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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
we only saw two other groups at the falls- one local couple came up, popped their heads in and left. and then, right before we were about to head back down, a tourist girl and her guide came in to go swimming. they'd taken a motorcycle up to as far as they could and then hiked the rest of the way. we saw her helmet right outside the falls area and his bike on the road, as we walked down.
of course, the walk back was so much easier. ti boss managed to get cow sht on his sneakers and was wondering why the smell of poop was so much stronger on the way down than it was on the way up.
theodore wanted to take us to the barracks and a rope swing area, but that woulda eaten up almost a full hour of our already dwindling day, so we got them paid, got their contact info and headed back down towards port antonio.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
down in port antonio we stopped for patties at around 4- our first food since our 8:30am breakfast!
after that, we had 2 hours remaining until warren was off the clock and my family had their dinner reservations at woody's (for our prepaid curry goat dinner).
next stop after patties was rock bottom's wood carving shop.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7804/...4b530ab2_z.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7844/...cf90f98f_z.jpg
ti boss had found a gigantic seed (similar to a horse chestnut- i used to have a pair of earrings similar that i bought in barbados, back in 1990) and wanted someone to bore a hole in it so he could make a necklace. i really needed a functional mortar and pestle (or as we call it in kreyol, yon pilon), becase the one we have has a large split down the middle.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
see the picture above? with the canes in the right-hand corner? ti boss decided he wanted the 6th walking stick from the left. i said okay.
https://youtu.be/jr7O910_bMA
he got his self-appointed nickname carved on it.
ti boss is VERY obsessed with carving.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
Quote:
Originally Posted by
68Stang
Fantastic photos!
thank you! jamaica makes it easy. and my family is photogenic.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
i meant to add this photo when i was giving my moore town rundown:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7926/...2fc54349_z.jpg
font zion church, moore town
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
okay, back to winifred beach...
winifred beach was, unfortunately, another quick stop. we got there around 5:30pm and it was still crowded, but winding down. warren bantered with the woman who tried to get him to give a donation. he told her he'd donate next time and that we were really only just passing through so he could show us the lay of the land- they knew each other, so it was no big deal. he told us that if we took a route taxi and walked down they wouldn't even ask for a donation- it's just when cars pull in that they ask.
winifred beach was surprisingly crowded for 5:30pm on a monday.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7904/...c1c473e6_z.jpg
this photo is boring, but i wanted to post something that shows a goodly part of the beach
in a perfect world, we'd take a route taxi over to there tomorrow (today, really), but ti boss wants to do a surf lesson at boston beach at 10am, then husband and ti boss are going to a gun range at around 3pm- husband wants to shoot and ti boss wants to hang with his father and do guy things. i'm not extremely pressed that we're not going to get to spend any great amount of time at winifred beach, but i would really like to come back and hang there.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7815/...e7295e73_z.jpg
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
we got to woody's low bridge restaurant at exactly 6pm. warren didn't want to just leave us there to figure out how to make our way home without him, but we INSISTED that he let us take care of ourselves. i put it this way, "you're off the clock with us at 6pm. i know you have stuff to do. unless you really want to have dinner with us we do not need you to wait for us! it's business!" we knew we'd be fine getting a route taxi back.
i'm pretty much always a freelance worker, and i take the hourly rate very seriously- we booked warren for x amount of dollars for 8 hours, and any time he spends with us in addition to those 8 hours brings his hourly rate down!!!! plus, i'm sure he had stuff to take care of at home. regardless, he still wound up spending 15 minutes discussing something with my husband (i think they were arranging details about the gun range visit) and i had to stomp back to the car and pull my husband out.
on to the more interesting part of this section of our epic day: the meal!
we were led to a table scattered with flowers and a cute, hand-written reserved sign.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7832/...38c74b62_z.jpg
there were so many nice, little touches
first course was a creamy vegetable soup.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7899/...4e88b5df_z.jpg
even though i didn't pre-order a special meal for ti boss (i told him he'd be perfectly fine with a cheeseburger), they were so sweet and gave him a bowl of soup.
then we were given a large bowl of salad (shredded lettuce and cabbage with tomatoes and a very light caribbean vinagrette dressing) that i kept for myself.
the main course was curry goat and steamed vegetables with the most delicious pumpkin rice.
and dessert was homemade cake with rum raisin ice cream- again, even though we hadn't ordered a special dinner for ti boss, they kindly served him dessert. miss cherry (the chef/owner) told me the name of the cake- it's an old school jamaican staple, but i unfortunately forgot it. it was a nutmeggy cake with a grated coconut batter- totally the type of cake i obsessively research recipes for looking for the most old school and authentic version. miss cherry is obviously well-schooled in the classics.
