Headin' back home....finally

Attachment 17265When my feet last touched Jamaica, it was 8 months ago but it might have well been in the last century. I actually enjoyed coming back to Florida but it didn’t take too long for the patina to rub off and expose the raw emotions that bubbled over from living nearly 70 days in Accompong Town. Every day since has been a mental smack down trying to fit back into the life here I have cobbled together over the past 15 years and all the time having the full knowledge that here is no longer the place I call home.

Attachment 17263I actually began packing nearly 3 months ago when I decided on the dates of my next trip of 4 months and purchased my ticket. I sorted through my possessions and either gave away or discarded anything that wouldn’t fit in a couple of totes of storage while assembling the rest inside of two suitcases or on a pallet I would ship before my next arrival in Montego Bay. I knew that I could send 27 cubic feet (3’ X 3’ X 3’) inside of an old refrigerator box on a pallet that cost me an extra $40 making a total of $200.00 US. For almost two months I stacked and restacked those items like a Jenga wood block game until nearly every square inch was occupied. I managed to get that pallet off just before Isaac flooded our area. It is finally becoming reality to me as next week I will finally be back home in Jamaica. Now the real countdown can begin.
Attachment 17264
Peace and Guidance

Enjoy and safe travels~

I am thrilled for you and thanks for sharing your journey. Busted out a laugh picturing the JENGA moves. Wishing you peace and joy always at home in Jamaica sweet Jamaica. Your best friend and a whole town awaits your arrival!

One Love my Brother.....

((ring…ring….ring) (caller ID… its Marshall calling!))

“Marshall, mi bredda … whaa gwan?”

Hey Bill. What time should I be at the airport?

“Plane doesn’t land until 12:05 so 12:30 – 1:00 is cris”

I will be there about 11:30 okay?

((laughing)) “Marshall, mi fren. The plane will still be in the air and you don’t need to be early, okay?”

I don’t want to miss you. I will be early!

“Okay. Mi bredda”

The conversation goes back and forth for a couple of minutes until his credit cuts out. I slowly put down the phone and looked aimlessly out the window of my little office. My emotions are ping-ponging around in my heart and in my head. I miss Jamaica. I miss Accompong Town and I miss… no, LOVE Marshall. I am trying to wrap my mind around that feeling. In my life I have only truly “loved” two people; my first wife (the second was more like “lust” lol.) and the second is my faithful friend, Marshall whom I love like my blood brother.

We met in Accompong Town a little more than 24 years ago under some unusual circumstances. I brazenly entered Accompong Town without permission from the Colonel and that, in those days, was not something easily tolerated. When Marshall took my arm and escorted me to the Colonel’s office, I was suddenly terrified and exhilarated at the same time. Colonel Martin Luther Wright questioned and interviewed me in front of a gathered group of the town’s residents peering through the open windows and door. Apparently satisfied with my answers and stated intentions, he turned to Marshall and told him I was allowed to “come and go from Accompong Town whenever I chose … I could stay as long as I wanted” and finally, “I was his responsibility”. An order he took very seriously.

For those next 24 years, I have traveled the length and breadth of Jamaica with Marshall as my guide and (if needed) protector. His presence was not as a bodyguard but as an intervener who could easily steer his way through possible problems like an Indy car driver avoids an accident. We traveled through Trenchtown, Tivoli Gardens, Old Hope Road, Morant Bay everywhere and anywhere we wanted to go with an easiness that belied my “plexion” and “affaren” difference.

((knock on the window)) I am suddenly brought back to “bizzaro reality” where I function as a front desk clerk. I mechanically explain the rules and take the IDs and money before giving them a receipt and a key to go to their appointed room.

Leaning back in my chair, I put on my headset and select “Peter Tosh Live” at maximum volume. I close my eyes and imagine myself on my verandah at my house in Accompong Town knowing that all dreams can become reality.

Peace and Guidance

accompong......thank you is not enough to say. Your honest words of love inspire me. Simple life with respectful caring people sounds blissful. thank you for sharing thoughts about Marshall - I secretly hoped you would speak of him when I mentioned him in my post above. I have so enjoyed your stories and deep love of that special place. Your journey is already blessed but I add mine. With deep love - Walk Good towards your dreams. [if you are moved to do so I would love to hear from you along the way about "life"]

Real love comes in many forms, some never know.
You have been blessed, Accompong.

The purple words are lovely.... Much respect!

