Water taxi, the best bargain

Whenever I go to a new city, I always try to take a Hop on Hop Off bus tour, as that gives me a good overview of the place. Better yet, I can come off if I like a particular place, explore then get back on to any other bus from the same company, without further cost.

 On a recent visit to Charlston, South Carolia, I discovered to my chagrin that they had no such thing, so bought a regular tour through Expedia.

Big mistake, for that turned out to be somewhat of a red neck tour. But more on that anon.

So, I bought a pass on their water taxi which follows the same principle as the hop on hop off bus.

Much cheaper and more enjoyable.

When they promised the possibility of seeing dolphins I was over the moon, as those are among my favorite animals.

I even had illusions of them swimming beside our boat and doing their famous surfacing in unction, beside us as we sailed along.

That was not to be at all!

Not even one jumping up as in the pic above.

We did see about four, but no big jump, just the fins.

Oh well what can I expect for a $17 boat trip?😏

Oh well, for that price I got to see Charlston from the water, Fort Sumpter, an actual retired air craft carrier and the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.

Built in 1929, this is the third longest cable stayed bridge in the Westen Hemisphere. It crosses the Cooper River and connects downtown Charleston to Mount Pleasant. It has a main span of 1,546 feet (471 m).

It is 2.7  miles long  and we were told that it has a jogging lane, so is a favorite among outdoor lovers in the area.

An actual air craft carrier which once was manned by 3000 sailors.

It is now retired and just a tourist attraction.

The marina

Fort Sumter is a sea fort built on an artificial island near Charleston. It was being constructed to defend the region from a naval invasion, after British forces captured and occupied Washington via a naval attack, during the War of 1812. 

It was however still incomplete in 1861 when the Battle of Fort Sumter occurred sparking the American Civil War, but it was then severely damaged and left in ruins.

 Although there were some efforts at reconstruction after the war, the fort as conceived was never completed. 

Since the middle of the 20th century, it has been open to the public as part of the Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park.

This water taxi trip was definitely a better option than the land tour I took earlier.

 

 

Return to Mayfield Falls

The first time I visited Mayfield Falls, was about fifteen or sixteen years ago. Why I even have an inkling about how long ago it was, is because my grandson Shadrach was around 8 years old at the time, and being disobedient as usual, he had refused to keep on his shoes. Once he discovered the discomfort of walking on river rocks however, we had to turn back so he could put them on!

The only other things I remember vividly are; how poor the roads were getting there, how wonderful it was frolicking in the various pools in the river and even diving and swimming through a huge rock in the river. Also, that was the first time I ever saw or heard of the wonder plant Turmeric. At that time it was apparently growing quite wild in the mini rain forest there, but now I understand it is planted and nourished carefully, as the price is  now really great.

Anyway, I have always loudly expressed a desire to return to Mayfield Falls and finally my dream came true when outdoor enthusiast  extraordinaire Michael Chuck decided to treat his friends to an outing there to celebrate his birthday.

What a wonderful gesture that was and what a great time we had. Thanks Michael.

So on Sunday February 2nd 2020, twenty six of us, including some Fun and thills regulars,  plus a very competent driver Michael, departed from Kingston on schedule at 7am.

Judy closest, Sheryl in front of her

Also on the trip, were my newly found cousins, Judy and Sheryl, who are from Seattle, Washington and are in Jamaica to enjoy our wonderful island and connect with their local relatives.

The Fun and Thrills regulars

The first stop was Jucci Beef in Clarendon where some of us had breakfast. Always remembering how delicious their peanut and hominy porridge always was, that was my immediate choice and I was not disappointed.

After that, with full bellies, we enthusiastically headed out to find the waterfalls. Alas however, someone seems to have forgotten to get directions, for as we were merrily enjoying the scenery and interesting interaction, we discovered we had missed a turn and were heading probably to Negril.

I could not help, as all I could remember about that place was that it was near Petersfield in Westmorland and the road to get there was unpaved and extremely bad.

