How I got to Jamaica...too.

[Accompong]

Do they still have those kind of deals? That would be awesome, like a Euro rail pass but for flying.

Eastern Airlines was in financial trouble at the time and finally went bankrupt in 1991. They even had a $999 Fly anywhere for a Year for Senior Citizens but I was too young at the time and it didn't include the Caribbean (except Puerto Rico).
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?v...%252BxGt5TCOEA

[Accompong]

Pause….
This would probably be a good time to put a little context into the backdrop of this time in my life up to the present. I was then living in Santa Barbara California with my wife who had only been my wife for a couple of years after living together for nearly a decade. We were married (in the nude) in a river in the mountains behind Santa Barbara at a place called Pendola Hot Springs where we were living/camping with a group of people and both collecting unemployment. I had extensively traveled outside the country but mostly during my years in the service. I liked (and still like) to be in control of all situations as much as possible. I was also a career student at Santa Barbara City College where I was working on my third 2-year degree living mainly off my GI Bill money and working some part time jobs like the Security at Santa Barbara County Bowl. During much of those ten years previous, I was working as a Cost Accountant and Auditor for a major corporation before having my position “downsized” and going on unemployment. Shortly after this trip, my wife died in an auto accident and I continued by beginning a long and sometimes turbulent courtship with a new lover; Jamaica, that has lasted for nearly 37 years. I have never stayed a night in an All Inclusive. I usually now live in remote, isolated villages around the island where I have no or little contact with tourists. I mostly prefer it like that.
Continue…

As we drew closer, the chest-thumping bass from the twin stack 12” speakers took over the surrounding mountainside. Somehow, it seemed that the laughter and shouting from inside Foxy’s walls provided the lyrics that made that bass line into an alluring melody. I have been in many similar places before this and many, many after but right now this one seemed more important and somehow dangerous in an intoxicating way.

My wife, Gus, inga and the two farmers made their way inside to the end of the bar against the wall while Peter and I stood at the doorway surveying the situation. Up to this time, I had never seen something exactly like what I was seeing now. A couple of dozen men, a couple of women and even a small child were packed into this one room shack that was big enough for a little bar, a few barstools and couple of small tables with domino games in progress. The shouting and taunting coming from those tables was occasionally interrupted by sudden spurts of dominoes being slammed one by one on the table in public displays of dominance. I understood intuitively that this could and sometimes did get out of hand resulting in violent behavior. Maybe that is why I was so intrigued by what I was witnessing.

My wife bought Peter and I a cold Red Stripe each and brought them over to the door frame where we were standing. She seemed perfectly happy with being there so that lowered my anxiety level and I started to just enjoy my surroundings a little bit more. What I really noticed was how invisible Peter and I seemed to be standing there. Especially knowing that he was something of a regular there, yet no one seemed to look our way. Again, this was somewhat comforting and showed acceptance on some level.

The music had been playing from a selection of 45’s behind the bar so after one finished, it took a few seconds for another to be played. It was during one of these lulls in the music that Peter suddenly shouted out something that changed the whole atmosphere and greatly affected my life on Jack’s Hill.

“Do you see this guy, here?” (pointing at me) “He is the best domino player in all of California and we are going to whip someone’s baxside!”

What???

[Accompong]

The view was spectacular, and the path went down the hill right into the ocean. Cabarita Island seemed like you could reach out and touch it. On our left was a house and nothing else all the way to the sea. We walk up and yelled, “Hello! Anybody there?”. A lady came out to the verandah drying her hands as she walked. She said she was Jah Mike’s girlfriend and that we could put our things inside and wait for him as he was soon to be back. He was out in the “bush”. It seemed there were mostly only three places anyone could be. The house. The yard. The bush. Anywhere else was just “gone somewhere”.

While we were sitting on the verandah wall, a nicely dressed youth approached and introduced himself. He said his name was Tony and a good friend of Jah Mike. We talked for a bit when he asked if we wanted to take a walk up to Firefly which was the former home of Ian Flemming for an even more spectacular view of the ocean. Why not?

So, off we went on our first adventure.

The driveway up was steep. That along with the heat caused us to labor our way to the top, but Tony just climbed effortlessly taking time to teach us about Firefly on the way up. To say the view from Firefly is spectacular does not do it any justice. I have seen many pictures of it since and it still fills me with awe. There was an old gentleman caretaker of the property who gave us a tour of the house and grounds. He was some relation of Tony, so he took us where tourists are not allowed. There was a tunnel in the basement that he said was dug in Captain Morgan’s time as an escape route and some said to hide treasures looted from passing ships. Firefly was later built over it but an opening still exists.

Just before leaving, we were relaxing at Firefly when Tony asked to see my wife’s sunglasses. She took them off and handed them to him and he put them on. “They look great on you”, she said. “They are yours”.

A gift to a new friend but who knew it would cause so much trouble?