Accompong Town.... Going Home.

[Marko]

enjoy life mi friend.........Accompong is a very special place.........
in regards to the internet in Accompong town........
research on getting a unlocked cellie with a wifi hot spot so you can use your laptop......
or just get an unlocked cellie that has wifi so you can browse the internet.......
think mi was paying around $2,500J's for a month on the data plan at Lime......
you can also just pay $100J's for one day of data too.......
just go to the Lime Jamaica website to check it out.......Digicel has it too.....
mi would go with the carrier that has the best signal der....price is no good if you can't get on
LG Optimus series like the P505 for AT&T.....and the P509 for Tmobile(basically same phone) have wifi hotspots
just remember to buy one that is unlocked.......
Ebay is a good source for those phones.....you should be able to pick one up cheap enuff
plus with a wifi hot spot you can have many people connecting at one time from Accompong......
PM if you need any help......and again enjoy yourself.......

Cool Runnings, Marko

[Accompong]

After about a hour on the Internet with several young children leaning on my shoulder watching the multi-tasking screens switching from MS Word to Yahoo to a thumb drive where all my stuff is stored thinking they were witnessing magic of some kind. I decided right there and then to teach some of these children how to use a computer for more than just playing games but this will have to wait for a later time.

The rains have stopped and it was time for me to make my way back to the house. The streets were still wet and anyone with any sense was still indoors but the town looks so clean with any dust and dirt that had accumulated having been washed away by the heavy rain. There were still some patchy clouds in the sky but no imminent threat of rain; just enough to obscure the sun’s rays evaporating the residue from the storm.

My friends Fire and Piaki have stores across the main from each other and Fire’s store has a slab in front big enough and tall enough to make for a nice stop to rest my knees a bit before moving on. As I sat on Fire’s slab, I took this picture of Piaki’s store.

Fire heard me outside and came to sit and reason. Fire is a Rasta who I have known for about 20 years (much like most adults in town) and I always look forward to his countenance and reasoning ability whenever I need some guidance. I decided to ask a simple question that I was sure would take me down a rabbit hole of Rasta-speak. Fire, I asked “Do you ever feel bored living here in Accompong Town?” While he was in thought, I added “after all, every day is pretty much like the one before”.

“Mi Breddren”, he began “Whaa gwann Babylon dat mek it soh?” He was asking me what it was about the world beyond Accompong Town that keeps it from being boring. I knew that it was incumbent on me to try to describe that world if the talk were to continue along that line of thought. “Well, as an example, some of the people on Negril.com talk about days and nights of drinking, partying and sexing while never mentioning being ‘bored’….” He stopped me short. (translated from Patois to English) “I, as a Rastaman, don’t have time for much of that foolishness.” He went on to tell me about the days before Rastas were generally accepted in Jamaican society. Days when the police would beat them and cut a man’s locks as soon as they had a chance. He went on to say that what one person would call “boring” was another man’s Garden of Eden. Just look at the beautiful hills and the abundant fields. Getting up each day and praising Jah for putting food in the belly and peace in my soul.

He went on for about an hour painting a picture of Paradise when he suddenly asked me if I was ‘bored’? If I were bored before our talk, I certainly wasn’t now. I felt buoyant and rejuvenated to continue my trek to my house. I got up and thanked Fire for taking time to reason. As I walked away, Fire called after me, “Where can I find this ‘drinking, partying and sexing’?” with a huge grin on his face. “Negril!”, I shouted over my shoulder.

I hadn’t noticed the gathering clouds while reasoning with Fire but now I was feeling a few drops from a particularly angry looking cloud. I snapped a quick picture of Rubber’s yard before putting the camera safely away while I pushed forward.

The rain was getting harder and I was rapidly getting wet but I felt so good and in tune with Nature that I actually started to anticipate and enjoy every raindrop even as people sheltered in doorways bid me to come and ‘cool yu foot’ with them.

The dark cloud finally moved on both actually and metaphorically as I just realized that the smile that Fire placed on my face had become a permanent fixture. This place is this man’s “Garden of Eden”.
Here is a picture of a "Rat Bat" (actually a very large moth) on my wall when I got back


Peace and Guidance.