Eco's Fall 2010 Trip to Jamaica

[ECO]

My bags are packed and repacked several times over. Since I'm only going from Tuesday morning until Sunday evening I really only need one bag but I'm packing 3.

1- For camera gear. Even though I have extra gear spread out over the other two bags.

:

Gear bag.jpg

2- For the clothes that I plan on returning with.

3- For clothes, school supplies and other stuff that I plan to gift away.


Since I'm heading up into the mountains for most of this trip I have the burden of traveling with cold weather clothes.....ok, I'm not going to bitch about going to Jamaica and being cold!

Rental SUV--confirmed.
Lodging--confirmed.
Money and passport in luggage--confirmed
Business lines forwarded to someone--confirmed
Trip budget compared to the money I'm bringing--confirmed
Jamaican cell phone sim card working--confirmed

So, in 24 hours I'll land in Mobay :dreads

[ECO]

planning-september-trip-t1835.html <-- the link for the planning of this trip. Plan, plan, plan, over plan, over plan........ah in the end it always comes together!

[Wahoo]

If, at any point in this trip, you're around a body of water and decide to take a dip, I suggest dipping while wearing your shirt and shoes. That's what I do!

[ECO]

Lol, since it's suppose to be cold up in the mountains I'll wear scuba gear (kidding).

I'm going to spend 2 nights at http://bmcn.blogspirit.com/ <---check out that link! They are also on Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1 ... 1331523236

Not to give props to the spray paint JA queen but if it was not for Kristi I would not of found the place....it kills me to give a link but here goes: http://www.jamaicamyway.com/jamaica-acc ... mountains/

[ECO]

BTW, Wahoo........you went in the ocean with you clothes on a year ago and got messed up by the reefs........I'll stick to going in all nude and having the locals laugh at the likkle bamboo.

[ECO]

Today I found a "$5.00" so much for the $1.00 stores BUT they have soccer balls for $5.00!

IF you ever see a soccer ball on E-Bay signed by George Bush, Oh BAH MAh and a bunch of other people it was just me and my pickney playing around---don't buy it thinking it's real!

6 hours until the taxi picks me up....I'm pacing in circles

[Wahoo]

Eco, don't feel bad about the likkle bamboo...I'm hung like a half roll of Tums, myself.

[Wahoo]

Anybody heard from Eco? Geez, I hope he didn't fall off the mountain and is lying in a gully at the base of the mountain, unable to move to and praying to be rescued. I read somewhere a person can survive for weeks without food, but without Red Stripe, he might last a day...day and a half tops.

[ECO]

Lol, I stayed away from my computer and phones almost the entire time so people could not track me down.

Great trip overall, meet some really nice people, stayed at some really nice places, eat great food almost all of which was home cooked, had a blast driving around the entire island and up into the blue mountains, smoked some excellent herb, drank overproof rum like a sailor....... But I took it real easy on the red stripes--only six or so a day.

Trip report soon come

[Wahoo]

Are you kidding me? My grandmother used to drink more than 6 Red Stripes a day! (Well, not really...both of my grandmothers were teetotaling, church-going, hatchet-wielding, Temperance League types, but I'm trying to underscore a point here.)

[ECO]

Are you kidding me? My grandmother used to drink more than 6 Red Stripes a day! (Well, not really...both of my grandmothers were teetotaling, church-going, hatchet-wielding, Temperance League types, but I'm trying to underscore a point here.)

I got stuck driving the entire time and it took away from my drinking time but saved me $$ a day in beer.

[ECO]

Day #1 Tuesday......

Stayed up until 130-200am and got an hours sleep before my taxi arrived to pick me up (home to airport). I'll cut out the other boring crap but some highlights were getting 3 seats to myself on both flights down, having no...I mean no as in no lines at MBJ, spending less than 30 seconds with both their customs and immigrations ++++ they were really friendly this time. I was shocked that for my first time I was walking out the front door of the airport within 5-10 minutes of getting off of the plane. I ended up having to go back in to meet with the people at Hertz to pick up my rental motor car.......they were slow and pissed me off since I had places to go and people to see!

After 30-40 minutes the slow people at Hertz and I were at a stand still since they told my friend of mine that reached a week before me that he did not have to leave a copy of his license or anything to be added as an extra driver on my rental contract. I'll speak more of this later. Looking over the motor car with the guy out in the parking lot, he declared that everything on the car was in perfect order. Knowing that I would not return it without damage I had to prove to him that every single surface of the car had damage. After a few minutes of me taking pictures and pointing at "damage" quicker than his eyes could focus he ended up marking the inspection card with damages on every surface just like I wanted.

Leaving the airport I came to the one thing that I fear in Jamaica more than anything else......those round abouts. I actually stopped in the middle of the road for a few seconds to figure out how to tackle it and then said a quick pray and off I went. Driving from Mobay to Ochi was a breeze, since there was very little traffic I was free to zoom along with the wind blowing my hair all around. Actually, I passed 3-4 of those pesky police spot checks but other drivers flashing their headlights gave me enough notice to slow down.

