Back in Florida after 70 days in Jamaica

[Accompong]

how did you survive in Jamaica without jerk chicken????

Actually gerryg there is an interesting observation I have made while living in Jamaica. It seems Jamaicans don't often eat Jerk Chicken or at least in the places I have gone to outside tourist areas that is.

Fried chicken or brown stew is available at most any cookshop that serves box lunches (and most times at sit-down places too) but Jerk Chicken is not often made unless asked for specifically. Of course I am referring to places around the remote location where I live in Accompong Town!

I found that eating as a Vegetarian (not a Vegan) because I did eat fish was more popular and readily available but you did have to try to avoid all the dumplings, white rice and harddough bread if you wanted to eat healthy!

As my best friend Marshall says, "nyam Earth food di best".

Peace and Guidance

[JitterBug]

hey bill, good to hear about your adventures . . . it's amazing how little we really need to survive . . . we live in north america, the land of plenty, and when we scale down our needs, it boiles down to basics . . . for me, having no internet out in the hills, i MUST have books to read, so, on every reach, i bring down books for the time when i can stay more than 10-14 days . . .

any more pics of the surrounding area? when will you be back? i'm back in negril only, april 4-14, will u be there?

[Accompong]

hey bill, good to hear about your adventures . . . it's amazing how little we really need to survive . . . we live in north america, the land of plenty, and when we scale down our needs, it boiles down to basics . . . for me, having no internet out in the hills, i MUST have books to read, so, on every reach, i bring down books for the time when i can stay more than 10-14 days . . .

any more pics of the surrounding area? when will you be back? i'm back in negril only, april 4-14, will u be there?

Hey there BFF!

I found it is movies that tend to occupy our (me and Marshall's) time. Unfortunately, most are Nigerian movies with predictable plots, mediocre acting and poor sound quality that are swapped around so frequently that often they don't even play all the way through on my laptop! lol I did bring down Steven Hawking's book "The Theory of Everything" and that provoked a lot of discussion needless to say.

I have a few pics but didn't plan to share them all. What in particular of the "surrounding area" would you like to see and I will see if I have any, okay? I am tenatively planning to return the middle of September 2012 until the middle of January 2013 if all goes well. Looks like we will not cross paths again that reach. Bummer. Love hanging out with you.

Peace and Guidance

[JitterBug]

no worries, i'll be back in early october . . . hope to catch up with you . . .

[Sweetness]

Acommpong - I always love your posts (I always take away a learning) and I can only imagine how sweet it was when you and Marshall saw each other this reach as if not a beat was missed. thank you for sharing the photos and an outline of your trip. I personally would love any stories you are willing to share when and if you feel like it. Bless

[suzengrace]

I'm so happy to see your report and that your well.I too stay out in the Cockpit country on the border of S.Trelawny-no running wata-got go to the pump..But I love the quiet and rugged beauty-as I see you do too...I hope you will post more Pics..Blessings.

[Marko]

as always enjoying your posts Bill.........
you are living the life in Accommpong and always wish you the best......

Cool Runnings, Marko

[Accompong]

As I have stated many times over, Accompong Town is a very mellow and mostly uneventful place to live and, frankly, I really like it like that. Lack of drama makes for a predictable pace of life and allows one to concentrate on the little things that normally are obscured by the ebb and flow of emotions.

The dramatic breaks in this “Stepford Style” life are what stories are made from. One such dramatic break was the National Election on December 29th, 2011.

Living in the United States and being a little bit of a Political Junkie, you are constantly bombarded by personal attack ads and sound bytes from all sides of the political spectrum but for this election in Jamaica, the tone was fairly respectful and for the most part politicians on both sides discussed the problems and proposed solutions to them instead of going negative.

It was a constant barrage of the “Vote for Labor” jingle and the PNP’s Soca-style jingle that was a little hard to understand all the words as they were in colloquial Patios. Every once in a while a vehicle with bull horns on the roof would pass through the town extolling the virtues of the MP from North Saint Elizabeth. After all, under the Jamaican (English-based) form of government, the party with the most seats in Parliament gets the right to have their chosen Member of Parliament elevated to the position of “Prime” Minister.

Starting around Christmas (which was celebrated twice that year as it landed on a Sunday); through Boxing Day and on to the 29th, you started to see the familiar colors of the PNP (orange) and JLP (green) being worn by some people in the community and the discussions at the local shop in the evening were often spirited when the topic of the election reared its head.

Finally, Election Day was here and all the political advertising stopped as suddenly as it began when the date of the election was announced by Andrew Holness the sitting Prime Minister. In Accompong Town the voting place was the school on top of the hill and small groups of people intermittently made their way there to vote from morning until the polls closed that evening.

