Time a ramble

Time,,,, sometimes as fickle as Jamaica whom I have said of, “She will kiss you softly on the lips one moment and slap you hard across the face the next”. Even in a place we run too to escape time she has a way of rearing her head. Good times, bad times, to little time,,,,

I remember a time when we sorta looked at charters as a double edged sword, unbelievable prices ($249.00 round trip at least 20 times) and non-stop flights but cattle car crowded and short legged roomed and in most cases during high season you had to fly on their 3 days a week,,,, well I am here to say after a 6 hour layover in ATL and a 18 hour door to door jaunt I yearn for that tight seat from times gone by.

You never know where in time you are going to run into a boardy, we got to meet Music Doc in ATL during our layover, now there is a cat that has spent some time on the rock,,,,

I ran out to Green Island with a realtor and looked at a property that a lady from Germany, a physical therapist by trade, had spent 30 years of her life building and I was enthralled. She is having eye problems and her kids have moved her back to foreign, the deeded property is for sale. You come directly off A1 up onto the first 200 foot or so altitude rise as you travel through a very middle class Jamaican neighborhood, nobody sitting on side of street mid-day everybody is at school or work, the houses the multiple addition style Jamaicans are famous for, there is an energy of always bettering in Jamaica that fascinates me. You then dip through a little draw and ascend another sharp incline up another 400 or 500 feet to the property. She loved to sun bath in the nude and designed the property to take advantage of 10 miles of coast and sea views but also to maintain her privacy from surrounding properties. The house sits at the top of 3/4ers acre of hillside, with slight elevation rises from patio to living/dining/kitchen, to bedrooms. 3 bedroom 2 bath with stairs up to a flat roof top surveying an un-impeded view that would be immediately turned into my bar-b-que entertainment zone. Her flower garden is in full bloom and she kept birds in an aviary and raised chickens, on the bottom side of the property is sloping beautiful north coast soil with already existing mango/lime/orange trees and some already in need of loving care banana trees, a day or so with a couple guys with machetes or a weed whacker would bring the area back into tip top shape. The entire property surrounded by a block fence topped with conch shells. The lady spent her 30 years of time there well, it was a good investment of a few hours of my vacation time.

We spent time at Askenish Basic School, a trip that is awarding and new every time into Jamaica. I took the crew over to Sav to do some shopping with the church ladies contributed money. Observations: The buy parking anywhere on the street by the hour policy implemented a few years ago is working well, you can start at one end of King George and move car end to end with parking available close to every store you wish to visit. I love the market in Sav, whole beef lips to tail awaiting cutting orders, barrels of conch, lobster, every spice imaginable already ground with some custom mixes already combined (chicken, fish, soup, etc.) colorful - aromatic “this is what the leaf looks like – rub it smell it – this is what it looks like ground”, vegetables vegetables and more vegetables with the elusive PEAR (avocado) available, tubers, roots, leaf, fruits with no haggling and no pressure – very proud vendors, knives, machetes, toys, thread, a true adventure. Not to cause controversy but,,,, I agree with those that advocate buying school supplies in Jamaica to support Jamaican business and I know that tightness in the stomach of declaring only personal items at customs and we shopped Sav hard hard hard and found a decent selection of essentials and books,,,,,, but even with a $25 dollar bag fee I can buy 50 lbs of school supplies and books in USA for what 10 lbs runs in Ja,,,,, just considering the end user my value would fall on the quantity side,,,, . The simplest things like finger or hand puppets bring so much joy to the kids.

Spent bird hunting time this trip, had a newbie Botanist Biologist with us. Doctor birds were in an area where I had noticed them before, just had to take the time to talk with a motorcycle cabbie (quizziacle look – why would you be looking for what I see everyday?) and get tips on the trees they would be in (look for the orange flowers). Now if it swims like a duck and walks like a duck it can whistle like a duck? That’s right there are whistling ducks out at Royal Palm, l.o.l..

Spent a few hours with a chef we have known for years. Stopped to pick up the beach walking crew at Fisherman’s Cove one day and ran into Garth of Kuyaba, Tamboo, Mom’s, Sun Beach fame. He made Coleen coco bread for our Church’s communion a few years ago and has always fascinated me with his take on different dishes. 3 Stars set back away from the beach is his current haunt, him and a cat named Collin. We ordered lobster at 8 in the morning, combination of thermadour and grilled and pulled into a feast at 7 that night. My bus was the sound system, my cooler the bar for us and chefs. Rice and Peas, Salad/Slaw, Steamed veggies, Coco Bread served family style,,,, big bowls of a dark garlic clarified butter,,,, what a delightful night to celebrate a time of full moon. Note to self for future times Garth will throw in complimentary pumpkin soup and do a spice or chocolate cake for 1200.

Cosmo’s with conch bits is always a peaceful shade ridden place to waste away time waiting for beach walkers whether they make it or not. When I ordered a que of rum one day the owner came by and complimented us on recognizing value.

If you want to ruin the time of your life just turn on the naïve button for a few moments and time can turn evil. You see in my opinion larceny is evil but larceny must mate with opportunity to take place and we are the ones that bring opportunity to the ritual. A young couple drop their bags off in our very secure property and head to the street and deliver themselves right into the hands of opportunity, “do you know where we can get,,,,”, out comes the cell and along comes a white plate vehicle carrying larceny, “get in we will go get,,,,,,”, a trip away from town and being relieved of the money they had on them taught them a hard lesson. A red plate on his way home took mercy and delivered them back to the security of our property. I despise the larceny but I shake my head in amazement at the present of opportunity.