oh, and i ordered us all glasses of their celebrated homemade ginger beer. it was, of course, amazing. i would love to go back there tomorrow for lunch, if only for the salad and ginger beer. i'm sure ti boss would be perfectly happy to get another cheeseburger. i also feel like i didn't tip them well enough for the dinner. i'd paid a lot up front on monday, and kind of spazzed out on leaving a big tip because i couldn't do the math quickly enough.
so, that was dinner at woody's. delicious and chill. there were two other tables of tourists- both couples, both had obviously eaten there before.
we waited a while for an available route taxi and wound up sharing it with an australian tourist couple, who crammed in the back with husband and ti boss. the driver was very nice to us (my family), but kind of made fun of the aussies- the girl's accent, in particular. oh, well.
we paid $250j for the 3 of us to get to the boston jerk center.
we were home by 8:30pm.
that was a lonnnnnnnnng day.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
day 7: taxi to run vacation errands in port antonio, beach with ti boss, lobster and chicken dinner at boston jerk center.
details to come.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
I'm loving your report, but it makes me miss Portland! I'm stuck up here in the snow so it's nice to see the places we visited when we were there!
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Maralunatic
I'm loving your report, but it makes me miss Portland! I'm stuck up here in the snow so it's nice to see the places we visited when we were there!
thank you!
it's 24 degrees in ny right now.
are you planning a trip back to ja any time soon?
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
yesterday (day 7) husband found a taxi driver to take us to the atm, the patty shop and the supermarket.
here is a view from the atm line:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7855/...c3e588a2_z.jpg
i bought a bunch of patties, including one beef patty for the driver and 3 chicken patties for ti boss, who probably coulda eaten 7, if i'd indulged him.
then we went to ramtula's where i bought 2 sixes of red stripe, 2 sixes of guinness, a 2 liter bottle of fruit punch soda, 2 liters of spring water and a bottle of rum cream (my fave). husband (in a grouchy mood because i am annoying) sat in the car, but the driver came in to see if ti boss and i needed help carrying anything out. very nice.
he dropped us back to the hotel in a little under an hour.
husband (still grouchy) told us he wasn't going to the beach with us, so ti boss and i said whatevzzzzzzz and went to boston beach by ourselves, stopping on the way to pick up a bottle of soursop juice.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
i’ve been extremely low-key this trip, keeping my drinking down to a bare minimum. i don’t smoke weed anymore, because i don’t feel i’d be able to function properly enough to give my kid the focus he needs/deserves. husband, on the other hand, binges on weed and booze when he’s here. honestly, i feel one of us needs to remain relatively sober...
(oh, i meant to add that when i’m in negril i will buy a single slice of space cake and eat it before i go to sleep each night, but i’m not on the hunt for it in porty.)
yesterday i decided to switch it up a little, and brought the bottle of rum cream to the beach. after i drank about half of it i decided a glass of soursop juice with some overproof rum would taste just dandy. swiveling my head, i spotted this hut:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7896/...398b7fd3_z.jpg
there were a ton of people hanging out inside and it was obvious the drinks were flowing. it was 50/50 if they were vendors just getting crunk or a private party.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
I don't think I'll be able to go until next year. We went in December and it kind of messed up our normal routine. And I left everything to the last minute, so no room at the inn for us. Although with the never ending rounds of snow we've been getting I'm kicking myself and keep threatening to just go to the airport and jump the next available flight. Why do I live in this state? *sigh*
But I'm enjoying this through your trip report, so keep it up!
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
Great report. I feel like I'm there with you. I can't wait for that coffee. dude! Thanks. and Happy Birthday!!!!
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ever72
Great report. I feel like I'm there with you. I can't wait for that coffee. dude! Thanks. and Happy Birthday!!!!
you caught up on my trip report?????? it’s a bday miracle!!!!!!
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
Love this report with the great pics and cool videos!
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
i spotted that party hut and figured i could roll over and see if they were selling rum.
so, i grabbed my cup, rolled over and asked (in ann obnoxious ny accent), "do you guys have rum?" this guy standing right next to where i rolled up said, "sure, we have rum. would you like some?"
me: "oh, you guys aren't vendors? you're just hanging?"
guy (in an east coast-ish accent): "yeah, it's my birthday and we're celebrating, but we can give you some rum!"
me: "are you from ny?"
guy: "philly."
me: "even better! but you're jamaican?"
guy: "yeah, i'm jamaican."
me: "i'm from brooklyn! growing up all my friends were jamaican, african, indian- that's how i wound up traveling so much!"
