Maryland (in Jamaica)

This is the 3rd article in the series "Enjoyiong the Simple life" which is being published by Caribbean Today.

When most Jamaicans hear the name Maryland, they immediately think of the great US of A, and that is not unusual, since most Jamaicans know more about the USA than they know about our own fair isle. 

 The Maryland of which I speak is in the hills of St. Andrew, a mere four miles from Papine. What I find extremely refreshing and wonderful about Maryland, is that all “town people” can enjoy the peace, tranquility and all the best things that a small, pleasant, rural district has to offer, without travelling very far out of town. It is so easy to hike or ride to Maryland that I highly recommend it for anyone in Kingston or nearby who is feeling overwhelmed by the over abundance of concrete, smog and the stifling effects of city life.

 What is it about Maryland that makes it jump out at me? To begin with it’s the lush landscape, the pleasant hills, the fresh air, the elegant ferns and bamboo plants, the mountains, the tweeting of the birds and just how pleasant the entire environment is to the eyes and ears. For really, Maryland is just on the cusp of the Blue and John Crow Mountain range. You get there by travelling along an extremely lush, scenic route with both the Hope and Maryland Rivers making their presence felt, either because of the lushness of the plants by the river banks or by the calming sound of the waters rushing over huge rocks. 

 To travel up to Maryland you take the well known road to Gordon Town but go north at the parallel intersection to the east of the Mamee River turn off. At the next intersection, you again head north, for continuing straight would take you to Irish Town and Newcastle, two picturesque and delightful areas in the Blue and John Crow Mountain range. By the time you get to that turn off you begin to feel the pleasantries of rural Jamaica, cool, crisp, fresh air to breathe, an abundance of lush ferns and wild flowers,, a narrow road full of .corners around which most motorists blow their horns . The hillsides are dotted with cute, modest homes, some seemingly perched precariously perched and relatively far away from each other. 

 If you travel to Maryland on a Sunday, like just about every other district in Jamaica, the stillness is frequently interrupted by loud gospel music blasting from churches and even from homes. And also like just about every rural district, there seems to be an overabundance of churches of every type and recently, while we were returning home, all traffic both on wheels and foot, had to come to a stop as poccomania members dressed brightly in their white dresses and colorful head wrap did a ritual of several circles in the main road. On another occasion, we came upon another group of adherents marching in line behind a flag bearer and singing hymns and when we stopped to ask them to pray for us, they gladly did. On the way to Maryland too is one of Jamaica’s only cottage colonies built entirely from wood. 

This is a small, comfortable and attractive scheme of only seven houses all built from fire proof lumber and situated in the valley by the river. On approaching Maryland itself, there is a playfield where you may just see young men attractively outfitted playing a football match. Then you get to a huge metal bridge that spans the river, close to which a few business places are situated. Like most communities in Jamaica, Maryland also has at least one very talented artist who has drawn lifelike portraits of Obama, Michael Jackson , a number of local artists and community leaders, on all large open spaces. The town itself, it can be called that, has no more than about four shops and bars, a community centre and a few churches but what makes Maryland so special in my book is the community spirit.. For it is that community spirit which led the young men there to dam up a section of the river just below a small but cool and refreshing waterfall, with bags of sand. 

This they did last summer to give the children in the area (and visitors) a nice deep area of about six feet square, to swim, dive and frolic in. Some of the young men even stay there to act as lifesavers when the kids are out and the small ones head there to cool off during the hot summer months. That community spirit, the great food cooked by Coy who cooks in the community centre there ( Coy is a young man who says he was taught to cook by his grandmother. He cooks the most delicious traditional Jamaican meals) and the cool refreshing river water with the pulsating beat of the small waterfall, is why, Maryland has become our favourite destination on a Sunday morning. Yes, the ride uphill all the way is quite challenging, but it is what lies at the end of the journey that makes it all worthwhile. That’s my idea of really enjoying the simple life.