Blogs from Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Central America Caribbean

3 Visions In the past two years before this trip to Jamaica, I had experienced two visions of Haile Selassie I in my dreams. This is not counting those visions that came upon me during meditation or from scripture reading, induced by plant medicines, rituals, music, or narratives. Just two natural visions in a dream, as the kind Joseph had interpreted. In the first vision, His Imperial Majesty was in New York City in 1963, approaching the headquarters of the United Nations, and I was amongst the crowd to witness HIM enter the building, but not to see HIM speak. I stood across the street from the UN headquarters building. Both sides of the street were barricaded and secured by police, with large crowds crammed behind the barricades. In this dream, His Imperial Majesty singled me ... read more

Now that we had made it all the way here, and all those headaches of the airports and roads were far behind us, we really began to enjoy our time in paradise. This Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day and it seemed like everyone was out there enjoying it. We needed to find a beach. But where do you go to find a good beach in Jamaica? It is a tropical island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, so logic would dictate that it's probably covered in great beaches. But, I'd learned years ago from some of my Jamaican friends, and from my earlier trip here in 2012, that almost all of the beaches on the island were private property. Large resorts and wealthy landowners controlled most of the little patches of sand where one ... read more

This trip to Jamaica was Chelly's long-time dream for her 40th birthday and she got like 5 birthday parties in a row! :) The first party was Thursday night in Miami (technically her birthday after midnight), when we went wandering around Wynwood, checking out music spots, dancing, eating tacos, looking at graffiti, and all that. I wrote about it in a previous blog. The second party was on Friday night (still her birthday), when we went out dancing in Ocho Rios. But, we're not there yet. Getting to Ochi This was absolutely the hardest day of the trip. We were wrecked from the thing, and all the other things (the first flight getting canceled, airport hassles, then the layover in Miami, getting very little sleep in hotels 2 nights in a row). We'd been through a ... read more

Jamaica, Ocho Rios Blog 2nd February 2020 So much potential but a poor choice of city for the visit. A Sunday as well. Jamaica, a Caribbean island nation, has a lush topography of mountains, rainforests and reef-lined beaches. Many of its all-inclusive resorts are clustered in Montego Bay, with its British-colonial architecture, and Negril, known for its diving and snorkeling sites. Jamaica is famed as the birthplace of reggae music, and its capital Kingston is home to the Bob Marley Museum, dedicated to the famous singer.Kingston is also site of the Hope Botanical Gardens and Zoo, showcasing native plants and animals. The city's restaurants offer island specialties such as curry goat and jerk chicken, as well as raucous nightclubs mixing rum cocktails. Looming over the city are the misty Blue Mountains, with hiking trails, panoramic views ... read more

What we did Mystic Mountain Zipline Here is a big operation that also runs places in Costa Rica and other countries. That, however, gives you the assurance that they know how to do a zipline. We started on a chairlift up the mountain. You could make a day of it up there with their cafe, small museum, hummingbird garden, nature trail (restricted to those with a guide only unfortunately), and waterslide. However, we had a specific pick-up time so we got right to zipping. Talking to others, the famous Jamaican Bobsled ride was not worth it - too short. We enjoyed the ziplines and got to see the Bobsleds beneath us. The guides we had were really professional and great for us (afraid of heights and all). We did five ziplines, plus belayed down a tree, ... read more