I stopped at the Cambio (money exchange) next to the Burger King and noticed that since it was my first time going there how seedy it was. 10-15 guys just hanging around outside the place and them knowing I'm both walking into and out of the Cambio with a whole bunch of money--not a good feeling!

Once I reached Ochi I gave Ainsley (Ashley's husband) a call so we could meet up and exchange wedding photos for a bottle of my favorite rum. Since it was raining extremely hard I could not wait to get out of town and oddly enough it was not raining outside of the town. I wish I could of spent more time with Ainsley but neither of us really wanted to stand in a gas station parking lot while Jah attempted to wash the sins of Ochi away.

After leaving Ochi I was finally ready to head up into the hills to stay with friends for the night. I had been up those roads maybe a few dozen times so I knew I could find my way without having to call for directions, plus I'm a guy and guy's don't call for directions. So.....20 minutes later I'm lost and I call for directions. This might be a good time to mention that Jamaican's are horrible at giving directions that require anything more than one simple turn. I once again decided to brave it on my own figuring the island is small enough if I get lost. After maybe another 20 minutes I come into a small little town with a lively bar so I felt like I must be heading in a direction that had people....or the bar if I gave up on finding my way. After passing the bar I came up to what I concluded was the end of the road, it turned into a road that went down at around a 60 (give or take) degree angle with big rocks all over it. I once again called my friend and he just said to use the name of his friend and people would help me.

Back at the bar I drive by asking if anyone knew XXXXXXXX and almost everyone perked up and wanted to help me in my journey. One young man offered to ride there with me and then walk back on his own so I would not have to get lost again. I ended up giving him a few dollars since I knew it would take him 30 minutes or so to walk back. Once I reached my friend's house they were laughing since they got a call or several calls ( I forget which) saying that a white man was driving around looking for them.

After chilling for a little bit we drove over the hill to the community where I take pictures of the kids and people that I see on most of my trips there. I dropped off school/art supplies along with some letters that my daughter wrote to some of the girls there. If only they had the internet or if Jamaica had a better mail system an easier pen pal type of relationship could be formed with them.

The rest of the day was filled with beer drinking, ganja tasting, over proof rum, great food, catching up and chilling out listening to the tree frogs and crickets.

</day 1>

[ECO]

Day #2

I got up before the sunrise feeling the excitement of being on vacation. I grabbed my camera and a spliff and headed out to take some pictures of the sunrise....

Imagine sunrise pictures since I will not be able to post any pictures for a few days.

We loaded up the SUV and headed off to make a few stops for supplies. Soon we we back on the north coast road with me at the helm and a sucky navigator telling me where to go. There are two main routes between the north coast and Kingston, one takes you through Irish town and the other takes you directly to Kingston so you can spend an hour back tracking to Irish Town.....want to take a guess which one he put us on when Irish town was my goal?

Anyway, what looked like a highway on the map was a goat path at best......I learned latter that it was really a good road compared to where my journey would lead me. The views were more than I can explain in words......giant mountains, deep valleys, roaring rivers.......heaven....but on a goat path. After a while I learned to follow behind big trucks since they have a way of making everyone else stop or back up so they can get by. At one point the truck in front of us got stuck on a corner with another truck since all of the bumbaclot motor cars behind each would not back up so they could properly pass. They didn't seem to mind grinding together and massing up the mirror on the truck in front of me.

We made a few stops to food so we could cook but none of the smaller shops had everything that we needed. Lol, the old "stock up before you go up" really holds true when you are heading up into the mountains! After a while we finally passed through the mountains and ended up in Kingston. I hate Kingston.....big towns or cities really irk me for some reason. The smoke from the diesel trucks, the noise, the people, the traffic, the lack of road signs.....it all sucks. After clearing Kingston we headed up the Hope road and were on our way to RafJam where we spent our next two nights. The roads were twisty....imagine a bunch of 180 degree turns on a narrow road with two way traffic.....also imagine giant cliffs on the side of the road with no guard rails. None the less after getting lost a few times we found our final turn. A hairpin corner brought us to a goat path of a road that looked like something from an extreme sports show. Rocks on the left, ledges on the right, pot holes every where, humps in the middle of the road waiting to consume the under bodies of weaker cars.....my type of fun! After what seemed like miles (really 1/4 mile) we met up with Raf who showed us the rest of the way to RafJam.

After parking we looked around like we died and landed in heaven. The views, the scents, the people, the nice lodging, the waterfalls, the flowers............picture fornicating without passion perfect if I have ever seen it before. As normal in Jamaica, our host showed us to our rooms to make sure that they were to our standards before we handed over any money. Honestly, I expected a 5 on my own 1-10 scale since I was in Jamaica and the prices were so good, RafJam delivered a solid 9-10! Nice rooms, a bathroom with running water, a kitchen with a stove and refrig, views, a porch..............CLEAN. I'm not picky when it comes to lodging (see day #4) but this place just blew my mind. I was shocked that Kristi and Urban could of found such a gem----yeah, Kristi turned me onto the place but don't tell anyone.