i pointed to the other guy he's with and asked if he's jamaican. first guy said no, that's his best friend and he's been trying to get him to come to ja with him for years.
me (to best friend): "you love it, right?"
best friend laughed and confirmed.
i then apologized for being a party crasher and they told me it's all good and gave me a huge shot of wray and nephew. one of the relatives (an older jamaican man) asked me if i needed any mixer and i explain that i'd actually been on the hunt for rum because i wanted to mix it with my soursop juice. birthday guy said to his friend, "yeah! remember that crazy fruit i showed you and said the juice is so good??? that's what she's talking about!" i told them i'd be happy to get my bottle, if they'd like to share with me and they gave the assent. so, i rolled back over to where ti boss and i had our set-up and got the bottle of soursop juice and the bottle of rum cream.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
https://youtu.be/5Do9JDvmR4Q
ti boss and i started to head back to the hotel after kicking it on the beach for a few hours, but we ran into husband, who was coming to loo for us. a multi-hour nap had dispelled his bad mood. he said he wanted to go swimming, so we headed back to boston beach.
i introduced him to the philly/ja people i'd met and we kicked it for a few minutes. one guy told us he knew one phrase in kreyol. i was expecting it to be something that everyone knows, like "n'ap boule" or "sak pase," but what he said translates into "i don't want to hear that sht." we were dying!
after the beach we went over to the jerk spot and split 2 lobsters, some chicken and some yummy fish soup. they tried to convince us to commit to spending the equivalent of $92 on a big lobster birthday dinner today (it's my birthday today). i asked husband to go back this morning and tell them we changed our mind. unless it's unlimited lobster, i am NOT spending that much $ at a jerk hut.
i went back to the room and was knocked out by 7pm (rum n sun). ti boss and husband hung out in the front area of the hotel, where wifi is better, and played games on their phones.
end of day 7.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
day 8- today is my birthday. i love being away for my birthday! last time we were in ja was for my birthday in 2017.
and here we are again, in a beautiful tree house in a beautiful town. i got a cliffside version of sand gravity and had less than zero desire to leave the property today. this was actually the first time we've spent all day here. it was great.
breakfast at 9am. back to room.
ti boss was supposed to take a surfing lesson at 10 (he missed it yesterday, because we needed to get money in town). he was feeling lazy, so no surfing lesson.
warren called during breakfast to let us know that it was raining in the town where the outdoor gun range is located and they weren't going to open up at all today. so, husband's grand scheme to go shoot a big weapon was derailed. warren said he felt bad. i told him i was SO HAPPY.
so, then i was like, "hmmmm, should we go to the blue lagoon?" nah.
we went back to the lobby area where the wifi is good, and sat there for an hour or so, playing on our phones.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7817/...b871b529_z.jpg
then i decided i was gonna order lunch and ask them if we could get it to go. there are a few outdoor dining areas that don't seem to get much use. i thought it would be nice to sit at the one located close to the cliffside pool, have lunch and then spend some time in the pool.
it took them over an hour to get the food together, but they were so nice and set up a gorgeous table setting for us to enjoy our lunch.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7803/...a2741f0b_z.jpg
we brought the champagne and bamboo goblets
the food (curry chicken for me and husband, jerk chicken wrap for ti boss) was served in paper takeout boxes. no muss, no fuss.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7864/...aa85b7f2_z.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7812/...062126cb_z.jpg
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
Quote:
Originally Posted by
msbaltimore
Love this report with the great pics and cool videos!
awwww, thank you!
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
yesterday (day 8) was the first day we got any rain.
there was a very quick sunshower when we first got to the cliff pool- we ducked into the african sunrise hut. i felt bad about that, because it was occupied, but it's 3 levels and we were just briefly huddled in the bottom, which is a dirt floor area, with a ladder that leads to the living area.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7855/...efd22957_z.jpg
african sunrise hut (the top 2 levels are visible, the bottom one is not)
when it rained much harder a few hours later, we packed up, huddled in african sunrise for a few minutes then dashed to our tree house.
there are all of these really beautiful, huge black sea birds that spend the day gliding in the sky. i haven't seen a one of them actually flap their wings.
https://youtu.be/NT0rrOmYk_o
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7816/...c403fa09_z.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7866/...89e68970_z.jpg
this is the little lounge bench placed in the shade, at the end of the pool
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7800/...e534b3b3_z.jpg
view over the edge
the rest of my birthday day was spent chilling in the royal lounge (videos of the lounge below)- husband went out twice and got food from the jerk center for us. i didn't have to lift a finger and was asleep by 9pm.
it was a perfect birtday day.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
today we head to kingston.
we've completed packing.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7867/...977a8846_z.jpg
check-out is at 11, but they said we could stay in the treehouse until 11:30.
