ANIMAL KINGDOM FOR ME

I just spent the most wonderful four days at Disneyworld, my first visit in over 30 years. And what a time we had.

The last time I went there it ended in tragedy as my daughter who was then probably ten years old, was running away because she said we wanted to visit the haunted house.

Unfortunately she fell, had to get two stitches and we had to leave. I hardly remember anything else from that trip except that there were lots of long lines and Epcot center was great. (We had gone there first.)

Because of the memory of that accident, my daughter built up a bias against the theme park and thirty years later when  I suggested we take her daughter there this summer, she balked. However not only did she and everyone else end up having a wonderful time, but also when she told an attendant at one of the souvenir stores about her last visit, she sent some beautiful souvenirs to her hotel (Art of Animation) as a surprise. A wonderful gesture.

My granddaughter of course was in her element meeting her cartoon characters and even dining with the princesses.

We also visited Universal studios and all the parks, and while we all had a ball everywhere, my big favorite was Animal Kingdom.

When my grandson was around five, we visited Disneyland and I really don't remember their animal kingdom being as amazing as this one in Florida. As to the safari, (probably the only one I will ever be able to afford)  it was so exciting with huge African elephants, white rhinos a lion and lioness....all roaming in an environment similar to their own natural one.

Then we went to the lion King musical and all I an say is it was equal to the one I saw on Broadway.

This really was a fabulous vacation and I hope to repeat Disneyworld again soon and certainly Animal kingdom if nothing more.

The thing I need to remember for the next visit is to make sure to register for the meal plan as the food selection at all the attractions is really great and you can save a lot by pre-registering.

Incidentally an amusing sign we saw at a covered area with a few tables for eating on the run was this one below. It couldn't have come out of the blue so they must have run into some youngsters trying to overnight there or using it as a love nest!;

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Fruit and Spice Park, Homestead, Florida

I used to find it somewhat  amusing  but very puzzling, how  Jamaican city slickers who often accompanied us on our country hikes or rides, could never recognize the everyday fruit trees that proliferate in the island and which we country people are so accustomed to seeing.                                                

These city slickers (adults and children) can tell you

Fearless leader Jennifer 2nd left front row.

everything about the fruits, what they taste like, what they are good for etc but seem to think that they really come from a supermarket shelf, as they could not recognize the tree if it fell on them!  
                                                                      
I was looking back with amusement today as I visited
Redlands Fruit Festival, which was being held at the Spice and Fruit Park in Homestead, Miami.

This was part of one of our regular "Meet Up" treks, organized by the energetic and knowledgeable Floridian Jennifer Weise. (I mention that she is a Floridian, as I thought no modern residents were actually born in that state and  we were all in fact migrants! lol)

Anyway it was at that festival that I fell in love with the concept and usefulness of a fruit park, for at this park they have acres of fruit trees so visitors can learn what the trees of the fruits, nuts etc that they love to eat, look like.

I certainly learnt a lot. For example, I had no idea that there were 70 kinds of bananas or so many varieties of mangoes.  
                                                                        
I was especially impressed by the Jackfruits for I have never seen jackfruit trees so laden before, anywhere. Unfortunately, the policy of the park is that you can take anything on the ground but are not allowed to pick. And you know Jackfruits rarely fall off trees!

Naturally I was familiar with most of the trees although we have different names for them.

Do you recognize this tree?

There is one tree which I just could not figure out. Have never seen it before. Did not recognize the name on the plaque. Never saw any green leaves or fruits.

But it was quite majestic in its own right.

Would you believe though that the only fruit tree I saw with a warning label that said it was poisonous was our own national dish Ackee!

The Fruit and Spice Park sits on 35 acres of farm land in real Florida farm country.

It has 500 varieties of fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs nuts and other plants. It was the brainchild of a Mary Calkins who started it  in 1944. She was apparently a "snowbird"  with a green thumb who migrated to Florida where she fell in love with tropical plants. It is reported that

Mary's childhood home

many of the plants you now see in the park     came from her nursery.

