Accompong Town in the "Land of Look Behind"
Jitterbug...pm'd the cell number. Muskie...keep a grip mon..Soon Come! Thanks Peter.
Peckish was on time as usual. He pulled into Seastar right at 11:00am as promised and Shereth assisted him in loading our bags for the two hour trip to my home in Accompong Town. I promised Peckish a fish dinner so we stopped just before Little London at a roadside cook shop where they had some wonderful Jamaican food (including kingfish) for only $400J (at least 1/2 the price anywhere in Negril). Shereth and I had two okra and oats blended drinks over ice. Tasted a lot better than it sounds!
I needed a cheap cell phone and a reliable Internet connection that would work deep in the Cockpits and, with Rob's advice, chose CLARO. We found a shop on St. Georges Street in Sav where I got a cell phone for $1000 J (yes, that is correct.. about $12 US!!!) and a 3-G thumbdrive Internet Connection for about $8000 which included a month worth of service but I had to get it without any chance to return it if it didn't work. You have to simply imagine my joy when I got home to Accompong Town,plugged it in and PRESTO! fast, reliable Internet Service. It makes me so happy!
Marshall has constructed a two-story home made almost exclusively out of mixed concrete and concrete blocks reinforced with over two tons of steel. Structually it is a well-constructed as any structure I have seen in Jamaica but it has been a laborous process as Marshall does almost all the preparation work using the occasional electrician, plumber, tile man and concrete finishing worker when necessary.
My part of the house is the downstairs and it is mainly finished having a bathroom and a living room all plumbed just needing a water source as Accompong Town has no pipe water anywhere so a black tank or a concrete catchment has to be added to supply water and gravity pressure to make it work. I have temporary current until the wire is pulled for the whole house and connected to the meter.
Shereth and I have spent much of the past couple of days cleaning and arranging my things to make it easier for me when she returns to St. Catherine early next week. I like to think of myself as independent and self-sufficient but this still-healing right knee has me needing a little assistance. Between Shereth and Marshall, I am getting around a lot better and with Marshall's Ital cooking I continue to get stronger and (hopefully) thinner too.
Tomorrow I will try to post a few pictures.
Peace and Guidance
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A Typical Day at Home - Relaxing amongst the Construction.
Morning starts before dawn. I hear Marshall upstairs shoveling and sweeping preparing for the two man team of masons who will be rendering walls today. With no pipe water, I have to fill a wash bucket and a face basin from the catchment barrel and take a PTA shower in the unplumbed shower stall. The water is cold but refreshing as I hurriedly finish the task, dry off and get dressed. I look out the louvered bathroom window and see that it is still at least another half hour before dawn. I quietly leave the room as not to wake Shereth and give her some space and privacy to get ready for her day. Cleaning, washing and helping me pack out my things takes up much of her waking time.
I climb the steps to the second floor where all the construction is taking place pausing long enough to catch a beautiful sunrise while marveling at just how quiet it is here in Accompong Town.
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Marshall is shoveling up the dried tailings from yesterdays rendering. He pauses long enough take a smoke and chat about things around town before making a cooking fire and putting a breakfast together.
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Dasheen, yellow yam, boiled banana, whole wheat bread, mackerel in a tomato sauce seasoned with peppers and scallions along with bitter orange juice and hot tea. A perfect start to a perfect day.
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Peckish, my friend and driver, stopped by with some 5 gallon jugs of water to refill our catchment for my room's use that he brought all the way up from Retirement on the main road where they still have pipe water from Niagra.
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We joined the workmen on the verandah for a smoke break and some jokes. Accompong is such a happy and friendly town. People drop by and chat about the many years we have all been friends. In my wildest dreams I never could imagine a place better than here to live. I take the time to shoot two pictures from my vantage point on the verandah. First to the left.....
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and then to the right. I show my assembled friends and workers the pictures and one remarked, "See wi dis evryday". I could only smile and say, "Seen".
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Mikey, the neighbor brought me a hand of fresh bananas for snacking and his brother brought some dasheen and yam as a house warming and friendship gift. You see, this house is on Marshall's great grandmother's side of the family land and on the other side of the road is the land of his great grandfather's descendants. These are my friends and neighbors and I have never felt more at home and accepted in a home at anytime in my life.
I will try to get some pictures around the community in the! coming days and weeks and, yes, even months!
Peace and Guidance
December 1st, ???? "Betwixt and Between"
For the past several days I have been looking for something to write about as I feel like I am in a time warp of sorts or "Betwixt and Between". Getting up before dawn; having some fever grass and mint tea, a small breakfast of boil banana and vegetable with vegi-soya meat and taking a pan bath has been the opening routine day after day.
But when the sun comes up over the Don Figueroa Mountains and starts to light up the valley floor, I can begin to make out the John Crow spreading his huge wings to the sun's rays and the tiny hummingbirds pollinating banana stalks outside my verandah and the day takes on a real and natural life of it's own. The roosters calling across the valley in challenge to a rooster on the far side and a mother goat calling her kids for a drink of mother's milk are the only sounds to punctuate the intense quiet that engulfs this sleepy mountain town.
I usually don't carry my cell phone as I find the ring often intrudes on my thoughts and I didn't have my computer nearby to check out facts so I was winging it today. While sitting and looking out over the expanse of the Cockpit Mountains, I tried to think of what day this was. I tried using my fingers but got lost once I exceeded one hand and couldn't remember the rhyme that revealed just how many days there are in November. It has since come to me but I have noticed that my usually sharp, fact-based mind has shed its protective rind to reveal a mish-mush like sweet potato pudding below.
I must admit I was getting frustrated trying to remember but, at the same time, I really didn’t have anywhere to be or a specific place to go. It was just the frustration of not knowing for sure. As I was sitting there, I saw a neighbor Earl coming out of the Cockpits with his machete and a pail of dasheen. I called to Earl and he put down what he was carrying in hiked up the short hill to my verandah. “Whaa Gwann, Bill?”, he asked. “Na Gwann, Earl but I have a question for you. “Okay”, he said slowly and softly not sure if he wanted to answer but would listen to the question first. “What day is today?” A simple enough question but I could see Earl was not quite sure either. “I tink it Tuesday”, he finally said without much conviction.
Now, I was already pretty sure it was either Wednesday or Thursday but him adding Tuesday turned an either or into a take a guess answer. Earl then surprised me with a, “What u tink, Bill?” I went out on a limb and offered, “I tink it Wednesday”. “Wednesday soun good”, he said as he turned back to the road and over his shoulder said, “It b Wednesday den!” Flashing his ever-present smile at answering my question.
Now, I simply just had to find out for sure so I went to my room to fire up my computer when I noticed that it had been left on carelessly and we were having the first current outage since I got here. The battery was virtually dead. I searched for my cell phone amongst the clothes to be washed and couldn’t locate it when I caught a glimpse of an Appleton Calendar on the wall of the bathroom. I went over to look and, sure enough, Wednesday was December 1st! Eureka! I have solved the problem until I saw the year 2010 at the calendar bottom.
Crap! Now I am even more confused than I was a couple of hours ago. I sat back down behind my now dead computer and began to think about things. Not knowing the exact day it was wasn’t so important as to frustrate me. Being entirely comfortable in your surroundings doesn’t have to be thought provoking and thought of as leading a boring existence.
I have finally made it to the “Betwixt and Between”. A state of consciousness that doesn’t always require exact answers. If Earl said it was Wednesday, then Wednesday was good nuff! Suddenly the current returned and the computer was now up and running. I went to the calendar at the lower right side; clicked and found out it was Thursday!
The weird part is that it didn’t seem to matter to me at all anymore.
Peace and Guidance