After exploring, eating, drinking and smoking we turned in for the night.....or so I thought, I got up in the middle of the night for a bunch of long exposure pictures of the waterfalls and grounds along with a few shots of the sky filled with stars. This was one of my few nights sleeping in Jamaica that I never heard another human or a car.

</day #2>

[Wahoo]

I can't wait to read the trip report of day #4! I still can't get over you going ital and forsaking all fish, fowl, and flesh. I can't imagine visiting Jamaica and not stuffing myself with jerk chicken and spicy fish and lobster. You got to be careful not to overdo the coconuts, though. Coconut wata will do as a plasma substitute in a pinch, but too much coconut meat and coconut wata will give you a terrible case of the trots. Mixing the coconut wata with rum helps.

[Rose21]

Welcome back ECO. Patiently waiting for you pics

[Wahoo]

I can't wait to read the trip report of day #4! I still can't get over you going ital and forsaking all fish, fowl, and flesh. I can't imagine visiting Jamaica and not stuffing myself with jerk chicken and spicy fish and lobster. You got to be careful not to overdo the coconuts, though. Coconut wata will do as a plasma substitute in a pinch, but too much coconut meat and coconut wata will give you a terrible case of the trots. Mixing the coconut wata with rum helps.

In fact, if I ever find myself in the wilds of Jamaica and in need of plasma, I'm gonna mix up a transfusion of coconut wata and white overproof rum. I figure if that don't kill me, it'll only make me stronger.

[ECO]

Some Pictures of Day #1

Note: Since I had so much on my mind and a list of stuff I needed to do I didn't take many pictures on the first few days.

d11.jpg

d12.jpg

d13.jpg

d14.jpg

d15.jpg

For those of you who can't see the pictures you have to be signed in as a member to see them.

[ECO]

Day #2 photos. This day was a challenge since every time we saw a great view there was no place to pull over until the view vanished.

d21.jpg

d22.jpg

d23.jpg

d24.jpg

d25.jpg

d26.jpg

d27.jpg

Oops I but them in the wrong order

[ECO]

Can someone post how long this page takes to load with all of the pictures? I have another 50 or so ones to post from day #3 but I don't want to create a 30 second or so load time for people in the states with a good connection...that means minutes for people with dial up or weak connections.

[ECO]

Day #3 One of my most enjoyable days in Jamaica

At some point after the sunrise I got up to wash up and pack up some gear so we could explore the Blue Mountains. Raf, one of the owners of RafJAM http://bmcn.blogspirit.com/ offered to take us on a tour We loaded up our stuff in the SUV, I handed my keys to Raf and he took me up on the offer to drive (thank god, I was getting tired of driving). Driving up the mountains our eyes were wide open taking in all of the wonderful views.... look there...hey look over there...wow, did you see that view? It's hard to describe the amazing views that kept coming as quick as we could turn our heads.

d316.jpg

After a short (20-30 minute--no clue) drive we reached:

d313.jpg

After stopping for a few pictures we headed off to our main stop......a coffee plantation! I have only 30-40 weaknesses in life and good coffee is one of them. I'll save most of the details of the coffee tour for a blog post (soon come). We spent an hour or two tasting coffee beans, drinking coffee, learning about how coffee is made and roasted, I was in heaven the entire time. The coolest part of the "tour" was sitting on the front porch looking out at dense fog that was actually rolling in the windows from time to time. One minute we could see nothing and the next minute we could see maybe 30% of the total view, 5 minutes later the whole view was completely clear and it kept changing. After consuming a few cups of coffee and munching on some snacks we bought a couple of pounds of coffee and left with tears in our eyes....so sad leaving all that coffee behind.

On the way back down the mountain we stopped a few times to take photos and once again we had our mouths open out of excitement every time we saw a great view or a cool fog pattern. Several times I was thinking about blowing off the rest of my vacation plans and spending my time at RafJam's but I promised several people that I would show up and while the whole idea was possible I could not go back on my word.

Once back at RafJam's we spent the afternoon exploring the waterfalls, chilling, playing dominoes (I won as a first time player), swimming and all sorts of fun things out in the middle of nowhere. Close to sunset Susan and Raf offered to take us down to Rich Person's Hill.....I mean Strawberry Hill. If you want some expensive lodging in the Blue Mountains and money is not an object the place is worth checking out. I sort of feel bad that they were so excited to show us the great sunsets over Kingston and when we got there all we saw was thick fog. However, watching the fog roll in and out from the top of a mountain made us feel like we were in heaven. I would not trade our fog experience for any sunset mother nature could of delivered!

On the way back from Strawberry Hill we stopped at a likkle local bar for a few beers and to chill out. I was shocked that bars so close to a few of the mountain lodging places offered true Jamaican prices and did not try to charge us tourist/Ochi/Negril prices!

</end day #3>