Finally

For decades I have looked forward to visiting beautiful Duncan's in Trelawny where you not only find one of Jamaicans most delightful white sands beaches but also, good fishing at the nearby reef.

It was always so wonderful to catch my butter fish and others of similar size, which when fried crisp, are absolutely delicious. 

For really I don't enjoy eating meaty fish.

Caught me two barracudas.😁

Then my brother and his cronies started trolling and bringing in huge fish.

I couldn't believe the sizes of these creatures.

With eyes popping out with jealously as they graduated from 1/2 pounders to 10 pounders, I joined them.

Everyone likes to catch big fisherman but only the fisherman can take them off the hook.

Twice I joined in the trek to bring in the big ones, but can you imagine my grief and frustration when on both occasions I returned empty handed? 😞.

Last year July was when that latest tragedy occured, so for the past year I have thought of little else besides how to bruk mi ducks.

July 2024 was when I struck gold finally, moving from quarter and half pounders to a seven and three pounder! 

And the one that got away was probably a 50 pounder 🤣.

No problem, everything deserves even one break.

4 caught, 2 by Joan😊.

Hurray.

Finally made it to big league.

Total happiness.

                    Memories of July 2024.

We are all winners.

Jamaica 2021, what a blast!

 As much as I love the convenience of living in the USA, nothing can equal my annual visit to my homeland, Jamaica.

 To begin with, I always try to coordinate these visits with mango season, especially when East Indian mangoes are coming in, as that is my top favorite. Boy, did I ever get a whole heap this year. I was tempted to smuggle some in but luckily, I didn’t as I traveled through Miami airport and they dug up my luggage on my return.

Ass holes.

This year was extra special though, since it was the first time in years that my visit coincided with that of my daughter and granddaughter. Naturally my brother and sister-in-law were already there, so we all stayed with them at their home in  Silver Sands most of the time.

We had a wonderful time using Trelawny as our base. As usual going fishing was on the top of our list of activities and for the first time in my life, I caught a fish that was probably close to a pound!

We didn’t stray much from Silver Sands, as it has the best beach in the island, in my book. Before the younger ones arrived, my brother, sister in law and I journeyed over to the center of the island to the world famous mineral spa at Milk River, as some of us not so young ones were having some aches and pains. 

Milk River spa

We didn’t know it before we drove there, but it had just reopened after having been flooded a few days earlier when the country was inundated with rains. As a result, the water was not as hot as normal, but soothing none the less.

Milk River bath was established some 300 years ago, after a runaway slave who had been beaten half to death by his wicked slave master, found a stream in the hills, bathed his wounds and was miraculously healed. Subsequent tests revealed that the stream coming out of the hills, 

had one of the highest radioactivity levels of any mineral spring The water is promoted as being good for a long list of ailments and although the pool is closed, there are six private baths open for use. 

After leaving there, we headed along the South Coast highway (built in the 1970’s) which is almost impassable today, to visit the manatees, called sea cows locally.

They are endangered, and a family is kept at Alligator Hole but unfortunately, we never saw them as the keeper said they were up river.

Incidentally, Alligator Hole is in a swampy section of the Milk River and there are crocs in it but they don’t interfere with the gentle manatees. 

A correction though, for while the sign there says Alligator Hole, there are no alligators in Jamaica, only crocs!

From there we wended our way gingerly on the badly

 deteriorated South Coast highway over to Little Ochi where the food was great as usual.

A few days later, I jumped on the convenient Knutsford Express to visit friends and family in Kingston. 

Thanks to my knowledgeable cousin Dor, I was introduced to some marvelous improvements taking place in downtown Kingston.

These range from strategically placed info boards on many historic buildings to a sculpture of two important founders of our nation, Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley  and the unbelievable transformation of Water Lane. 

For blocks intersecting with that street, outstanding Jamaican artists have given their skills to create murals depicting Jamaican life all around.

A dramatic and most welcome turn around in the entire area.

When the kids arrived, we visited the Puerto Seco beach and although it has been nicely upgraded and child-friendly, it’s just not as lovely as the good ole Silver Sands beach.

They being adventurous, visited Mystic Mountain, but because of my dislike of heights, I hung out with my friend Chris at her beach house nearby, until time to pick them up. 

They had a ball there and at Dunn’s River falls before joining us on the lyme by Chris.

Silver Sands beach

We separated for a few days as Michele and Maddy wanted to hang out in Kingston with the Williams clan who celebrated her recent milestone. That was her earning a PhD  after many years of dedicated study and sacrifice. While in Kingston they boated over to Lime Cay to swim before returning to the country to join me for a few days a Bahai Principe in Runaway Bay. It’s not a bad hotel but boy do they need a good chef or two!

While they were away, we journeyed to Seaford Town in the hills of Westmorland, a place I had always wanted to visit. This settlement is called locally, German Town as after the Abolition of Slavery (Aug. 1, 1834), many planters had a shortage of labor so imported indentured workers.

A section of Seaford Town

One was the establishment of a European settlement by Lord Seaford, then owner of Montpelier Estate and Shettlewood Pen which were located in St. James. Over one thousand Germans were brought to Jamaica with the promise of being granted accommodation, land, and employment. 

