August – January – My 5 months in Jamaica

[Accompong]

I should first start by admitting that I didn’t set foot in Negril during this trip but I hope some of my pictures and observations will entertain you enough to get an insight into living in Jamaica.

I don’t know when it started but early on in life I dreamed of living on a deserted island like Robinson Crusoe (first published in 1719 under the title; "The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York). I think I read the book until the pages simply fell out from overuse but the visions live vividly in my mind. I first went to Jamaica in 1983 and was extremely fortunate to have met many of my best friends to this day. The most fortunate of these some 80+ visits was to discover my now hometown of Accompong Town, St. Elizabeth Jamaica.

Everyday life in Jamaica is “noh easy” as most any rural Jamaican will tell you. Hard work and a small return from that work is simply a fact of life but the sunny, “no problem” attitude to life belies the enormous stress they must bear. About 4 years ago after Hurricane Ivan destroyed my best friend Marshall’s house, we decided to rebuild the house where we both would live in our little corner of Paradise. This is my story of life in Accompong Town.

I hope you will enjoy.

Peace and Guidance
The beginning of a typical day as the sun rises over the Figueroa Mountains.

More soon come.

[JitterBug]

stories by bill . . . bring in on . . .

[Accompong]

Of course, no trip report would be complete without acknowledging some friends who make my living in Accompong Town a special experience. First of all, I would like to thank my good friend and driver “Peckish”. He is always there when I need to go somewhere and he never seems to complain when things take longer than expected. He has been a good and special friend for more than 15 years now.
Peckish.

George Huggins is the person I have known the longest (outside of Marshall) in Accompong Town. George is the builder of the square Gombe drum and a winner of the Lady Musgrave Award and considered a cultural treasure. I met George at Apple Valley Park in 1989 and he and I have been the closest of friends ever since.
George Huggins

“Flashy” is my next door neighbor and a close friend. If I need anything done, I just have to ask him and if he can’t do it, he knows someone who can. We seem to talk every day at least twice during my stay as he farms a plot of land in the bush a few chains from my house and passes by coming and going.
Flashy

Finally, there is Tayshan Wright. A Rasta youth whose knowledge and understanding of Maroon History and Culture is well beyond his years. We often have spirited discussions and enlightenment sessions that leave me wanting to know more. He has supplied me with books, papers and pictures dating back nearly 100 years to satisfy my curiosity and quest for knowledge.
Tayshan Wright

Peace and Guidance

[Shelly]

I recently read (a link you posted) about all of your many years of travels to Jamaica & enjoyed it very much. My first trip to Accompong was in 1972, my friend & I drove up there and stayed the night in our rented VW bug. They had us park under a place where MANY banannas were stored under some kind of large zinc covered open structure. We heard of some German people who lived very deep into the walkfoot area, did you ever hear of them? They supposedly had been there for a couple of years (and this was in 1972!). We wanted to go and meet them but the hike into the bush from Accompong was something like 16 hours so we didn't go. I was always curious about them though & what happened to them.

[Accompong]

Marshall and I get up just before sunrise each morning. Me? Well, I just grab a cup of bush tea and enjoy the morning on my verandah but Marshall’s day starts in the bush even before the sun comes up.
Making Charcoal

Since I first met Marshall, he has always seemed to have a chainsaw either in his hand or in close proximity. Originally, it was a 4 foot bar Stihl when he was cutting large trees for selling the lumber but today it is a 2 foot Poulan Pro and he is cutting small pieces of hardwood and putting them in a “still”.
A still is a pit in the ground where you put dried wild grass in the center of the hole and stack the wood pieces around it like making a Boy Scout fire and then you put more grass on the top before burying the whole thing in a mound of dirt with a vent hole in the top leading down to the dry grass below. Once the fire is lit, then you block up the hole and keep checking on the still every few hours to make sure no “blow outs” (smoke escaping) occur. After 4 or 5 days, you dig up the pit and the result is charcoal.



Peace and Guidance

[Accompong]

The charcoal, for the most part, takes care of itself so a lot more time is available to do other farming tasks. We had 5 goats that need tending. Four are she goats and one is a ram goat. Two of the she goats were pregnant when I arrived and both delivered right around Christmas so the new total is 7. Now, a ram goat is a good commodity to have as you can rent him for stud and he is the main ingredient in Mannish Water and Curry Goat. A typical she goat (once weened) can fetch $20k Jamaican on the market.
Tending the goats.

There are other crops to look after as well. Two in particular are Sorrel and Yams. Sorrel ripens around Christmas so it is a traditional Christmas drink. We strip the buds off the sorrel and put them out to dry in the sun. Once dry, they store quite well and can be put into boiling water whenever you want to use them. The yams are of various species; we have Renta Yams, Yellow Yams, Lucy Yams as well as two wild growing yams called Bitter Gashie and Imba Yams.
Growing Sorrell


Growing Yellow Yams


Peace and Guidance

[Kathy]

Definitely enjoying this... keep it coming, please.

[Maryann]

Looking forward to more! Very interesting.

[Accompong]

And finally, no trip report about Accompong Town would be complete without mentioning the January 6th Celebration. My likkle town of well less than 1000 people becomes the host to 7,000 – 8,000 visitors from all around Jamaica and the world. Planning starts around the first week of December on what entertainment, security (as if any were actually needed) and a general cleaning and painting of the town’s structures and grounds.

Many residents are employed to cut stakes and poles that are used to construct the 10 X 10’ stalls for the vendors. Everyone gets into a festive mood knowing that the holidays of Christmas, Boxing Day and the Celebration bring extra income into the town where there are virtually no jobs except farmers and shopkeepers.
On January 6th, I make my way over to the main street and stop to visit with my fellow citizens to see if I can be of any help like making a sign or setting up displays. I usually skip the formal ceremonies now as I have seen them and participated in them for well over a decade. Instead, I just try to help where help is needed.

I am not one to take a lot of pictures of people (though you see a number of them in this thread) so I am just showing a few that I took from a vantage point of Tayshan’s jewelry stall. When the night came, I made my way over to a pen where my next door neighbor was putting on a show. He had Sound Trooper with Ricky Trooper and Red Heat sound system at a bargain price of $300 Jamaican.

We partied until the sun came up. Two days later, this rainbow appeared. I have been a wanderer and a seeker of fortune all my life but here, I have truly found my “Pot ‘o Gold”.


That’s all.
Peace and Guidance

[Accompong]

Just before midday, most of the farmers come out of the bush to grab some food or work at other tasks before returning to the bush at the end of the day. On this day, my neighbor Rani “Boss” Genas came by to mix some rendering concrete mix used to make the smooth finish on the outside of concrete houses.
Boss mixing rendering concrete.

Once the mixture is just right, Marshall hauls it by bucket up to a scaffold made from old lumber and cut poles where another neighbor spreads it on the wall.
Marshall hauling the mixture.

We would do this work when funds and weather permitted. When I left in mid-January, only two ceilings inside the house were as of yet finished but a phone call yesterday updated me that all the surfaces have now been rendered. The only thing left to do is the painting inside and out and the tiling of the floors.


Peace and Guidance