Since it was a festival when we visited, naturally there were lots of stalls with fruits, and byproducts for sale and I found a typical straw booth quite beautiful.

Beautiful straw proucts

After a leisurely walk through the park, our fearless leader figured we did not yet work up a sweat, so off we went to the nearby Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden  for a mile  and half hike through their nature trail.

Unfortunately we never saw any hummingbirds as the helpful park Interpreter Laura informed us that while they have 4  speciess of hummingbirds, they do not visit until between November and December when they build their homes in the nearby small rain forest .

We saw no shortage of mosquitoes though for the days before there were heavy rains and they seemed to have gone on a breeding spree.
And they were most disrespectful of the natural repellent which I first used, only keeping their distance when a friend gave me some chemical repellent to up the ante.

Today was really a new and interesting experience for me. Actually, most of the "Meet Up" treks that have been organized by the native,  Jennifer, tend to be interesting and well planned.

Flagler Mansion-Lifestyle of the rich and famous

It's always good to see how the really rich and famous live (d) and a good place to get a taste is at the Flagler Museum, Palm Beach in Florida.

All sorts of interesting furnishing

Flagler, who was one of the founders of Standard Oil, built and elaborately furnished this 75 room mansion in 1902, as a winter retreat.

It was later donated by his granddaughter to the historical society as a museum.

A section of the 5000 sq ft reception area

I really love the structure, view, furnishings and the fact that he even had his own rail car with sleeping area, dining room bathroom and kitchen.

The reception hall too

Beautiful private rail car

 is out of this world, all 5000 square feet of it.

Yup, I love to look at these luxurious mansions but to tell the truth I wouldn't want to live in one. (with or without ghosts!)

Today, it serves the most appropriate function, that is as a museum.

Worth a visit in my view though.

Dining car

Bullhead Mountain, dead center of the island

This marker was installed to signify the peak as being dead  centre of the island 

Isn't it fascinating that dead centre of the beautiful island of Jamaica, stands a mountain range from which you can get a fantastic view of sections of the parishes of Clarendon, St. Ann, St. Mary and St. Catherine? Well right in the centre of that peak, you will find the marker confirming this fact.

That is the Bullhead Mountain which is situated in the parish of  Clarendon, the third largest parish in Jamaica.

The fabulous view of the scenic plains and surrounding hills

This important landmark is also the source of\Jamaica's longest river, the Rio Minho which runs from the range and empties out at Portland Point, after running a distance of  92 km ( 57.7 miles) providing life sustaining water to irrigate the Clarendon plains for thousands of farmers.

Magnificent pine trees abound

The range which consists of 220.6 hectares (545 acres) is controlled by the Jamaican Forrest Department and peaks at 547 metres (3600 feet) above sea level. As it is the forestry department that controls it, most of the area is covered in pine and bamboo trees which provides excellent shade but several species of ferns grow wild and provide a soft cushion all along the hiking trails.

While this area is unknown to most Jamaicans, the people of Clarendon have for years been using it as a major outdoor centre especially during the Easter holidays when, they trek there in droves to enjoy the wonderful scenery or simply hang out.

Fun and Thrills hikers

The first time I head about Bullhead Mountain, I thought I heard it had a beautiful waterfall and being very addicted to water, quickly  encouraged friends to accompany me on a hike there. We got ourselves a guide from nearby Thompson Town and asked him up front if he knew where the waterfall was and although he replied in the negative, he assured us that he could find it. Well we spent an entire day from about 10 am to around 4 pm hiking and dying to cool off but alas, there was no waterfall  to be found. I subsequently heard about the local folk lore that indicated that there is a mysterious waterball hidden somewhere in the range which will one day burst and wipe the entire parish of Clarendon from the face of the earth! That I heard many decades ago but have not fear, its just a duppy story!

