Dominoes lovely Dominoes

Everyone who knows me, knows that dominoes is my favourite indoor sport. So when I was invited to go to Ocho Rios to play on Saturday and Sunday, how on earth could I decline? This poor friend of ours has this huge 8 bedroom house above Uptown golf course and he says he is dying from loneliness so we needed to come and overnight and play dominoes, he said.

How many more returning residents are going to get themselves in this fix? These poor people migrate to the first world with one thought in mind, return home and build the most fabulous home one can conceptualize.  Unfortunately time and time again you see it, they never get to achieve the dream until they get too old to really enjoy it. So the market is full of these huge homes, especially in Mandeville (where the salubrious climate is ultra inviting to those who have lived in the colder climes for too long) which are too big for the average Joe.

Our friend Myrie also fell in to the trap. His wife who was a shopaholic for fine, expensive furniture, went to town in furnishing the huge multi -storey home with the most beautiful, exquisite furniture and paintings that the little heart could desire then only lived less than 18 months to enjoy it. Now he is all alone in it as the kids have no intention of living in Jamaica. Such a pity.

Anyway he put on a domino session on Saturday night and we had a ball in that most fabulous home with a fully stacked bar to die for. And guess what, I dropped a 6 love and did not get any although we play bruk an spoil. (That means we play only for six love for the minute a pair breaks the love trend, we again pose double six and start back from scratch).

On Sunday morning , a couple of us headed for Blue hole, that fabulous swimming area near the JPS hydro plant on top of the hill. However, my urban friends just do not realise that when they are going to the country they must have swimming equipment . Anyway, they came for the walk.

We parked by JPS and started walking up to Blue hole then observed some concrete steps going down towards White river. Naturally we decided to check where it led to an ended up in a virtual garden of Eden with the most lush fauna you could imagine. There was a foot bridge across the White river and in a very small area, 4 nice Blue Hole type swimming areas each with its own waterfall. I  could have sworn I had died and arrived in heaven!

Just beyond the swimming area is a school, a Methodist church and a few houses. If I knew how, I would capture a piece of land there and spend the rest of my life in eternal peace and tranquility! I have to go back there as it is the most beautiful natural environment I have ever seen in ultra-picturesque Jamaica.

Afterwards we returned to dominoes and I dropped another six love.

What else could one ask for in life? Well I got that too, jerk pork to and from Ocho Rios, for as you know the best jerk in  Jamaica is at Grants, just outside of Ewarton.

Boy isn't  life in this country ever so wonderful!



Photograqphs suplied by Gabriel Nain

Caymanas River

Caymanas River in St. Catherine is probably one of Kingston's best kept secrets. For despite the fact that this lovely place to swim and pleasantly pass the time, is only around 15 minutes  drive from Half- Way Tree, not many persons wanting to cool off, go there.

Those who visit regularly are  persons wanting to be baptised. I don't know how the tradition started, but apparently in  "Christian Jamaica," there is this myth that there is something spiritual about those waters, hence on weekends there is a constant trek by Christians, mainly travelling in buses, to go there and do what John The Baptist said was necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Dipping to get the holy spirit

So anxious are some religious leaders are to pass on the spirit, that one Sunday when I was there, one offered to baptise me there and then, no preparation whatever!!!!!

The area did go through a very bad spell some years ago because some '"bright men from the community decided to start charging people who went there. Apparently this because so lucrative, that they started to fight over the spoils leading to the death by some 9 persons in a very short period of time.

This then forced the owners, the government owned Urban Development Corporation to step in and fence off the area and provide security.

After a while they seem to have withdrawn and now the community has taken over the attraction (I doubt that they have a legitimate lease however) and are running it nicely.

They now provide secure parking, there are people sweeping sand keeping the place clean as a whistle and divers and children remove the seaweed from the swimming areas leaving it really clean, beautiful and perfect for swimming, .

 In addition shops have sprung up offering all you need on such occasions and of course there is the blaring music to keep you up to date with the latest dance hall hits. 

I just hope it remains like this, a good progressive community money earning effort and never again regresses to the stage where some violent idiot with a gun tries to control it all and spoil it for all of us.