This is a story of the best experience I have ever had in Jamaica. Because of this person, I must return to Negril as I owe him and will never forget what he did to help us.
During our second week in Negril I rented a small scooter so Rosie and I could do some touring and exploring. I have rented them before and am quite confident in my riding skills and know enough to hug the side of the road and be prepared to take evasive action if needed.
One day we decided to make the 25km or so trip to Little Bay, a place I have only heard of but never been to. It is a very scenic trip taking you thru Mount Airy, Orange Hill, Revival along the way. We stopped in at Jamaica’s Jurasic park and checked out the “dinosaurs”. The fellow gave us a nice tour, and showed us the snakes they kept. Thankfully neither he or us had any interest in handling them. They were man eating size at least! (as are all snakes). We left a small tip and kept on our way. We stopped at a small bar at Brighton and had a quick beer, checked out the beach (Homer’s Cove?) and were off again. We came to a T – intersection and were not sure which way to go. There was a sign indicating a race track to the right so we decided to check it out. Turns out there is an official drag strip in the middle of nowhere. Did anyone know about this place? Weird. After a quick look and some questionable looks by some people working in a gravel pit nearby we split and figured our destination would be in the opposite direction. We pulled out of the parking lot and were back on our way, this time left at the intersection. We were cruising along around 35-40kn/hr when we came around a corner and in a split second came upon and slammed thru a huge pothole with both wheels. It sounded bad and I just hoped we never got a flat. We continued on as everything seemed OK but about another km down the road we slowed for some rough road and the bike suddenly started to slide sideways at the rear end – flat tire. My heart stopped as I was thinking “ It’s late afternoon, we are far from Negril, and we are screwed” I had barely stopped the bike when a man comes walking from a yard adjacent to where we are. First thing he says is the obvious, “You have a flat”. I said yah I know. His buddy comes along and they have a closer look. You can see the rim has a good bend on one side and the tire is flat as a pancake, right off the bead. Tony (the first guy) says “ Don’t worry mon, you are in Jamaica” He figures he can fix it. Goes on to say, “Have no fear, Tony Falcon is here”. He tells me he is going to get a pump and fix our flat, no problem. He then jumps on his dirtbike and takes off in the direction we were heading. 5 minutes later he is back, carrying a bicycle tire pump and an old claw hammer. He commences to tap away on the rim for what seemed like forever, but was probably 5 or 10 minutes. By now we have a gallery of bystanders, around 5 guys all experts in tire and rim repair. I can make out one guy saying you have to pull the rim right off the bike, and Tony replies why take it off if you don’t have to? Eventually he has the rim close to original shape and he pulls out this plastic soda bottle with some kind of miracle glue, coats the rim and tire and manages to seat to tire back on the rim. Hooks up the pump and many strokes later the tire is hard as a rock. I couldn’t f-ing believe it. It was fixed. I gave him a hug and thanked him profusely. We never had much cash on us but I gave him 1000J, which left us with about 900 in my pocket. We had a bit of a conversation and he told us he was a honey farmer and we could come check out his place if we wanted. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about going to his house but I agreed and we were on our way, which was in the direction of Lillte Bay, where we still hadn’t made it. His place was right along the road and we parked on the lawn in front of his house. He went in and came out with a small JB rum bottle filled with some good looking honey. I gave him another 500J for the bottle and he invited us to have an orange with him out of one of his trees. We sat there and enjoyed our orange, and a smoke, and he told us his story of his plans to build a restaurant next to his house. Then he gave us a small tour of his yard, explaining the various fruit trees he has growing, including a mango tree that produces 5 types of Mangos as he had grafted them somehow. He even had a scotch bonnet tree (bush) but they weren’t in season right now. His pride though, was a palm tree, actually 2 trees that were sprouted from one coconut. He said this is very rare. We have a picture of him beside it.
Eventually we had to leave but it was my greatest experience I had ever had in Jamaica. This guy saved our ass that day, and asked for nothing in return. I know that when we return to Negril I will be making a special trip to see my new best friend in Jamaica, Mr Tony Falcon, and we present him with something to help make his dream come true.
Thanks again Tony.
The above story is a copy of a post I made a few years ago. In Dec 2010 we returned to Negril and once again rented a scooter to go visit our friend Tony. We brought along a new 3/8 and 1/2 drive socket set as well as a full set of both metric and imperial combination wrenches, which I gave to him as Christmas gifts. He was very humbled and appreciative and we were able to have a great visit with him. Before we left his house he insisited on giving us 2 large bottles of his honey, which if you are in the know, is some of the best honey in the area.
The unfortunate black mark of this second half of the story, is that my wife was the victim of a purse snatcher just steps away from the gate of our hotel a couple days before we were to return home, and inside her purse was our camera that held several photos of our friend on the memory card.
So would I rent a scooter and make that trip?? No question. Experiences like that don't take place on the beach.
Originally Posted by Chrispy
