2017 has been quite a year for me, laced with ups and equally as many downs. I felt as if the weeks kept passing and my mind was always playing catchup. A lot of what has happened to me or what I actually did and accomplished this year still hasn’t fully sunk in yet. The fact that 2018, a brand new year, is here in 4 days hasn’t really sunk in either.
Continue reading “2017 Year In Review”
What’s not to love about water putting on a grand display? My island home of Jamaica is blessed with over 20 waterfalls hidden in its verdant rugged mountains. Our cascades are small making them interactive and fit to be climbed, stood under, swam in and enjoyed unlike the world’s largest falls which can only be admired at a distance. Waterfalls are my favourite feature of nature and since 2016 I’ve been trying to see them all. I’m now at 8 and counting, 6 of which were off the beaten path.
Continue reading “10 Lessons from Chasing Waterfalls in Jamaica”
You’ve entered Kingston, Jamaica at the Norman Manley International Airport, been met by your airport transfer charter and taken to your lodging. Now what… You’ve just come up from ‘country’, wherever that is, to the big bad Kingston… Or, you’ve lived in Kingston all your life but never taken, rarely use or haven’t used public transport recently… Or even used it all your life and just want to read my take on it. A lot of my earlier blog posts feature public transport since I started this blog as a mere walk-foot gal wanting to see Jamaica. Recently, it dawned on me how daunting it must be to use public transport on your own for the first time in Kingston, worse if you stand out due to colour, language etc. For travel to be budget-friendly, one has to master getting around via the cheapest means possible. With that said, let’s talk about public transport in Kingston.
Continue reading “A Guide to Public Transport in Kingston, Jamaica”
Life is quite unpredictable and I’m learning to roll with the punches more each day. Earlier this year I’d set out to visit this waterfall’s smaller cousin, Kwame Falls, but the public transport in Kingston decided against that plan. Thus, I was most excited when a high schoolmate of mine who is now studying abroad came out for Christmas and organized a few trips to discover more of Jamaica, perhaps inspired by his own overseas adventures or this blog 😅. Tacky Falls in Islington, St. Mary was on his itinerary and that’s how it came about that I visited the harder-to-find St. Mary waterfall first.
Continue reading “Discovering the Hidden Beauty of Tacky Falls”
Ranked as National Geographic’s fourth best place in the world to eat ice cream in 2011, Devon House is already a favourite for residents and visitors alike. However, Devon House is so much more than stellar sweets. Sitting on 11 lush acres in Saint Andrew, the Devon House mansion was the home of Jamaica’s first coloured millionaire George Stiebel. Born to a Black Jamaican mother who was a housekeeper and a German Jewish father, Stiebel had a relatively privileged upbringing and was able to earn his fortune from investments in Venezuelan gold mines. He returned to Jamaica and purchased what was originally a 51-acre property to construct his Georgian-style mansion in 1881. Years after his passing in 1896, the house changed hands through two families then became property of the Jamaican government. Today, Devon House is a well-preserved national heritage site open to tours. Its former stables, kitchen and other buildings now host some of Jamaica’s finest restaurants, confectionaries and souvenir shops.
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Aptly called the artbeat of Jamaica, the annual Liguanea Art Festival (LAF) is the Caribbean’s largest. This festival showcases upcoming talent alongside local veterans in photography, painting, ceramics, jewellery and sculpture since its 2005 inception. Hosted by June and Tony Wong, a Jamaican couple which shares a passion for the arts, LAF has evolved into a household name with 2017 being its biggest yet. This year featured more than 110 artists, some of whom are widely celebrated and have traversed the Jamaican and international art landscape.
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Salem Beach near Runaway Bay is perhaps not much of a swimming beach but is worth a visit if you’re dining at the restaurant which has made it popular– Sharkies Seafood. Sharkies is located on Salem Beach and what they lack in speed, they make up in deliciousness by producing seafood that’s comparable to all the great seafood eateries in and around the corporate area with which I’m familiar. Besides, if you time your visit near to sunset, the setting is glorious. With that, let’s talk about:
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I’m not a fan of pageants. I really don’t keep up well with these things because no matter how much they scream the tagline beauty with a purpose (or is that Miss World’s), I find the world of pageantry rather trivial. Nonetheless, I tend to be aware of the Miss Jamaica World and Miss Jamaica Universe winners and I wish for them nothing but the best as they strut their stuff and represent my tiny homeland nation on the global stage. Over the years we have won three Miss World titles– first in 1963 by Carole Crawford, in 1976 by Cindy Breakspeare then most recently by Lisa Hanna in 1993. We still haven’t won any Miss Universe titles but we came very close to it last night with Davina Bennett, the closest we have come since Yendi Phillips’ 1st runner-up in 2010.
Continue reading “What Davina Bennett’s 2nd Runner-Up in Miss Universe Means for Black Women Globally”
Columbus Park is a historic open-air museum which sits by the side of the road in the north coast town of Discovery Bay. The park overlooks the expansive bay and features ruins from Jamaica’s Spanish colonization period and other relics & replicas from times past. Sadly, the park has fallen into a state of disrepair but the concept is a good one. Hopefully some improvements and repairs are made in the near future but in the mean time, let’s take a look at the park’s current state.
Continue reading “Columbus Park, Saint Ann”
Named for the green algae which once covered their walls, the Green Grotto Caves in Discovery Bay blend ecotourism and history into a 45-minute tour. These caves, secret passages and caverns have played a pivotal role in Jamaica’s history– first used by Jamaica’s earliest inhabitants the Tainos for hundreds of years as a home, source of food and sacred ground, by the Spanish and later runaway slaves as a hideaway, by smugglers running arms to Cuba between the two World Wars then in more recent times as a rum barrel storehouse.
Continue reading “Green Grotto Caves in Jamaica: History & Adventure Await”
Adventures from Elle 