Getting lost

 It's becoming very easy to get lost in Jamaica these days, because of the rapid development taking place everywhere.

So I guess on my annual visits I just have to get accustomed to it.🥴. 

Last year we got lost trying to find the roast yam and saltfish vendors at Melrose Hill. For they had been moved from their regular place in Williamsfield to the new highway bypassing Mandeville. And because as per usual,  no information signs had been posted anywhere about how to get to their new location, we just decided to forget the yam treat and head home to the north coast. That's when we almost ended up in the bowels Clarendon for again, there were no directional signs anywhere about how or where to connect with the Edward Seaga highway 😡.

Getting lost this year had nothing to do with signs however, but rather because of the rapid development taking place everywhere along the Northcoast highway, from Montego Bay to Ocho Rios.

This is making many areas unrecognizable! 

I had visited my friend's home in St. Anns Bay many times, but could we find the entrance today! This had been easy to find as one simply drove down a lonely, unpaved road to the beach.

But it's not lonely or unpaved anymore, for a massive housing development of some 1000 units on 100 hundred acres of land is now taking place right where the entrance had been, and more, there is now a massive private security gate.

After driving around in circles for a while, in frustration, called our friend Chris who had to drive to where we were and lead us to the new paradise. 

But it was worth the frustration as once we got there, we had a wonderful afternoon hanging out with old friends.

L-r back: David, Grace, Bernie, Joan, Chris

 Front: Shirley, Denise.

Most of us had been members of the once vibrant Fun and Thrills Adventure Club which saw us regularly hiking and riding around the island and normally ending up by a nice river where we would swim and eat delicious meals cooked right there on the river bank.

Those were the good old days.

 Today, it was really great hanging out with the old crew once we found our way.

Great memories.

Hmm. Wonder where we will get lost next year?  For with the rapid development taking place everywhere, it's bound to happen.

(NB. Some pics taken by Denise and David.)

Many fun experiencess 👍

Sri Lanka is quite a well developed/progressive country which appears to be  doing very good now, after the economic/political upheaval in 2022.

Damith took me to visit what he calls the "bush" where he grew up. 

Having been born in real "bush" in Malvern, St Elizabeth, Jamaica, where we only had 2 shops, one gas pump a police station and a post office, I was shocked at what he called a bush in Sri Lanka 😂.

From information gleaned since my visit, while the country has no precious minerals, it has developed vibrant manufacturing, tourism, export and agricultural industries.

It is well suited for agriculture as it is so huge and has more than enough rainfall, rivers etc. It exports tea, rubber, foods, spices, palm oil and of course does large-scale rice production/processing. 

That is well-needed here as according to Professor Damith, most Sri Lankans eat rice for breakfast, dinner and supper.🫢.

To get to the 'bush,' we took a long- distance bus from Colombo to the huge town of Matugama, overnighted at the Diya Ulpatha Tea Garden resort and moved around on tuk tuk or bike. (Damith owns his own bike and leaves it in Matugama with a friend. (Gama means town in Sinhalese, so whenever you see a name ending in that, it's self descriptive.)

His so-called 'bush' areas also fall between the villages of Welipenia and Ittapana.

We stayed overnight at the small, nice, rustic hotel in Mahgama and could see sections of the UNESCO recognized Sinharaja Forest Reserve
from our hotel room.

Below are pics of our little hotel and it's grounds.

Just posing. Haven't ridden a bike for almost 40 years😊.

I first met Damith and Sharlene decades ago in Jamaica when we were all members of the Fun and Thrills Adventure Club. We toured my country extensively, hiking, cycling and swimming in every river we saw. So I knew him to be a strong cyclist, but he surprised me by being a competent motorcycle rider as well!

So in the 'bush', he would tow Sharlene and I separately, leave the first towee

 at a central spot, then return to pick up the other.

On other occasions, he and Sharlene would travel in front on their bike while I would follow behind in a royal carriage aka tuk tuk😊.

