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Nudity, Numpties & Numbers: Back Home Once Again
A few years back in the Canary Islands, we (or rather Michaela) suffered a moment of extreme embarrassment which you can read about HERE. But wow our last few days in Panama so nearly brought another… The sound of the door closing behind me was the first sign that I’d made something of an error of judgment. Long before going to bed it had started to dawn on me that the draught beer in The American Bazaar in downtown Casco Viejo was considerably stronger than I had realised, not least because the flat paving slabs had somehow become just as difficult to walk on as the cobbles – they just…
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- Central America, Independent travel, Jamaica, Music, North America, Panama, Photography, Travel Blog
From Jamaica To Panama Via A Drama
Our money policies when it comes to travel include never carrying too much hard cash, using a bank card wherever we can and keeping amounts in that “live” account relatively modest. And above all, checking the account at least once daily. It’s a good job we stick to our policies, as you will see. With the Jamaica roads as they are and journey times unpredictable (and significantly longer than Google tells you), we opt to spend our last night on the island in Montego Bay to ensure we are close to the airport. Making our way first along the south coast from Treasure Beach and then across country, the views…
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Southwards To Treasure Beach Where The Pace Of Life Is……
If you picture yourself visiting the West Indies, what does that picture entail? Do you see yourself in an all-inclusive resort where everything is catered for and you are safe and comfortable? Or maybe on a cruise ship sampling the feel of different islands? Or do you imagine a tranquil hideaway where life is slowed down, where calm and peace rule, where you sip rum cocktails watching the sunset, where there’s hardly anyone on the beach, where you fall asleep to the sound of the waves and wake to the gentle sound of the surf and the smells of the village bakery? Our Jamaica tour continues…. For our last day…
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Rose Hall: Great House Of Horrors
As we turn off the main A1 and climb the driveway towards the grand house, we only have a small inkling of the lessons in history we are about to receive. But before we start on the startling and dramatic story of Rose Hall, a brief partial history of Jamaica is necessary. The earliest known inhabitants of this island were the Taino from South America who arrived on these shores in the 8th century. By the time Columbus arrived, first in 1494 and more significantly in 1502, it is estimated that the Taino population had reached around 100,000. It was the Spanish who first started importing African slaves, yet they…
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The Good, The Bad And The Silly: Adventures Around Falmouth
Is it just me or are wind chimes slightly sinister? Does the sound make you picture a deranged axeman who grins inanely to the tinkling sound as he brutally removes the head and limbs of a victim? No? Must be just me then… The sea breeze here in Falmouth is enough to keep the airbnb chimes doing what they do but not enough to deter the unseen, biting insects from doing what they do too. If Michaela isn’t dabbing cream or gel on herself then she’s scratching around the little red mounds which are appearing everywhere; these little perishers have even put a few marks on my flesh, an area…
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Street Food, Food Wars & This Unfair World: Port Antonio To Falmouth
We always think there’s something exciting about it when foods with unfamiliar names appear on the menu, and for reasons we can’t quite grasp, it’s even more exciting when it’s breakfast. So to discover that the traditional Jamaican breakfast is ackee and saltfish with johnny cakes and bammy is just irresistible. A side dish of callaloo? Even better! Jamaican food is tasty, often hot and spicy and full of unusual ingredients – though they do like to surround the tasty dishes with a large amount of rather weighty, carb-heavy accompaniments. And by the way the stories are true, there’s certainly no scrimping on the amount of alcohol in the cocktails…
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To The North Coast: Lime Tree To Port Antonio
Driving Jamaica is very heavy on concentration levels, mainly because the roads are in such appalling condition. Giant potholes, boulders in the road, piles of builders’ rubble, sudden narrowing of road to single line traffic…main roads which suddenly hit an unmade stretch without warning. It’s all here. You have to keep your eyes on the road surface as well as the other vehicles for every inch of every journey. Consequently it’s a long slow drive from Mavis Bank to our next destination at Port Antonio on the north coast, a drive which involves climbing right over the top of the mountain range before descending through sumptuous green valleys alongside the…
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Into (And Up) The Blue Mountains
On previous trips we have spent time in a remote tribal village in northern Thailand, in a mud hut in the Sunderbans mangrove swamps way beyond the reach of roads, and, in Albania, miles from anywhere in the wonderfully named Accursed Mountains. Our new location in Jamaica feels at least as remote and wonderful as those places…. This is without doubt one of the most breathtaking, peaceful, remote locations in which we have ever stayed, where exotic hummingbirds feed from the bottle bush trees and the occasional echoing bird call is all that breaks the silence. The hulking mountains loom large across the valley, darkened against the sky, brooding in…
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Kingston: Heroes And Thankfully No Villains
Our walk out from the comfortable surroundings of the Liguanea Club each morning takes us across Emancipation Park with its manicured gardens and one-way jogging circuit where copper coloured doves peck among the benches and resting gentlemen call out a greeting, or a welcome to Jamaica, as we walk by. This park is part of the land which was gifted to the Government by the original and exclusive Liguanea Club as the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew burgeoned in size when merchants and workers alike sought better working and living conditions. Much of the area of what is now known as New Kingston sits on the Liguanea Plain which…
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Kingston & Bob Marley: The Jamaica Tour Begins
Times were when the Liguanea Club was a preserve of the privileged and the wealthy, stretching across 35 acres of prime Kingston territory and providing a sporting facility second to none in Jamaica, financially out of bounds to the vast majority of the population. Now, reduced in size but still with an impressive array of facilities for tennis, squash and swimming, it’s a relaxing yet relatively inexpensive place to stay with its wood panelled corridors echoing to the sound of visitors’ footsteps. It’s kind of a sports club with bedrooms. There is an undeniable feel of bygone colonial splendour when taking Jamaican breakfast on the terrace at Liguanea as the…