The entrance to the park

More recently though, I went on another trek to that mountain with my regular group Fun and Thrills.

This was a properly organised outing overseen by environmentalist Nicole Brown who arranged with members of Northern Rio Minho Forrestry Management group, an environmentally active community group, to give us a proper tour.

Young Norris

Naturally, as Bullhead is dead centre of the island, there are several ways to get there. This time we opted to drive from May Pen to Red Hills via Pumpkin to Orange River road. It was near the park that we met there that we met a most pleasant young man, Norris Newman on his way to the river to get water.

When the guides joined us, my first question to the guides was "Are there any waterfalls here?" They assured me there was but after many hours of walking, when we got there, because we were in the midst of a severe drought, what we saw was a mere trickle.

This was however the occasion on which really got comprehensive information about this mid-island wonderful park. For example, we learnt that the original name was name of the mountain was Santa Marian, named after an indigenous plant found there. The name was however changed by the British to Bullhead, as it is said that the peak looks like a bull's head
when seen from out at sea and it provided an excellent navigation tool for sailors in the olden days.

Scenic views from every angle

We also learnt that the famous Maroon warrior Cudjoe, hid out there for a while after killing his first British aggressor in nearby Colonel's ridge which lies to the south of the range. As a result of the greart warrior and members of his troops hiding out there for a while, there are many descendants of the Maroons in the area, although we were told that they do not keep up the traditions as do their relatives in places like Scotts Hall and Accompong.

Nope, we still haven't seen a good waterfall at bullhead mountain but it is still a fabulous place to visit and lyme.

https://youtu.be/h2eZbrXgTNQ

DISCUSSING MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY 'LOOKING BACK, The struggle to preserve our freedoms

DISCUSSING THE BOOK ON POWER 106 WITH FELLOW TALK SHOW HOST CLIFF HUGHES;

https://www.facebook.com/575154275969964/videos/625129860972405/?pnref=story

Moore Town

According to the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, ".... in 1739 Cudjoe, Nanny's brother, signed a peace treaty with the British. The Maroons thereby became the first group of blacks to succeed in gaining their freedom and having that freedom officially recognized. 

Nanny, at first refused to sign a treaty with the British but eventually agreed to a truce. Nanny's Maroons, after the truce, divided themselves into two groups one of which went with her Brother Quako to Crawford Town and the other group followed Nanny to a new settlement, New Nanny Town, now called Moore Town.

Posing with Colonel Sterling,

In each Maroon settlement was a white Superintendent whose job it was to maintain good relations between the Maroons and the British. The success of settlements like Moore Town depended to a large extent on the diplomatic skill of the Superintendent and Moore Town was fortunate in obtaining good ones. 

The most famous of these was Lt. George Fuller, an Englishman, who became the Acting Barracks's master, and later Superintendent at Moore Town between 1809 and 1823. He also started the Fuller family through marriage with a Maroon girl."

Moore Town is today governed by Colonel Sterling who has been in that position for 20 years.

 According to him, the maroons do not have set elections but whenever the residents want a change of leadership, they have their means of asking for a change or letting their dissatisfaction with the current leadership known.

Under his leadership are the villages of ;  Kent, Brown's Field ,  Seaman's Valley, Moore Town, Ginger Hill, Comfort Castle and Millbank with a population of around 10,000 maroons. They have their own regulations and their council deals with all illegal activities except murder which falls in the jurisdiction of the Jamaican state. One way they maintain a low crime rate is that when strangers come into any of their villages, guides immediately approach them to see what they want and if necessary take them immediately to the Colonel.

What I was especially impressed about is how proud they are of their culture and how it is highlighted everywhere. In fact, I had the pleasure of meeting two very nice young men there. They were Kevin Patterson and Rayon Sterling aka. RJ who is a grandnephew of the Colonel. They proudly informed me that they were members of the junior cultural group and their traditions are kept going strong as from an early age the kids are exposed to every aspect of maroon culture in their schools.