During many of my trips to Jamaica in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I stayed at Apple Valley Park in Maggotty http://applevalleypark.com/home.php . I had wanted to go up to Accompong Town for a couple of nights but the room where I stayed a few years back was not available. It seems a family member from England had taken up a longer residence than my new friends had anticipated. One day during the beginning of my second week at the park, Marshall had come down to visit and said he had a place for me to stay if I still wanted to spend a few nights there. I jumped at the chance. I hurriedly packed my bags and Marshall helped me haul them to the transport area at the front of Shakespeare’s in downtown Maggotty. When we got to town, Marshall had a youth take my bags over to where I would be staying and we walked over to a shop owned by his uncle Jubie (like Ruby with a J). We sat around the shop drinking some rum and warm beer until well past dark.

The alcohol and a lack of sleep from a little party the night before while we were playing music at the park, was taking its toll and I told Marshall that I would like to lie down and rest. He walked with me across the trails up and down the hills in the town past the Kindah Tree and finally ended up at a strange house perched on the side of a hill. Upon reaching the porch,
Marshall reached through a cracked open window and opened the door from the inside as most houses there don’t lock their doors anyways. He showed me where the outhouse was and the standpipe should I need to use them and then offered me a nice, soft bed in the main bedroom. I thanked him for his help and generosity, stripped down to a pair of shorts as it was quite hot and before long, I was fast asleep.

Somewhere in the middle of my sweet dreams, I heard some people outside the front of the house. More activity ensued and soon I heard some work, like sawing and hammering, taking place but I was still tired and decided to just roll over and try to ignore it for awhile. I keep drifting in and out of sleep and the noises outside my window were increasing. I smelled some cooked food and reasoned that Marshall must be fixing us something to eat. Boy, I was getting hungry. I lay in bed for a while longer and then got up, opened the bedroom door to the porch and gave out a big yawn and stretched my weary body against the door frame. The noise suddenly stopped and to my horror, a couple of dozen people were seated around the front lawn and porch! Just about that time, I realized that I was nearly naked having on only a pair of shorts.

I started to go back into the bedroom to dress when a Maroon who look like he just came out of the bush, charged the porch with a flailing machete in his hand screaming something about “Duppy” and a lot of other words I could not understand. Marshall sprung into action and grabbed the man’s arm and said something like, “That is no duppy! That is Bill, my friend”. For a brief moment I was terrified that I was going to die so I jumped back inside the room and leaned against the now closed door. Marshall came around from the living room entrance to the bedroom and told me that the reason he had a place for me to stay is that he just got the house from his aunt’s passing and that I had been sleeping in her bed. The commotion outside was a “Nine Nights” and the guy with the machete thought I was the soul of his aunt still walking around the house. I wanted to be angry with Marshall for this incident but I could see he was deeply apologetic and a little shook up at the scene himself.

I sat down for a bit and composed myself before putting on some nicer clothes and joining in the rituals. I had always heard about Redemption Songs since my seeing Bob Marley and the Wailers in 1978 and now I was singing them! The people welcomed me warmly and the guy with the machete put it down and warily shook my hand. Over the next 20 years of visiting to Accompong Town, I can’t count the number of times that this incident would come up in a conversation. We all had a good laugh over something that could have ended quite badly.

Peace and Guidance

hey bill, looking forward to seeing you this trip.

Have a good trip, hope it is a long one. The story of someone thinking you were a duppy made me laugh. Glad you did not get chopped.

Bill - have a great visit. Looking forward to hearing about the great success which I expect the Riverstone Project at Accompong to be.

For anyone who wants more information about the children's painting/crafts project, click on this link (its a great website Bill). For those that wish to make a donation (for which you can receive a handcrafted gift if you wish), you can do so on the website./ http://www.jamaicanmaroons.com/river-stone

There isn't much in this world that I envy - I generally consider myself to have been blessed with some wonderful experiences. However, in you I may make the exception. You live a life that some folks only get to dream of and have been blessed with the love of a truly good friend. Some folks live an entire lifetime without knowing what that really means.

Stay Blessed. PEACE.

I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was nearing the end of a wonderful six-month vacation in Billy's Bay, Treasure Beach......

A route taxi could be difficult to get in Billy’s Bay as there were two brothers (Kenny and ?) who were the regular drivers that came down that far to pick up and drop off passengers. It was easier in early morning to get one if you had to go to Black River and I had to go to pay my telephone and internet bill for September. Later in the day it could be more hit and miss. I went down at about 6:00am to be on that first trip. When I got to Black River, the C & W office down by the river had just opened so I stopped there first and paid my bill. I needed to do a little shopping at the market so I went to Juicy Patties first and grabbed a callaloo loaf and a box juice to fuel up for the day. It was a short walk around the corner to the town market.

