate to his children, 49% to his mother and 20% to charity.

He was indeed a wonderful person but like all of us humans, he had an Achilles heel. I never bought the stories that he was a peodophile but considered him only and unfortunate individual wh0 was so mixed up because he was robbed of his youth, that it affected him mentally.

As one who believes in reincarnation, I am sure his next life will be extremely happy, for he must have earned an abundance of good karma .

ANOTHER GREAT SUNDAY RIDE

Well today Sunday 5th July 2009, was not our usual Sunday ride. Normally, unless we plan a long ruin ride out of town, we usually ride up to Maryland or Jack's Hill in St. Andrew, just to keep the muscles strong.

This Sunday we planned to ride up to Guava Ridge, which is near Mavis Bank, basically the route you usually take when travelling from the city to the Blue Mountain peak. This is a beautiful area in the hills overlooking Kingston, so beautiful that the late prime minister Michael Manley, had his weekend retreat in those cool hills of Guava Ridge. Unfortunately we could not find a place to have a well earned breakfast after the strenuous ride so we scrapped the idea and decided that Maryland was it.

Anyway, when everyone gathered we decided that we may not get as far as Guava Ridge or Mavis Bank, but there would be no harm in riding up into that side of the hills via Gordon Town. So off we set.

It was a pretty easy ride up to Gordon town where we found that a new Bailey Bridge had been installed and even an electronic traffic signal, as in 2008, hurricane “Gustav” had destroyed the decades old bridge that had served the people so well for a very long time.

We then crossed a fording and started up the steep winding road. All along the way we were accompanied by magnificent hills and mountains with shapes and colours to die for. Heather and Johnnie also were in hog's heaven, so to speak, because there were mango trees everywhere and they found every type of mango they could wish for lying on the roadway.

When we reached Craig Hill, I started to bawl as the sun was getting fiercer (the main hazard of riding in Jamaica, especially when we do not start out early enough). Eventually we took a democratic decision to do one more corner then turn back. The others took off like a light and went around many other corners with me lagging at the back. I eventually saw Chuck resting under a tree and was only too glad to report via cell phone that he and I would be turning back. The revolt was then joined by Damit forcing the rest, Johnny, Heather, Michael and Michelle to turn back too.

The good news was that Donna had called when we were riding up to invite us to breakfast after the ride. We gladly obliged and it was most welcome and very delicious.

The sad news was that Johnny advised us that this would be his last ride for a while as he was going to live in Maryland, USA.

It will be my last Sunday ride for a while too, for with all my family, Shadrach, Michele and Michelle all coming for the a few weeks in the summer, I will be out of town for the next three Sundays.

It was another great Sunday well spent but unfortunately because it was unplanned, I did not carry my camera but did take a couple pictures with the phone. Will see how those turned out.