Kevin and RJ

This recent trek to Moore Town took place on February 28, 2016 when some 80 persons journeyed to the settlement under the aegis of Fun and Thrills.

Some super fit troupers namely Maurice, Omar, Julian, Derval and Johann rode all the way from Kingston and back (returning home 8 pm I hear!), amazingly some of them even  reached Moore Town before any of the other riders or hikers. The other troupers fell into two groups, B team riders and hikers. The riders drove to Buff Bay and cycled from there whereas the hikers, among which I was numbered, walked from Fellowship.

 As usual, it rained most of the day but that made it a great day for hiking as the steady drizzle really cooled us down. Actually it rains so much in that area that just outside of Windsor we saw a marker on the road showing possible flooding up to 7 feet. When we inquired from a farmer we saw  tending his banana plantation across the road if It had actually reached that height, he said he had never seen it but he had experienced the water rising to the 6 foot level a few years

ago when it flooded his field.

We were actually on a trek to the famous Nanny falls which falls under the jurisdiction of the Moore Town maroons.

As you enter the community, you could almost feel a difference but what really surprised me was the profusion of churches, at least four in the first 200 metres after we left the main road. While most were some form of evangelical denomination, I was interested to learn from the colonel  that the Anglican church there was the very first to have been built in the area, some 100 years before any other.

I loved the pedestrian bridge too, which crosses Wildcane River and leads to Corn Puss pass in the John Crow mountains.

The pedestrian bridge over Wildcane river mountains.

As we arrived, we headed straight to breakfast in the school, where we had pre-arranged to have a typical maroon breakfast.  However, the janga run dung was just not up to the standard of what we had been introduced to on  a previous trip to Millbank,  but I guess that like in all societies, you have good and poor cooks.

After breakfast, we anxiously set off on the 20 minute walk to Nanny Falls. The first thing that struck you on that journey was the profusion of apples strewing the ground. Such a waste when you consider how much they cost in the city. The good news though was that many of the trees had an ample supply of apples hanging fairly low down so we could pick and eat as we trekked.

As, the falls are way below the track we walked on, the maroons built steep steps go get down there and that was quite a  challenge for some people.

The falls that day were also really bursting  as apparently they had been having heavy rainfall in the area so the force far exceeded what we had seen on the exploratory trip some weeks before. In fact so fierce and cold was it that I did not go in at all but most other persons did and had a wonderful time bathing and frolicking around.

  Despite the vast number of persons who accompanied us on this trip and the logistical challenge that it must have caused for the organizers Ayatollah and Chuck, it was an wonderful, well organised fun day.

Unfortunately it did not end too well for the chief organizer Charles Williams and his twin Chully who had to drive back to Fellowship where some vehicles had been left, in the back of an open van in the pouring rain. However I am sure that once they got dry, they too felt that the day had been well worth all the discomforts.

Photos compliments of Janel James, Julian Dadag, Michelle Munroe and David Jo.

Ride Good David/The misty Blue Mountain Range

Some of the happy hikers

I can't forget the first time I met David Linehan some years ago. He was a little Englishman, probably in his 70's who had  been in Jamaica for quite a few years. I have no idea why the conversation that day was about how we would like to die, but  his version of the perfect exit was to be shot by a jealous husband. He was on about his third marriage at the time. Not only did David have a great sense of humour but also he was addicted to cycling and impressed  us with many of his escapades including his having entered the Tour de France in his youth. After that, I saw him riding often, sometimes with others but more often by himself.

It wasn't a jealous husband who killed  David though but unforgiving cancer, but even after it was diagnosed and he was receiving treatment, I often saw him riding although he did admit that sometimes he was feeling quite weak. He however would have been overwhelmed by the send- off he received from his many friends and admirers from just about every cycling club in Kingston who gathered at Newcastle in the Blue and John Crow mountain range, to ride to Buff bay in Portland and back on Sunday 10th January, as a tribute to him. 