This township was entrenched on five hundred acres of land. However, over the years, through assimilation and migration mostly to Canada, (I understand they left in droves during the turbulent 70's when the communists tried to take over Jamaica), there are no more true blooded Germans there anymore and the use of any German language has virtually disappeared. 

When I asked a young lady at the gas station there where the Germans were, she pointed to the burial ground beside the Roman Catholic church there.  😅

A  visit to the cemetary and a cursory glance at the tombstones, definitely confirms that this area was once inhabited by Germans, due to their names. 

That is the only evidence that this rural middle-class village was ever populated by those nationals.

As usual, this visit home was as interesting and invigorating as expected and I cant wait for the next East Indian mango season.

 Talk Jamaican: Milk River - YouTube

Memorie

Milk River where the manatees are kept

Home sweet home, Jamaica....warts and all

Jamaica remains my favorite place on earth,  for I have wonderful friends and family there, none more dear than most of the Williamses, who I still consider family. And I did get the opportunity to meet the latest member of that clan at a lunch soon after I arrived.

Actually, the worst thing about Jamaica is the dangerous and downright annoying crime problem, but life cant be only roses can it?

I could have once again  become a  crime victim when I returned in February 2020, as some assholes saw me, a single woman driving their favorite car, a criss Toyota corolla and decided they wanted it! 

Fortunately I had learnt from experience, that I should never get out of the car and open the gate when strange people follow me home, so I waited them out until my host family returned. Then and only then, they drove off.

 I have always maintained that even if I get a Toyota corolla free, I wouldn't want it. Unfortunately, I had a lot of business to do on this trip and since that was the only car my "adopted" son Shawn had to lend me, had to use it. He was not surprised that people wanted to carjack it, as he said there were quite a few accidents involving that model over the Christmas holidays and the thieves wanted parts. My grandson has the perfect description for those assholes, "Cowards" as they never cease to target women driving by themselves.

The glorious Silver Sands beach

I gave the car back to Shawn as soon as I got the major things done and took public transportation. Actually, JUTC buses are quite good, as they ran frequently on the route I was staying and were air conditioned to boot!

Apart from that incident. it was great being home.

Posing in front of the Bolt billboard in Trelawny

We spent some time in Silver Sands at my brother's home and with cousins who live overseas and the water was great as usual.  As my brother just loves to drive, we spent some time on the road too, as one cousin wanted to see where in southern Trelawny the legendary Usain Bolt was born. 

I knew the area, having ridden there with my "Fun and Thrills" riding group some years ago, but alas, I took them on the long winding route with some of the worst roads in Jamaica. In fact, the day after we returned to Kingston, one newspaper carried a story that taxi drivers who ply the route to Wakefield, Trelawny, mounted a demonstration over the condition of that same road. Good for them. 
We however took the shorter and less potholed road back. It runs beside the Martha Brae river.

When we arrived at Bolt's parent's home, we found a brand new structure. When we went there some years ago, it was an ordinary country home, but now that Bolt is rich, he seems to have demolished the original home. Such a pity as the original home where he was born would attract  visitors I am sure, but I guess he wants no more paparazzo knocking around! 

Anyway they have erected a billboard in the community and established a gift shop nearby, so his presence is not lost.

A 250 year old house in Accompong

Another place we visited was Accompong in the Cockpit Country area of  St. Elizabeth.

This is the largest Maroon community in the island and we visited the community a week after their elaborate annual celebration. 

The maroons are former slaves of the Spanish colonizers who refused to become subjected to the British when they conquered the island. They fought them and when they could not be defeated,  they were given lands in various sections of the island and a form of self government.


 Some Jamaicans do not like them, for as part of their peace treaty with the British, they agreed to help capture the runaway slaves brought in from Africa by the British.

Regardless of how you feel about their actions, their communities are an important part of our

The "Bank of Accompong"

island's history.

Recently, they tried to take their independence to another level, trying to establish their own currency in  Accompong. Its called the Lumi, which they claim is worth $1200 Jamaican dollars. Even a Bank of Accompong has been established, but of course that, will not be given legitimacy and will only be bought as souvenirs,  by the vulnerable. And talking about the vulnerable, one maroon man conned $1000 out of one of my cousins,  for she touched his bead made from coconut and he claimed it was sacred and that is what it would cost to be cleaned!

 Unfortunately I never heard about the scam until we were in the vehicle returning home. 

When we went there, is was a Saturday, so the museum was not open but the visitors got to look around at the community. I was rather appalled to see that they have taken off the portrait of one of their foremost leaders, Queen Nanny, from the front of the museum and replaced it with two skinny girls. 

The original portrait of Queen Nanny that was on  the museum

But its their museum so they can do what they want I guess.

A great experience on this trip was a trip with friends and acquaintances to Mayfield Falls in Westmorland and it was so wonderful that it earned its own blog at ;                                                                                       :https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2020/02/return-to-mayfield-falls.html.

