BEADED HERON

Luciano

Although it hadn't been that long since I was there in February it sure seemed like it. To quote a friend, it was a "long short time". The night before I left, while getting my dogs ready and loading them into my car and driving them some 40 miles to a friend who was going to watch them for me, her boyfriend looked at me like I was nuts and asked me "is Jamaica worth it?" My reply was "yes" although I was beginning to seriously doubt it all as this was just the final act of a two week frenzy to get it all together so I could leave, but now that it’s all over, the answer is still a big YES.

After a nice evening with friends at the Luciano show in Negril that was even better than the show I had seen with Luciano the previous month, I headed back to Jah B's to my little cottage for a little rest before I got my scooter and headed out in the morning to my real destination, Little Bay.

Little Bay BeachIt was a happy day to be back in yard, and after a lot of welcoming I finally got the rest I needed so badly.

A little scooter adventure was in the works with where to go still a mystery, but I really had wanted to get back to Alligator Pond as it had been some years since I was last there, so we decided we would get to Milk River Bath in Clarendon the first day and see where the road would take us after that. So on the scooter with 2 short stops, one for tools for the scooter should we have any trouble which was unlikely since we had Jah B's very own scooter, and next stop for a nice little rest under the shade of the miles of bamboo trees at Bamboo Avenue it took us about 5 hours to get to Alligator Pond, but we were in no hurry. Make that 3 stops, there was a roadblock at the Westmoreland/St. Elizabeth border where we stopped so the police could do their thing and make sure we weren’t trying to smuggle guns or drugs around the countryside. Two things about roadblocks besides the fact that they are an inconvenience is that I cannot understand how they ever catch anyone with contraband, as the cars coming down the road flash their lights so you know one is coming, and the other thing about them is the amount of weapons the police themselves are wearing. One gun in a holster and another big automatic thing hanging around their shoulders, and they way they conduct themselves is pretty amusing to me.

Little Ochi PubSo finally back in Alligator Pond after some 5 years or so absence, alot has changed. Much more action than the place I visited long ago. Little Ochie has grown huge from one building with one long table set in an old fishing boat with a thatch roof and up on stilts and a couple of tables in the yard, to several of the little boat on stilts tables and now all of the tables are raised up from the ground with thatched roofs also, and even a little gift shopping area. There was a Juta tour bus from Kingston that was parked in the parking lot that hadn't been there before either. The little sign I remember that said "NO TO DRUGS YES TO FISH" was covered up by the many coolers inside the little building that held the bar/kitchen. Most of the fishermen had already put the colorful boats to rest for the day and sold their catch to the women who come down from the outer lying areas on the public bus. From around 10am each day except Sunday the beach at Little Ochie is bustling with activity as the fishermen come in with their nets full of colorful fish.

Sundays at Little Ochie are for relaxing and the people watching is great, alot of Kingstonians arrive through the day for a nice fish meal, and some evenings there is a set playing out in the yard.

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Part TWO

Milk River Bath

Milk River BathWe continued on from Alligator Pond to Milk River Bath along the south coast road, a distance of about 45km and we only once saw another vehicle. One side of the road is high rock and an occasional cave, and the other side is lined with either morass or desert with tall cactus. This area of the south coast is more desert like and gets little rain even though rain could be falling just a short distance away. I remember swimming in the sea in Alligator Pond many times when it looked as though a big storm would hit any second, but the rain would stay up on the hill and leave some beautiful rainbows behind.

Gut RiverBoth sides of the road were lined thick with out of control white bone Macca, a thorny bush with huge white thorns along the stems that are very long and sharp. I was thankful for the lack of traffic as the thorny branches surely would have slapped us a few times had we needed to move over for oncoming or other passing vehicles.

We passed on stopping for a swim in Gut River, a great little swimming hole is there where when you look down the from the rocks that you can jump off of and you see pure beautiful blue bottom. It is very deep as I never could hit the bottom when I swam there previously. We did stop though, but the day was waning and the mosquitos were hungry and fierce as were thier neighbor mosquito friends down the road at the Manatee viewing park where a little after 5pm each day you can go out in a boat to maybe see some Manatee. Though I would love to view some Manatee's those dyam mosquitos dictated continuing on to Milk River Batch and a nice soak in the magic healing mineral water. ..

Our drive from Alligator Pond to Milk River Bath was along the south coast road, a distance of about 45km and we only once saw another vehicle.  One side of the road is high rock walls and an occasional cave, and the other side is line with either Morass or desert with tall cactus.

Milk River Bath HotelMilk River bath Hotel is a very large old white wooden building high above the tiled baths which flow beneath it.  We checked into the hotel and were asked if we would be having dinner, and were given the choices of the evenings menu to choose from, and were told that dinner is served at 6:30 in the dining room.  We made our dinner choices an off to our room to change and head to the womderful healing baths.  There are screened in verandahs surrounding the hallways leading to the rooms which are sparsly furnished and quaint, and only about $55.00 USD a night with a private bathroom, and a television set, less for a room with a shared bathroom facility.