Ride good David.

Yes I admired David and wouldn't have minded doing a cycling stint in his honour but definitely not the 20 mile return journey back from Buff Bay for it is uphill all the way.

So I happily joined in with a few people who decided to accompany the cyclists to Newcastle and hike to Cascade Waterfall at Regale.

It was an absolutely wonderful day to hike as the hills were overcast and a gentle drizzle accompanied us most of  the way .

 When  we got to Green Hill, Chuck showed us a shortcut to the waterfall but as the path was wet and we suspected it would be slippery, we opted to stay on the road.

It was while we there discussing the options that Mikey rode up and advised us that his bike was a taxi but we declined the offer of his  services. Shortly after,  the rain started to really pour down  but while some persons jumped into the support vehicle being driven by Chris, the rest of us soldiered on.

Chuck and Miss Bunny wait on the coffee to boil

At Section it was quite an experience as we stopped at Dennis Coffee shop where you can get the total Jamaican coffee experience. For there the coffee is taken through every stage before your eyes if you are a tourist and wish to see it prepared.  That is, the beans are roasted, then beaten in a mortar and boiled on a wood fire.

Flash poses beside the mortar in which the coffee beans are beaten

It was there too that we met a colourful character who said he was called Flash.

 He had a glass of white rum in his hand (at around 9 am) and was sipping happily. When asked why he was indulging so early, he explained that he was on his way to church and since the parson  had his "owna spirit" he had to get his too.

After coffee Flash staggered along with us downhill to where his church was at Padhouse. He even sang one of his songs for us for he assured us that he was a successful entertainer but I am not sure I agree with him there!

After leaving Section the rest of us walked along the breakaway area but Charles was taking no chances and went on the new road.

I remember when we were going to Avocat the new road had not yet been constructed so we have to push our cycles along the breakaway section but it looked less scary now. I suspect it is because the bottom of the deep ravine is now fully covered by bushes so you can no longer see the dept to which the road had collapsed during the landslide which created the breakaway.

 It was an easy walk downhill from Section in weather designed for a hike in the mountains. Not much further on, we were surprised to see Chully zipping up towards us. We thought he had morphed into an outstanding rider, leaving the experts like Maurice behind, but he assured us that after it took him over an hour and a half to ride 10 miles downhill, he was not about to complete the entire journey as it would mean him getting back home too late.

Amazingly however, not too long after we saw Barry bolting up the hill and he assured us he had completed the entire journey to Buff Bay and was on his way back to Newcastle.

We eventually got to Cascade but were told that the waterfall was about another mile down, so trodded on.

 We were soon joined by a gentleman who told us he was a part-time tour guide and he sung the praises of the waterfall.  It was a really nice walk down to Regale but by the time we got there it was heavily overcast and we could barely see the falls in the hills. Our companion wanted to take us up to the falls anyway but the track he pointed out was slippery and most people were not about to face the possibility of slipping and hurting them-self on the tiny path and besides it was too cold to swim anyway. So we decided that another trip to Cascade waterfalls would have to be be organised for some time during the summer months when the water would be much warmer. (hopefully!)

Cascade waterfall on a clear day

It was a good thing we took that decision too for shortly after we piled into the support vehicle, a very heavy mist descended and at times I swear Chris never had visibility of more than about a foot.

We could barely see the waterfall because of the mist

 As it was an open back vehicle, the men were in the back and I heard them, bawling for cold as we drove along. On quite a few occasions too, vehicles that had been invisible in  the thick mist, suddenly appeared in front of us and Chris had to do a lot of reversing and maneuvering to get us back safely to Newcastle.

We then went to Cafe Blue for breakfast, about three hours after we had asked them to prepare for us, but they were most obliging and accommodated us. It was really a wonderful  morning of hiking in the scenic, healthy Blue Mountain range, now a UNESCO site.