Among the places he took us was the Welipenia River. It separates the Western Province of Sri Lanka from the Southern and is is supposedly crocodile infested. 

Damith says his father gave him a bitch-beating for swimming in it.😂

In the olden days, people crossed in small row boats but modern technology has taken over. 

Local people now use a manually pulled rope ferry to traverse it. 

The cost to take a bike or tuk tuk across is a mere 11 cent US and it runs regularly.🫢.

Wonderful memories in pictures.

'Ferry' carrying people and their transportation across the Welipenia River.

This is the famous Ceylon tea.  The young leaves at the top are reaped weekly. It is a major, cherished sector in Sri Lankan export industry.

While Damith and Sharlene rode around on their bike, I often followed behind in this tuk tuk "carriage". The owner says this one is a jaguar😊.

Inside the 'jaguar'.

We were introduced to many childhood friends in his home town.

Anjani is a professional Dancer. She dances in the Buddhist temple as well as with her university group. Her mom (in the back in above picture) also danced at the Buddhist temple in her youth.

I sometimes followed Damit in a tuk tuk while he and Sharlene rode around on the bike in front of us.

Damith's childhood friend Ajanta, brought me from the bus stop in Matugama to the hotel on his bike.

He is a kind of eccentric and an electronics genius. For example I saw satellite dishes on his neighbor's houses but he built the antenna below from beer cans and it appears to work well.😊.

Ajanta's antenna made from beer cans. It seems to work well.

This symbol has been vilified because Hitler adopted it. However it has been used for centuries by ancient cultures like the Etruscans. Adjanta, a dedicated Buddhist, has one over his front door.

The pyramid contraption that Adjanta 

built. He meditates inside it for hours and says it's so hot that if you put coconut milk inside it for 24 hours, it turns to oil! Don't know if that is really possible, but suh mi get it so mi gi it!😊

Section of the so-called 'bush' town of Matugama, near our bus stop.

Sharlene and Damit on their bike.

Damit visits his friend Anusha at her store in his village. 

I still can't get over how well maintained the roads and drainage are all over Sri Lanka, for during monsoon season, it rains on and off every day. In my country, it doesn't rain half as much but they can't keep up with road maintenance. Something stinks😡.

( I have only seen one potholed-filled road so far after travelling hundreds of miles both in towns and off the main roads. That made me feel at home, but in a bad way.)

I must say, May 20th 2025 was a fantastic day, only surpassed by my surprise birthday celebration that night. 

(https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2025/05/my-birthday-sri-lankan-style.html)

Magnificent Mt. Olympus

 It was the thrill of my life😊.

From as far back as I can remember, my father used to read Greek mythology to me, telling me about the Greek gods and how they resided on the peaks of Mt. Olympus,.

 I never dreamt I would actually get to see it much less hike in the area.

The Mt. Olympus range is 25 kms long and the peak some 10,000 ft. Although we only hiked to the top of the Enipea  Canyon through which the river by the same name runs, it was the thrill of my life. 

And it was not at all as cold as I thought it would be. 

Mt. Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece and the 2nd highest in the Balkans 

For this trip, our base was this cute, quaint, laid back little village of  Litochoro at the bottom of the mountain.

The Greek Easter starts May 5th and some households do "spring cleaning " in preparation. Here they are sunning their rugs.

The beauty all around is simply awesome.

Section of Greek Orthodox Church in Litochoro

A small shrine in the mountains 

I can't believe I am at Mt. Olympus 😊

The valley is so deep I was sometimes scared to look down 😲

Sections of Mt. Olympus 

A filter plant for the refreshing spring water

Enipea River

Sections of the town of Litochoro, beneath the magnificent Mt. Olympus

Enipea River runs down into the canyon

Can't get over how fat and well groomed stray animals are in Greece 

Met this mother and daughter from Tanzania. Nice people.

Filling up with spring water for the trek up the mountain.

This trek into the mountains made my trip to Greece the experience of a lifetime.

Thanks Gabby ❤️.