Around poll closing time, I made my way over to Winsome and Troy’s small store to listen in with a group of local residents to the results as they were announced. A group of three youth in their 20’s whom I knew some years back when they were barely teenagers asked me to play some dominoes with them which I gladly agreed to do.

Our two opponents, one wearing PNP Orange and the other JLP Green systematically kicked our butts as they had a system worked out to pass the information about each of their holdings of dominoes which made playing so much easier. I knew they were “cheating” but it was a friendly game so I just tried my best to get a few good plays here and there and surprisingly I did seem to manage enough to maybe even impress my partner as well as our opponents.

In the background, I kept hearing the results until finally a big cheer went up as the PNP and Portia Simpson Miller won a landslide majority. Our game just continued as if nothing even happened at all. The reason I found this so interesting is that I have been in Jamaica during three previous elections and have witnessed violence and bloodshed so I was a little nervous to see what would happen.

Around midnight, the guys wanted to leave to go to a dance so we fist-bumped our goodbyes and I headed back to my house somewhat bewildered by the calmness of this election.

The next morning, I woke up to a rising sun and a change in political leadership but Accompong Town had not changed and that was to my liking.

Peace and Guidance.

[Accompong]

New Years Eve was a very special time in Accompong Town. That day just happens to be my good friend Troy’s birthday and a party had been in the planning since before Christmas. Troy and Winsome own the little shop/bar a stone’s throw away from my house so with my gimpy knee, it was my favorite place to hang our in the evening.

I know that in Jamaica, no party really gets going until after midnight so I decided to catch a nap before walking over to the shop at around 11pm as not to miss the celebration at midnight. When I got there, a sound system from Santa Cruz called “Genesis” had been setting-up and testing the massive speaker columns. As it turns out, the shop’s front stoop was roughly equal distance from each column so I staked out a spot to enjoy the show.

Winsome and a couple of relatives had been cooking a pot of Mannish Water for most of the day and they offered me a “testing” cup. I think they reasoned if a “tourist” found it suitable to eat then it was ready for their local friends and relatives. Since Mannish Water is based on the remnants of a ram goat after the choice cuts were taken for Curried Goat, I watched the ram’s head spinning around the pot as the ladle stirred to get my sample secretly praying that the goat’s testicles (or possibly an eyeball) wouldn’t become part of my serving. Thankfully it had just vegetables and some non-descript pieces of goat seasoned to perfection. I gave it a “thumb’s up!”

There were lots of chicken quarters soaking in a jerk marinade and getting cooked over a “three stone” fire right along side of two pots of Curry chicken and Curry goat; roasted yams and tons of shredded cabbage coleslaw topped with a slice of hard dough bread going for $300J per plate. I got another cup of Mannish Water for $100J so I could donate to the Troy Birthday fund and headed back to my seat on the stoop.

Genesis was in full swing playing oldies from the Ska, Rocksteady and Roots Reggae eras tastefully woven together in a not too loud presentation that would surely become ear-splitting as the clock wound forward. The early crowd was composed almost exclusively of Accompong Town residents or former residents who had come home for the holidays and the January 6th Celebration. I was like old home time for me as I had not seen a lot of these people in several years making for a big reunion and lots of storytelling.

Midnight was upon us as some children as well as adults acting like children tossed firecrackers into the road. Here in South Florida a barrage of gun fire would accompany the striking of midnight but only one or two gunshots could be discerned and those from a village down the hill. As if on cue, Genesis turned up the volume and began playing a Garnett Silk set. This was a good choice as Garnett was a local singer playing mostly out of Mandeville and smaller venues within a few miles of town.

It was approaching 1 am and the sparse crowd of less than a hundred started to swell from residents and surrounding town’s residents who came to dance the night away. A majority of these newcomers were ladies dressed to “the nines” in tight-fitting dresses and jumpsuits. Alcohol consumption increased and inhibitions were on the decline.

Time passed rather quickly in the cool, damp night and the heat coming from the dancing made me forget about any discomfort I was feeling from the temperature or my knee. At around 4 am there must have been close to 300 people up and down the road dancing to the dancehall beat and this is in a town of about 1500 residents. There was little sleep in this sleepy, little village that night.

I walked back to the house at about 5 am and lay in my bed listening to the boom of the bass beat to around 6:30 or so when I finally fell asleep in utter exhaustion. It was now 2012 and the January 6th Celebration was just a few days away.

Peace and Guidance.

[Accompong]

Every year on January 6th, my hometown; Accompong Town goes into party mode. A lively festival brings thousands of people from all over Jamaica and affaren. Here is a nice video shot by the Jamaica Gleaner.