We’ve been off the grid the last couple of days. We had quite the epic journey thru the backroads of Jamaica. We seriously thought of renting a car and trying to find the cocoa farm ourselves. Given the only direction we got was that it was between the Blue Mountains and the John Crow Mountains we decided to hire a driver. So glad we did! Hunter was amazing. Not only was he safe and fun he was also extremely knowledgeable and a great source for my constant questions. Here’s a pic of our journey. The red spot is where the cocoa farm is located. On another post I’ll talk about the cocoa farm.
We traveled over mountains, along the sea, thru small towns and big cities, and fields of sugar cane and coconut groves. Much to my surprise, Kingston was an industrial city of refineries and factories spewing out choke inducing pollution. I was romanticizing it by hearing Harry Belafonte singing, “Jamaica Farewell....had to leave a little girl in Kingston town” in my head. Rather than tell you about each place, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. I just wish you could smell the jerk stands, burning sugar cane fields and miles and miles of sweet flowers and ripe fruit. We traveled thru foliage tunnels of mangoes and bread fruit and were greeted with big smiles and lots of waves. A journey that will stay with me for a long time.
Typical mountain village homes.
Hundreds of fruit stands dotted the roadways, along with trucks carrying sugar cane and coconuts.
Bustling towns
Loved how the sea changed on different parts of the island. Much of it reminded me of Northern California, specifically around Mendocino.
And the interesting people. The picture in the bottom right corner is Hunter, our driver.
Of course, no road trip thru Jamaica is complete without a jerk stop along the way. Jerk chicken for me, jerk pork for Ned. We also got plantains and yams.
Road trip fun...hanging out in the van and finding bathroom stops along the way. My bathroom was a bit more modest, Ned’s was a tad more “open.”
