‘Cyaa Stall’: A Jamaican Dancehall Art Exhibit

Kingston is the capital city of Jamaica, located on the island’s south-eastern coast on one of the world’s largest natural harbours. This vibrant city is home to the most recording studios per capita in the world, and gave rise to six distinct musical genres– namely ska, mento, rocksteady, dub, reggae and dancehall. For this reason, Kingston was awarded UNESCO Creative City status in 2015. Kingston has famous museums which immortalize the origins of our musical genres but our music does not stop there. The Rastafari religion, reggae music and its raunchier cousin dancehall are intimately tied to the fabric of the Jamaican culture and its people. Named for the lyric in artiste Vybz Kartel’s song Dancehall (2015), Cyah Stall is an exhibit which narrates Jamaican dancehall as a musical genre, aesthetic, language and resistance. Here’s why you should catch it if you can.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle19 Comments

Folly Ruins & Lighthouse, Portland

Isn’t it magical that everywhere has a story to tell? Tales of romance, tragedy, wickedness, bravery, cowardice etc. If you’re familiar with my travel posts, you’ll know that I love to give a historical perspective. That’s because the past explains the present– how did a place get its name, why does it looks the way it does now or even just for general knowledge and appreciation. However, history is sometimes the only thing that entices people to visit a place. That, my friends, is how I found myself at the old Folly Mansion (Folly Great House) on my way back to Kingston from the Portland Sea Cliff Resort & Spa.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle25 Comments

The Sea Cliff Resort in Portland, Jamaica (Review)

Portland is easily the most beautiful corner of Jamaica. The parish is home to unspoilt beaches, cliffs, mountains, rainforests, rivers and waterfalls. For an island which thrives on tourism, Portland has been spared from mass tourism by some miracle. The all-inclusive hotel model was introduced to Jamaica by local hotelier John Issa in 1978, but to date, there are still no all-inclusive hotels in Portland. Instead, the welcome alternatives are luxurious waterfront villas, rustic wellness retreats, intimate bed-and-breakfasts and secluded boutique hotels. Before now, my only trips to this parish had been via daytrips which limit the number of places and activities one can accomplish each trip. Thus, when a special occasion came around last December, I traded my usual daytrips for a weekend stay in the parish. Here’s how the Sea Cliff Resort exceeded my expectations.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle19 Comments

Kingston Reggae Garden, Saint Andrew

I’m a city girl with a love for the country and thankfully in Jamaica, the country is never too far away. A short drive of fifteen minutes can land you in lush peaceful 360° greenery, seemingly far away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Every time I visit the country and admire the slow laid-back pace of life, I can’t help but think that this is how we were meant to live. I’m happy to report that I’ve found a new chill spot near the capital city of Kingston, Jamaica for us nature-lovers to unwind and reset. Kingston Reggae Garden is a restaurant, bar and oasis in Golden Spring, St. Andrew which opened in May 2021.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle14 Comments

A Guide to the Two Turtle Bays of Portland, Jamaica

Portland is my favourite place in Jamaica as the parish is home to some of the most breathtaking views I’ve ever seen. This northeastern parish has been spared from the gigantic all-inclusive hotels and over-commercialization of our other resort towns. I find it amusing (– and confusing) that they named two places Turtle Bay in the Manchioneal district of Portland, and they are ten minutes apart from each other. This trip, I visited the two Turtle Bays of Manchioneal so read on for more details and pictures of these delightful destinations.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle19 Comments

Maamee River: A Hidden Gem in St. Andrew, Jamaica

Maamee River is a place I heard of via word of mouth, and I finally took note of the turn off from the main a few weeks ago when I made a visit to Maryland in rural St. Andrew. The Blue Mountains is my favourite corner of Jamaica, but I still haven’t scratched the surface in exploring it even after five years of being more deliberate in discovering every nook and cranny of Jamaica. Having dedicated the next few years of my life to completing a residency, my compromise for long daytrips and weekend staycations will be exploring all the close and accessible parts of the Blue Mountains. Hence, I ended up at Maamee River after work one Saturday afternoon and here’s how it went.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle11 Comments

Maryland, Saint Andrew

It always amazes me how close the ‘country’ is to our beloved city of Kingston. As a city girl, I often quip that I must’ve been from the country in a past life because I look forward to escaping the hustle and bustle every chance I get. The verdant mist-covered hills, breathtaking valleys and meandering rivers and waterfalls of rural Jamaica are more my scene. Papine is a small bustling town which marks the gateway of the Blue Mountains, Jamaica’s largest and most important mountain range. This mountain range is world renowned for Blue Mountain coffee, a brand of coffee which is as unique to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica as champagne is to Champagne, France, and is grown on steep inhospitable slopes between 3,500 and 5,500 ft. above sea level. Its tallest peak is the Blue Mountain Peak in Portland which towers at 7,402ft (2,256m) above sea level. Hiking to Blue Mountain Peak is still my most favourite adventure to date, but requires at least two days’ commitment. When pressed for time, I make do with exploring the more accessible parts of this mountain range instead and one such community worth exploring is Maryland, a rural district four miles north of Papine.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle21 Comments

Discover Johnny Falls: A Hidden Gem in St. Mary

There’s this waterfall hidden in Palmetto Grove, St. Mary called Johnny Falls which I heard of years ago on Facebook. There were no directions on how to find it anywhere, so I added it to my list of Jamaican waterfalls to visit and moved on. Last year my interest in visiting Johnny Falls piqued again with Grove Swimmers, a fearless group of youngsters who perform admirable dives into the river which runs through their district, headed by 17-year-old Nathan Douglas. They have taken to Instagram and YouTube to showcase their talent, and have even been featured in national newspapers. Thus, I happily tagged along with a group of avid explorers and friends to cross this enigmatic and twenty-second Jamaican waterfall from my list with Nathan as my unofficial tour guide.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle13 Comments

St. Toolis: A South Coast Gem

St. Toolis is a district in Porus on the border of Clarendon and Manchester, in which a gorgeous free watering hole can be found. The residents call it Blue Hole but this river is actually a tributary of the Milk River in Clarendon. Porus was founded by Baptist missionary James Phillippo and became the sixth free village in Jamaica for ex-slaves after emancipation. Porus was originally named Vale Lionel after then governor of Jamaica Sir Lionel Smith, but the name eventually changed to Porus because of the porous nature of the district’s soil.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle15 Comments

Discover Sea Riv: Tips for Visiting Alligator Pond

I originally hail from Kingston, but the parish of Manchester has been my home for the past two years. There’s a chance I may leave Manchester soon, but I’ll cherish the experiences and friendships I’ve built here forever. One of the things I lamented while reflecting on the end of my first year in Manchester is that I’d barely explored the parish, and I vowed to change that for my second year. One year later, I’m pleased to have explored almost all the places worth seeing in this cool mountainous parish– from Noisy River up north to Alligator Pond by the coast. I went to Little Ochi in January this year for the first time, and while the wait time was horrendous, I appreciated the experience a lot. However, who knew that another gem was so close by! I heard of the Alligator Pond River, also known as Sea Riv, just a few weeks ago and decided to check it out before my stint in Manchester expires. Read on to learn about Sea Riv, an estuary where the Alligator Pond River meets the Caribbean Sea.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle18 Comments