The new portraits on the museum at Accompong

Another nice experience  was going to the monthly Bank of Jamaica cultural show with my cousins. I had always only seen musical entertainment there, but this time they had an interesting comedy called the " A Tiny Room" performed by a small group from Montego Bay, and it was quite entertaining.

Yup going home is always wonderful and it is certainly something I will do as regularly as I can, despite the damn thieves and murderers!

Return to Jamaica 2018

L-R, Taureans Hector, Joan, Kippo, Delroy and MC Audley

Although I have been residing in Florida since my retirement from radio, an annual May visit to Silver Sands will always be on the agenda. For you see, my brother Bernie is a party animal who never needs a reason to host one, so my birthday has been hosted there, compliments of he and his wife Judy,  every year for around eight years now.

Coretta looks fabulous in her bikini

This year was no exception. The pleasant addition though was having my niece Coretta from Canada, joining us there for a week.

Others in-house for the week too were Bernie's friend from days at school at Cornwall College, Howard Johnson aka Kippo and his wife Joyce.

The usual Taureans were in attendance except for my good friend, Michael James who had some health issues. Delroy and Hector, the other regulars, cut the cake along with a newcomer Kippo. It was quite funny though, for in calling up the Taureans, MC Audely forgot his own daughter Kim, another Taurean, who was very much in attendance!

She, therefore was out of the cake cutting this year.

Coretta and I pose at Noisy River

As usual, when we hang out at Silver Sands, despite the fabulous beach which is always inviting, we do go out touring.

We were all therefore extremely disappointed on the Labour day holiday when we drove all the way to St. Elizabeth to visit YS falls, only to find it closed. It seems to be the tradition in St. Elizabeth to close their attractions on holidays, for we drove over to Appleton to do the rum tour and that too was closed.

The magnificent Good Hope great house in the background

As we were near to Middlequarters where my grandparents had lived, we visited their old home, a place about which I have fond memories. Their old house was sold and is so beautifully remodeled that no one would recognize the place. The Moravian church built on land which my grandmother donated is still there though as are the tombs of my grandparents, their two daughters who died in infancy and my uncle. Coretta has land there so we got lots of papayas from the gentleman who looks after her place.

We also visited Noisy River which is always open and saw them setting up sound equipment for what would no doubt be an exciting day of frolicking for the thousands who often flock that venue for a swim and general lyme later.

Bernie relaxes at Good Hope. One of the former slave quarters is in the background

We did not tarry there, however, instead headed to the popular Bluefileds beach in Westmorland only to find it jam-packed.  In fact, it was so crowded that we could barely maneuver our way back out to the main road after driving down to the beach.

Bernie and Judy enjoy the fabulous view

What we discovered on Labour day was that there is an ackee shortage in western Jamaica. It was really shocking for we traversed four parishes, St.James, Trelawny, St. Elizabeth and Westmoraland but although everyone was looking out for some,  we could not find one vendor selling the main ingredient in Jamaica's national dish! That is extremely abnormal, for it is customary to always find people selling this popular product on the sidewalks.

We later learned that there is no similar shortage in the eastern side of the island though for we easily found some in Kingston and heard that in places such as St. Thomas, it is always available.

On another trek, we visited Good Hope great house in Trelawny from where you get a  scenic view of our important national treasure, the Cockpit Country.

Everyone believed the washerwoman was real!

This was once a brutal slave plantation but today it is operated as a small hotel and there are numerous attractions on the grounds. Of all the attractions, my favorite was this carving of a washerwoman. It is so lifelike, that when I posted the picture of me standing beside the carving on Facebook, it fooled everyone into believing she was real!

We also went over to Negril to visit friends there.

Hanging out at a rest stop on  the way to Negril

Boats anchored at Negril beach

Later, we journeyed to Kingston (minus Coretta who had to go back to Canada), to attend my former in-laws' family reunion. By then, my daughter Michele, granddaughter Maddy and daughter in law, Michelle had already flown into Kingston to attend.

 This is the second occasion on which I attended such a gathering,  for although I have long divorced my ex-husband, his family remains near and dear to me.

No one believes aunt Gladys is 90 years old!

In fact, his mom, Hazel has been my best friend and alternative mother for decades.

Posing with my friend Hazel

She is now 96 years old and extremely alert although she cannot move around by herself due to having a stroke some years ago.

She is well taken care of by her son Chully who ensures that she lacks nothing and can live out the rest of her life in peace and comfort.

Her sister, aunt Gladys also attended the reunion. At 90 years old she looks phenomenal, not a day over 60 and I hear she still drives when at home in Canada. Her family was well represented too as some 15 of them, including children, their spouses, and children, traveled to Jamaica for the event.

After the reunion, my daughter, granddaughter

Overlooking Montego Freeport

 and I went to Montego Bay for a few days at what she describes the Pirate hotel there, for it really caters to children.

It was another unforgettable vacation at home, spoilt only by the fact that we have an extremely lousy member of parliament in Kingson, one DelroyChuck, who has made no effort to fix the roads in the area where my home is.

Here the potholes have become so large and disgraceful that some of them have even taken on distinctive shapes......like the one below which is shaped like a heart.

In this case, the heart is definitely not the symbol of love!