One trip that I have wanted to take for awhile is to Accompong Town. We used a trusted red plate driver (who will remain nameless) who quoted us $180 for the whole day trip. We were picked up at 8 AM sharp and made one stop on the way for gas, a bathroom brake and a little snack. Another stop closer to Accompong for some photos of the beautiful scenery. 3 1\2 hours later we entered the town. We stopped at the visitors center which was padlocked. There were a number of males hanging around looking to be our “guide”. Our driver was familiar with Accompong and knew a guide that he had used before. We drove into town and to buy a little time to contact the guide. We drove up to see Marshall's old house. When a fellow driving what appeared to be a new Lexus 300 approached our driver and demanded to be our guide, some words erupted between the two ending with “clot” this and “clot” that. Our driver finally got the phone call from our guide who would meet us near the visitors center in a few minutes. Mark Wright took us across the street and asked for payment for the tour, $50 US each. Whoa, I thought that was pretty steep, especially from what our driver said it should be. But we were not coming all this way for nothing, so I ponied up a hundred dollar bill. The tour started at the cemetery viewing headstones and graves of Mark's relatives. Then on to take a look at the church. He was giving us a short history lesson on Accompong as we headed back to the main road. At this point an older man about my size came up and started yelling at us that we couldn't use this guide as he was a thief. Then he proceeds to pull out a plastic name tag that identified him as the Colonel (Ferron Williams). As he opened is jacket, I saw that he was carrying a pistol. I was later told that he was a former police officer and he was legally allowed to carry. At this point he was yelling at me, and actually grabbed my arm to pull me away from “the thief”. A small group of males had gathered around and were taking photos and video of the incident. My wife told him to “take your hands off my husband”. I told the Colonel that if he had been at the visitors center this would not have happened. With me still in his grasp he was now yelling that we should be going to the police station in Maggoty. He kept calling Mark a thief, at which point my wife said that we had already paid him $100 for the tour. Now the cat was out of the bag. The Colonel walked away and Mark made a big deal in front of all the others that he was giving us back our money. We proceeded to walk out of town and into the hills for about 45 minutes. We paid Mark $25 for the tour and when we returned to town he took us to see the Kindah Tree and other sites. He asked if we could go back to the original deal ($100 US) to which I indicated not a chance. We passed a man who had Accompong currency for 1000J and even though I am a paper money collector, declined. After seeing all there was I encountered the paper money seller again and offered him 500J for his bank note, which he accepted. At the end of the tour I gave Mark another $15. Now from what I understand, a portion of this money is supposed to go back into the community for keeping the place in tip top shape. During the tour Mark kept pressing the issue with local residents that the Colonel was the one thiefing the money, not him, to which all agreed. I spoke with a Canadian women who has lived in Accompong for 2 years and she said the same thing. So, as we were leaving, I told our driver about the whole scene and he was appalled. He said he would not bring any more tourist back to Accompong until things settled down. Apparently the Colonel is up for reelection next year and most people want to vote him out. And our driver also was really mad at Mark for charging $100 for the tour. We stopped for peppered shrimp at Middle Quarters on the 3 hour trip back to Negril arriving about 5 PM.
In my opinion a trip to Accompong is not worth the money or aggravation. What was supposed to be a trip to understand the community and culture turned into a disaster. NO ONE that we encountered in Accompong put forth a good impression of the town and it's rich history. We were told that a few days earlier a bus load of tourist were turned away when the visitors center was closed. The Colonel is supposed to have a position of prestige, but from my first hand experience he has disgraced his position by laying hands on a tourist a creating a threatening environment.
Regards,
Bob
Originally Posted by pabloalto