Anyway we quickly got good directions by phone, turned around and before noon we were finally at our destination. (Incidentially, the road is now paved but narrow and with lots of potholes.)

I could not even recognize the place as it seemed to have changed, anyway, everything in Jamaica has changed in fifteen years!

I recall that at the time I first went there, a dispute was in progress between two operators at the falls and they even made the Star news for it had apparently erupted into violence. However, speaking to the guides on this trip, I was informed that everything was honky dory between them and they were both operating in harmony.

There is steel under the bamboos

This pristine attraction is in Glenbrook which is close to the border of Hanover and Westmorland. Mayfield river is  a tributary of the Cabarita River, which lies in the shadow of the 1800 foot Dolphin  Head mountains.

After we arrived there, it was pure joy. Some people opted to take the dry route on the side of the river but most of us went on foot up river so we could get frequent water massages and swim to our heart's delight.

The journey started with us crossing the river on as scary-looking bamboo bridge but when we were assured that the bridge had solid steel underneath, most people took comfort and dived in literally.

The trek upriver to the "Washing Machine" falls, took about an hour and a half as we swam and fooled around, some even getting mud masks rubbed on their faces and bodies by the eager guides.

On the return journey we came down on the track by the riverside and that took less than half hour as the trip back is quite short.

My only regret is that because this was a wet trip, we did not have our cameras, but one guide took pictures for us and circulated them widely. Unfortunately none showing the actual washing machine water fall was evident but I am grateful for small mercies.

After that glorious trek, we started a game of dominoes but it was interrupted by the call to food which included my favorite, roasted suckling pig. That call found me way up front in the line very quickly. After eating to my heart's content, the wonderful crackling and the delicious rice cooked inside the pig, the desert was tasty carrot cake baked by Mike's wife Karen.

That is as close to heaven that I will ever get I think!

Michael inspects the yummy suckling pig

As expected, on the way home after a simulating outing most of us slept, but I was rudely awakened when we got outside of Mandeville where there was a huge traffic snarl because of an accident, where I understand at least one person was killed.

Racism Will Survive Forever in America

As one who lived for a while in the Untied States when racism was totally overt, dangerous and widely acceptable, I have never been overcome by the romantic notion that racism had ever died out there.
What I do know is that it has again become an overt topic since Obama was elected and more so since he was re-elected last week, since the confidence the racists had that they would  have rebounded,  received a serious blow on the 6th November 2012.

What had happened in the past four years was that to be considered polite, one had to do the "politically acceptable" thing and not admit, do or say anything  publicly to indicate that one was living in the past, except of course if one was a proud member of  fringe organisations like the Klu Klux  Klan.

So most white Americans had become  become experts at hiding it, especially the more educated ones. That excludes idiots like Denise Helms from Turlock, California, who posted on Facebook that "Another 4 years of this (N word) ... Maybe he will get assassinated this term,"


When interviewed by the Daily News, Helms said she was not racist!  I put her among the less educated
since not only is she not smart enough to camouflage her obvious racism but also she is an employee at an ice cream parlour, so I assume she is a high school dropout.


I also assme that it is mostly red neck dropouts who  have taken their cue from that idiot Donald Trump   (Trump declared on election night that the US was no longer a democracy!) and have been signing petitions for their states to withdraw from the federation of united states.

According to "We the People" https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petitions , petitions have come in from Hawaii, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Maine, California, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington etc. 

No one needs to take these seriously however, since for example, the population of Maine is over 1.3 million whereas the red neck petitioners are a mere 1,585. 

Iowa  has a population of 3.06 million while petitioners are 1,483 and that is the general trend.

These red necks  therefore are a tiny, tiny minority and most likely aligned to the klu Klux klan or some other extremist group.

 It is however imperative that the US secret service ups its security, for all it takes is one mad man to change the face of history, but we have to accept that crazy, anti social elements will continue to exist throughout the world as long as this planet is inhabited by humans.