I had been to the baths before but had not stayed at the hotel and this was a much more relaxing and nicer way to experience them, they are open to the public from 7am to 9pm, but open to hotel guests 24/7.  The baths are private rooms of tile with steps that go down into the water which comes in through one side and passes out through the other.  The water is truely magical and people come from all over the world to soak away thier ailments as it is one of the strongest mineral springs in the world.  20 minutes is the recommended limit for each soak but you can go in and out repeatedly throughout the day and night.

After a longer than recommended stay in the moneral spring, we dressed for dinner and went to the dining room, a huge area with highly polished creaking wooden floors and several large tables around.  We were met my the most attentive waiter who took his duties seriously and he was most efficient.  In the dining room was a small television on a front table and everyone's eyes were glued to the set watching the evening news while the waiter did his thing first class style.  The food was beautifully prepared and wonderful, a nice dinng room experience.

An after dinner soak in the mineral spring after a long day of scooter travelling was all it took for sleep to come easy that night with an old Jimmy Chang flick on the television in the room and visions of the next days adventure dancing in my head....

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Part lll The Alps

In the morning after one last bath we set out through Spring Plain, St. Jago and up to Toll Gate towards Mandeville. The Mocho Mountains on one side of the road and Mayday mountains on the other, we made the steep climb towards Porus and a stop in Mandeville for a little lunch before going back towards Christiana where we decided we would cross over the Alps mountains.

Travelling by scooter is great and one reason is the price tag. We filled the scooter gas tank in Christiana for 150J and that is all we spent to get that far, and that tank took us home and then some.

After passing through the small towns of Lorrimers, Lowe River, Litchfield, and Joe Hut we were in some seriously beautiful mountinous ranges on the way to Albert Town crossing over the mountains on the eastern edge of Cockpit Country. It was mid-day and if it had been any cooler I would have wanted long sleeves for the air is much different up there than down by the sea. The foliage is much more lush and you see many more donkeys carrying huge baskets of Yam on thier backs than you do other vehicles.

The Alps are breathtakingly beautiful and all too soon we found ourselves descending more than ascending and soon again see signs of civilization. Soon came Clarkstown and on the way to Duncans a pretty little yellow parakeet was sitting in a bush next to the road and when we stopped he was just lookin at us unafraid. There were miles and miles of sugarcane fields that seemed to go on forever, but soon we came down by the seaside at the Luminous Lagoon near Rock, which is next to Falmouth. It was geting late in the day so there was no need to go any further as I always wanted to see the glistening waters and I was beginning to get a sore ass.

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Part lV

BodmintAt Rock we got a room in the luminous cove at a small hotel type lodging called Bodmint, owned by a nice gentleman named Mr Taylor. A nice room with a kingsize bed and air conditioning, both which felt good after the day long scooter adventure. I am generally not a fan of air conditioning but this evening it felt good as the night air was still and the waning day hot. We took a little walk over to the Glistening Waters bar/resturant in the early evening and got there just a little before a small boat was about to go out into the lagoon for a nightime ride & a little history of the luminous waters, so we decided this was a must do thing. There are only 4 luminous waters in the world, this one being here in this cove where the Martha Brae river enters the sea and the brakish green hued water turns luminescent by night with anything that moves in it. Small fishes flash light like the pennywally (firefly). The wake of the boat lights up like there is a floodlight, as did the swimmers who went overboard for a swim. I was glad we did go for the ride in the boat as the water from the artificially lit shore had much less of a light show as it did out further. The soft down pillow that had been doubling as a cushion for my rear by day soon became my dream enabler by night.

Glistening Waters Lagoon, FalmouthThe following day was slow to get moving, I suppose partially because knowing this was the last scooter trip day this trip and we were in no hurry so we hung around the nice little yard at Bodmint visiting with Mr Taylor for awhile before saying goodbye and heading west to Falmouth, Montego Bay and ultimatly Little Bay with stops here and there for rest and refreshment with some nice little story to share when we reach home and a liter bottle of the magic water for when it got dark so we could see if it could be saved and still light up but don't bother with that as once the magic water leaves the lagoon it became pretty weak and it didnt shine so brightly but we had fun trying.

Lucky Sitting On Mashops Head Top

When I got to Little Bay one beautiful Feburary day, so happy to be back in Jamaica out of the cold of the dead of winter, one of the first things I noticed was a little baby chicken running around the yard and around the bar at Uncle Sams, all by his lonesome..

It struck me as a little strange as I figured if Sam was going to start raising his own chickens he would have more than just ONE! So, of course I asked. "Sam, tell me about the chicken, there must be a story".

Sure nuff, there is one! 

Someone carried a box to Sams one night that contained a chicken and a snake, the chicken was intended as snake food, but the snake had other ideas. Did I mention that the box was cardboard? The box with the snake was left to sit overnight and in the morning it was discovered that the snake had a different plan that didn't include chicken for dinner.  The snake has escaped, leaving one little chicken sitting in the box.  

I named him LUCKY.