It seems that this is the time of the year for crop rotation, on visits to a couple of farms and drives in the hills I noticed that many of the tubers were gone and being replanted, pears were hard to come by but many fruits were in supply. The yam poles for the next crop were being cut and were stacked along country roads high in the hills but most fields were poleless. Cane burning was a daily occurrence in the savanna.

Dennis at Whoopies has quite a crop of new goats, A word of advice, don’t go up rubbing and petting on baby goats, your scent overcomes the mothers scent and she will not let the baby suck. He was very proud of the number of nannies that had triplets this year.

Had time for one glorious meal at Ivan’s, my sweet Jesus. Did not have time for Pee Wee’s annual b-day bash or the 20th anniversary Bob Marley Birthday Bash even though we drove by/through both (I say through because in addition to the location a good bash takes up a block of street on both sides of the event). Somehow a 20th Anniversary sign has joined my “04” sign on the wall above my computer desk. Did do Devon House Ice Cream a couple nights and stocked up on Juice Patti’s for the frig a couple times (like pizza I find cold patties as flavorful as fresh – I also dropped a beef in the toaster one morning for breakfast and it was delicious). Missed STL Sally’s fiesta, even though she and a group of friends were our servers for dinner the night before at Montana’s (now we will have to add Montana’s to our list of great dining experiences that we never have time to eat at each trip – great food – great prices – one couple from our resort went over and pre ordered in the morning and had what they said was one of the best eschovetched (sic) fish dinners they had ever had anyplace in the world and they have seen a lot of this planet).

Why don’t we have time for rum cream and coffee every morning here in the states? And shouldn’t we take the time to enjoy a sunset at home occasionally? And as good as the spicy bun and rum cream and coffee and guava jelly is on my patio I have to admit a Complete Breakfast (fresh fruit, fresh juice, steamed coffee, steamed cream, brown sugar, toast, eggs, bacon for $10.00) at Mariposa is a great investment of capital but even more so morning beach walker observing time.

Superbowl party on the patio was great, but I would have to guess the timing of the rain storm was less than pleasant for some properties. The beach walkers said they had projection screens and rows of chairs and buffets set up outside at some properties. We took a 20 foot cable down and moved our room TV out onto the patio. Bruchetti (made with fresh bagettes from Charlea, apparently the baker there bakes extra and sells them if you get there early enough in the morning), gaucomloi, barrel chicken toastadas which some how morphed into stove top tortilla pizzas (imagine getting creative with the plethora of fresh ingredients and spices). The game started, the drinks flowed, the food was enjoyed and then the rain began, blowing in from the sea this was one of those blow leafs out of trees soakers, our group kept moving in under the roof out of the wind blown rain until were huddled around the TV like a group huddled to a bon fire on a chilly night, we were in bed 20 minutes after game, what an enjoyable evening.

I can tell you that Tony’s Hut has one of the best sound systems for 10 people on the beach. Tony had his speakers re-built and I brought him a peavey escort 2000 with equalizer to replace the one that blew up in October, Grace now has a mic to play with. The inaugural tune up turned into quite a party. I slipped over for some time alone with the system the next day and Lord Sweet Jesus that thing will hum. Some of the guest at our property smilingly and factiously offered me thanks for providing a new beat to the beach.

It was a time of new friends and re-newing old relationships. New a couple from New York, a couple from Montreal both true treats. Old Fidel, Dennis, Niah, Pat at Pat’s beauty hut, Desmond, Garth, Emma, the chef at Bourbon Beach, Dwight our long time friend and gardener at the resort, Vivian and staff, Tony and Grace, Brian and Carl in the hills, the list goes on and on,,,,,, time to rest and nap reflect on memories.

I always enjoy reading your stories-and I love the way you travel around in Jam....My kind of style of really experiencing this beautiful Island.

So you did Mariposa again? I gotta get back there. How was the beach in front of the property?

My folks said they saw you, hope you had a good time.. I am in negril right now typing this.. Good times..: )

pretty40 - yes and the beach, hmmmmmm starting at WAVZ they have moved the new fence back another 20+ feet, Tony has made a stand up bar at a right angle to the back of his bar - it is about 10 feet from the sea end of the bar and is maybe 10 feet from water at high tide, Mariposa built her wall up 2 steps to sand on inside of wall and another waist high if you are standing on sand inside wall - there is room for chaise lounges inside the wall and water is up to the wall on the sea side, Desmonds Unique Shop is gone with the old steps at water level - he has built a beautifal wood shop with windows all around at the end of the huts at the Boat Bar (across from Pat's Hut) and told me that he will put a small shop back in where Unique was, water is a few feet from steps at Boat Bar, enough room for chaises in front of fence at Rondel,,,,,,, that said I still stand by my position that the sand is still there it has just migrated 100 yards out or up and down the beach, the right set of waves and that area picks beach back up,,,,,,

Jaspro - I thought I saw you on a scooter before we left, your back pack was holding on tight. Your Mom and Dad came by one day and the beachwalkers saw them a couple other times, I was hoping they would come down for the Superbowl. Your mom was getting on my case that I had not told her how comfortable and beautifal the property was and I said "I told you that we have stayed at many many places in Negril and this is the place that we call home, what more could I say" and your dad cracked up in agreement. Enjoyed seeing them wish we could have spent more time together. Enjoy yourself.