warren is collecting us at 12pm.
we're driving the coastal road to our hotel in new kingston. i'm so excited for my guys to do that route. it's so pretty.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
mwenvlay thanks so much for your awesome trip report and photos. Your tour of Portland has been fantastic and I hope that you will follow up when you get home with additional pictures that you didn't post so far. Did you take any on your way from Strawberry Hill to Port Antonio through the mountains. Newcastle??? Hardware Gap?? Beautiful ride through there. Once again great job on your Portland postings!! Enjoy the ride around the east coast to Kingston. Unbelievable scenery!! johng
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
Quote:
Originally Posted by
johng
mwenvlay thanks so much for your awesome trip report and photos. Your tour of Portland has been fantastic and I hope that you will follow up when you get home with additional pictures that you didn't post so far. Did you take any on your way from Strawberry Hill to Port Antonio through the mountains. Newcastle??? Hardware Gap?? Beautiful ride through there. Once again great job on your Portland postings!! Enjoy the ride around the east coast to Kingston. Unbelievable scenery!! johng
i was terrible and took no photos while driving!!!
we passed holywell on our way to great huts and didn’t stop, because we had to choose our battles and needed some extra time to track down coffee for my sister.
next time we’ll stay maaaaaybe 2 days at strawberry hill and 2 days at duggy’s cabins on his coffee farm. we will DEFINITELY spend the day at holywell that trip.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
here’s a photo of the reception/lobby at great huts.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7818/...f9f2a891_z.jpg
warren showed up on time, of course.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
husband was in his extra crazy caribbean mode and started talking about how he realllllly wished he had some henny, how he really wanted to get drunk, so we stopped in long bay and bought a pint of brandy at a beach bar. they put it in a rum bottle.
i took a picture of the beach from the inside of the car.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7823/...807b8245_z.jpg
does that count as a photo from the road?
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
husband piped down once he had his brandy and we all settled in for the ride. i was stuck on the right-hand side of the car, so i couldn’t really take any photos if i’d wanted to.
here’s a photo i took of the sign of the restaurant we stopped at for lunch in morant bay.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7822/...7e47077e_z.jpg
$500j per person for fried chicken, rice, stew pea and some shredded cabbage and carrot. ti boss and i wanted curry goat but the menu was a liar.
here’s a shot of the dining room.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7832/...312bcc74_z.jpg
and here’s a shot of the toilet in the ladies room.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7819/...34cdddb6_z.jpg
when i got out, warren was like, “was it clean?” and i was like, “hellllllllllllllllllllz no.” and he said, “ i figured not. i will use the side of the road once we leave.”
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
the rest of the ride went quick-ish. we kept getting stuck behind gigantic, slow moving trucks and drivers who weren’t confident enough to pull past the trucks. the funny thing is that’s what i figured woulda happened on the trip through the blue mountains, not on the trip through st. thomas.
we got to the terra nova around 4:30 (seems to be a theme this trip).
check-in was easy. room is fine in an upscale yet understated way. the bed is EXTREMELY comfortable.
ti boss went swimming ( i chilled at the pool area) and husband took a walk over to devon house.
when it got dark, husband and i took a 6 minute walk up the road to mega mart, on an unsuccessful mission to replace the tweezers i’d misplaced during our stay at strawberry hill.
husband and i got back fairly quickly and we all had dinner at the hotel.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7830/...da9f1fd9_z.jpg
the verandah restaurant is really pretty, with formal settings. the food and cocktails were cheaper than at strawberry hill. the food was better, but the cocktails were not.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
we went back to the pool after dinner.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7859/...0d8b9dff_z.jpg
ti boss splashed around, husband watched movies on the laptop and i played around on my phone.
i crpped out at 10:30 and went to the room to sleep. my guys came in around midnight.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
today (day 10) is our final full day.
we're being picked up at 11 to spend the day touring around kingston.
here is my list:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7822/...038b85f2_z.jpg
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
okey doke, we hit everything on my list except devon house and megamart. i think i'll try to rally my guys to walk to megamart this evening.
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
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Re: Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston
our guide at the bob marley museum was very charmless, but husband enjoyed the tour.
last time i went i don't remember it being so packed with tour groups, but i also was there on a random day in april. maybe it was just less busy then.
we passed through stand pipe after we left the museum.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7809/...d4181f1f_z.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7827/...57171a6d_z.jpg
michael,our driver/guide, stopped to top up his cellphone. when he came back he said, "they just killed someone two minutes ago." we drove for about 5 seconds and saw a crowd of people leaning over railing, looking down into a gully. "there. the body's there." we didn't see it.