My friend B came to visit me a couple of weeks ago and one of the activities we did was hike to the top of Jamaica, the Blue Mountains. Getting there was quite the adventure.. I had my bags for Panama and she had all of her luggage. We took the bus to St. Thomas and had Jah B's son take us up to the guest house. The guy was nice and we payed too much, but it was worth not having to struggle getting public up there. We arrived mid afternoon and checked out the place. The accommodation consisted of a shack and a newly constructed area where there are "private rooms". We hung around the shack and read our books and enjoyed the views. I wanted to walk around and see what was up the road, so we walked to the other two guest houses where we saw a party, bingo night- oh geez music all night, and then we walked to a beautiful grove of cedar where there was a older guest house. There was a nice old man who was carrying dishes to go wash them, we chatted with him for a few minutes and then continued back to dinner. We ate dinner with Jah B which was a over prices plate of rice and beans with no flavor- but we ate it all in preparation for the early morning hike. We hired a "guide" but then was told that we had to pay more for flashlights, I argued.. To bed early to avoid being up all night from the party down the road.
Awoken at 1:20 AM to drink a cup of coffee grab a couple bags of nuts and walk up the hill. We hiked in the dark with some poorly lit flashlights and a guide who just hiked ahead of us and didnt really even wait for us and definitely didn't talk to us. The stars were amazing and you could see the city lights of Kingston. At dusk I was soooo happy that I could actually see and didn't have to worry about falling in a hole. As we approached the top it was very cold. We waited for 30 minutes for the sun to come up. The sun broke and it was so beautiful. The clouds then started moving past us and then you could see mountains, and then you could see nothing. It was quite remarkable. I hear that on super clear mornings you can see Cuba.
The hike down was beautiful as well- probably one of my favorite parts. All of the vegetation was so different on this side of the mountain. I work on the other side where it is much more lush. At the top of the mountain there was short and wind blown trees with little ground cover. As I hiked to lower vegetation everything changed and I saw beautiful flowers, ferns, wild strawberries and trees I had never seen before. I saw a doctor bird, the national hummingbird, and heard the forest wake up. It was a magical experience.
My friend B came to visit me a couple of weeks ago and one of the activities we did was hike to the top of Jamaica, the Blue Mountains. Getting there was quite the adventure.. I had my bags for Panama and she had all of her luggage. We took the bus to St. Thomas and had Jah B's son take us up to the guest house. The guy was nice and we payed too much, but it was worth not having to struggle getting public up there. We arrived mid afternoon and checked out the place. The accommodation consisted of a shack and a newly constructed area where there are "private rooms". We hung around the shack and read our books and enjoyed the views. I wanted to walk around and see what was up the road, so we walked to the other two guest houses where we saw a party, bingo night- oh geez music all night, and then we walked to a beautiful grove of cedar where there was a older guest house. There was a nice old man who was carrying dishes to go wash them, we chatted with him for a few minutes and then continued back to dinner. We ate dinner with Jah B which was a over prices plate of rice and beans with no flavor- but we ate it all in preparation for the early morning hike. We hired a "guide" but then was told that we had to pay more for flashlights, I argued.. To bed early to avoid being up all night from the party down the road. 
Awoken at 1:20 AM to drink a cup of coffee grab a couple bags of nuts and walk up the hill. We hiked in the dark with some poorly lit flashlights and a guide who just hiked ahead of us and didnt really even wait for us and definitely didn't talk to us. The stars were amazing and you could see the city lights of Kingston. At dusk I was soooo happy that I could actually see and didn't have to worry about falling in a hole. As we approached the top it was very cold. We waited for 30 minutes for the sun to come up. The sun broke and it was so beautiful. The clouds then started moving past us and then you could see mountains, and then you could see nothing. It was quite remarkable. I hear that on super clear mornings you can see Cuba. 
The hike down was beautiful as well- probably one of my favorite parts. All of the vegetation was so different on this side of the mountain. I work on the other side where it is much more lush. At the top of the mountain there was short and wind blown trees with little ground cover. As I hiked to lower vegetation everything changed and I saw beautiful flowers, ferns, wild strawberries and trees I had never seen before. I saw a doctor bird, the national hummingbird, and heard the forest wake up. It was a magical experience. 
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