I bought some spices and some vegetables that the fruit and vegetable higgler didn’t have on his weekly rounds. I was shopping as quickly as possible with an eye out for the Treasure Beach Route Taxi or one of the brothers who would take me straight to Billy’s Bay. I was just finishing up when Kenny came around the corner with two passengers in the car. I got the front seat and put my shopping in the trunk and off we went over the Iron Bridge and back to Irie Rest. We were cruising down past the Parottee turnoff when a voice came over the car’s radio. The announcer said, “A plane has just flown into the World Trade Center Tower and it is a fiery inferno!” I started to chuckle at what was said and Kenny, the driver shot me a quizzical look. I went on to tell him about Orson Wells and the “War of the Worlds” broadcast that was a hoax and this must be one as well. Then the announcer broke in and said another plane has hit the second tower and they were collapsing.

Now I wasn’t so sure. Maybe this is real. Could it be? The car went silent the rest of the way. When we reached Treasure Beach, I asked Kenny to drop me off at Golden Sands as I knew they had cable TV. When I walked up, Jackie (Mr. Lewis’ daughter) was running for the cottage where the TV was so I ran to follow her up the stairs. I watched it in stunned silence. Somebody had actually attacked my country and maybe we would be going to war now. I served during Vietnam and knew the country didn’t have the stomach for war but also knew we could do nothing either. I watched for a while angry at what I was seeing before catching another taxi down to Billy’s Bay. I was walking around simply stunned at the turn of events. There were two couples from the US staying over at Hikaroo a guest house next door to Irie Rest and they came by to chat about what was going on. They too were feeling conflicted over what was happening.

I put away my shopping, washed up and then walked down to Skips where a group of about 20 Billy’s Bay residents and the two couples were sitting in the pool table room watching a satellite broadcast. It had always amazed me when I first started coming to Jamaica at the passion these people projected towards the news on TV. In the earliest days, it was mostly bars and larger shops in small towns that had TV as it would take some time for the sets to make it into the family homes. People would come in to watch the news and maybe a John Wayne movie or a show like Lime Tree Lane before going home for the night. When the newscaster told of a killing or beating and showed pictures of victims, the people would shout back in anger at the perpetrators. When they showed the victims, people would praise God and even cry over what they were witnessing. So it was with this broadcast. The Jamaicans were more angry and upset at the terrorists than we Americans seemed to be. Maybe because we were in shock or maybe they just felt the pain in a more personal way.

Skip would normally put in a VCR tape of some Kung Fu movie or a “shoot em up” Western but tonight the news just kept playing and we all came a little more together as citizens of a world gone mad.

Peace and Guidance

Thanks for sharing that Accompong.

Tomorrow. Home. Peace and Guidance
http://youtu.be/0iqAkWhlnK4

"May Jah protect & guide"

I am finally home in Accompong Town. I arrived on September 12th and after picking up a pallet I had shipped some two weeks prior, Marshall, his neighbor with a pickup truck and I ascended the winding mountain roads to our house in the Cockpit Country.

The most amazing thing to me about Accompong Town is that time seems to virtually stand still and my arrival seemed seamless with my departure some eight months prior. Yes, a couple of people have passed and a couple have been born but, all in all, this town seems the same peaceful and friendly place that I have grown to love and (more importantly) Respect.

The major difference is water and, more precisely “rain water” that was in short supply last November through January. Accompong Town does not have piped in water. You must have a storage tank of some sort and an ability to capture the rain water that does fall to use for drinking, bathing and flushing the toilet. A large truck with a 5,000 gallon tank strapped to the bed makes occasional rounds from which you can purchase water at around $3 Jamaican Dollars a gallon with a 500 gallon minimum purchase.

Well, there is no problem in September as the rains have been consistently predictable most every afternoon at 3:00pm. The storage drums are full to the brim.

Attachment 17626

The only problem has been wireless internet. Last year I had Claro 3G thumb drive assess here at the house but Claro merged with Digicel and only a 4G product is available, however, 4G is not available out here in the country. I tried Lime 3G but it did not work sufficiently to make it effective so I returned it for a refund. The best thing is that Accompong Town has an Internet Center with 12 up-to-date computers with Hi Speed Internet connections at $1.20 Jamaican per hour of use. My house is a little too far for me to walk to the center but a neighbor has offered to drive me both ways; three days a week for the cost of petrol.

Yes, life is good in Accompong Town.

Peace and Guidance

Jah bless my Brother. Peace be unto you.

The sun may come up around 6 am but in this house we rise long before the sun warms the hills. Marshall starts the kettle fire and soon hot water steeping a brew of strongback tea with a heavy dose of mountain ginger and just enough lemon grass to give it some sweetness. He says we must start our day by purifying our blood and this potion fits that bill. A quick breakfast of a slice of wheat bread to sop up the tin mackerel mixture seasoned with slices of onion and lots of garlic to hold us over until a more proper meal at midmorning can be prepared as daylight is fast approaching. The Cockpits are calling.

Mountain Ginger and Strongback
Attachment 17745
Marshall is completing the cleaning and sharpening of his chainsaw before hoisting it onto his shoulder and heading out into the dim light. It is another day of cutting wood to build a coal kiln from which his livelihood is derived. I spend my mornings picking up around the house, sweeping the as of yet untilled floors and checking the water barrels before sitting down at the computer to work. These are the rainy months and thunder storms along with strong lightning around mid afternoon limit the usage of electrical appliances so all computer work needs to cease when the clouds darken over the Don Figueroa mountains to the East. I honestly look forward to the afternoons on the verandah watching the lightning flash across the sky along with the solid excuse for not working it provides.

Sometime in the late morning, I hear Marshall in the room downstairs putting up his tools and work clothes before washing up and joining me here in the living room. Another day of wood cutting and packing the kiln is complete and now it is time for a proper breakfast. Marshall takes his machete and goes out the back door to a banana tree and cuts a few hands of green bananas to boil along with a cut-up white yam to begin the meal. While out in the Cockpits, Marshall picked some gully beans and some red ginger which is actually turmeric and the basis for a curry. He adds the turmeric to some hot oil in a kettle while he stirs in the gully beans, black pepper and a vegetable protein called “veggie chunks” along with some fresh tomatoes and onions. The result is Susumba, a traditional Maroon dish and adds the boiled bananas and yam to the plate. We sit at the table eating our meal and talking over plans for the rest of the day and the rest of the week. A trip to Santa Cruz, some twenty or so miles away, to a grocery store needs to be scheduled each week and any other items picked up at the same time.

Marshall excuses himself and heads out to the bush behind the house where he has two pregnant goats tied to some bushes just far enough apart as not to allow them contact with each other. He moves them one at a time to a new location with higher weeds as a goat prefers the tops of bushes. I turn on the radio to a call-in show and go out to the verandah and take a seat where Marshall joins me after tending to his goats. We sit facing the East and watch the clouds start to form over near Mandeville as they head across the valleys below. A cool breeze is blowing and it’s a good time for Marshall to take a short nap while I remain on the verandah reading a day’s old Gleaner someone left at the local shop.

I am so preoccupied with reading that I don’t notice the dark rain clouds until they are upon us. I scramble around the house shutting the windows and return to the verandah and remove the chairs just as the rain intensifies. I have one more job to do before heading inside. I go around to all the rain barrels and assure that the lids have been removed and that any gutters are in place to capture every drop possible. We are now in for at least 3 hours of steady rain so I took the paper to my room and fall asleep to the sound of the rain pelting my window.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed the sky was clearing and the rain had finished. I also noticed the smell of food being cooked. I recognized the smell of plantains being fried as I straightened my bed and headed to the bathroom to wash for the soon to be dinner. Tonight “nerve soup” and fried plantains are on the menu. Nerve soup is so named as when I asked what it was, Marshall said it was good for the nerves. So, nerve soup it is! This version has chunks of yellow yam, dasheen and Irish in a lightly spicy broth of a fish based soup along with lentil beans (which I brought from the US), onions, peppers and red beans. A piece of fish steamed in the mixture was added to the top. It was delicious.
Night was falling and most nights Marshall goes out for a few hours to a couple of shops in our section of the community and sometimes I join him but tonight, we sit down to watch a couple of DVDs. I rarely watch movies at home so I look forward to seeing them here. I seems that most all the neighbors have a small, usually scratched selection that we can choose from and I did bring a few from the US as well. Marshall prefers to watch the “Nigerian” movies anyways so finding a regular movie and a Nigerian movie is not that difficult here.

We watch movies until 8 or 9 o’clock until the news plays on one or the other of the two stations we get. After watching the news and enjoying one last cup of tea, we retire for the evening as the sun will come up early tomorrow just like today and another day will be upon us.

Peace and Guidance

Thank you for sharing your life's little moments

This is an interesting read for sure and your bromance for Marshall reminds me of my friendship with Gonjon whom first timed it with me in April and instantly fit right in. There is nothing you wouldn't do for Marshall and it's cool to see how that comes across in your words. Thanks for sharing "Your life's little moments" as Wpyogi has stated.......

Wonderful stories!

hi bill . . . send you an e-mail . . .

Bill, your life and everyday interactions with lovely warm friends is wonderful! Thank you for sharing! Bless~

Also, thank you for sharing the think twice riddim. I can't stop listening to it. Mellow, yet the rolling beat that I love. The perfect calming medicine for the storm that is about to come for me and mine...