I recently backpacked Jamaica for one month with my best friend K.
Yes, I said "backpack" and "Jamaica" in the same sentence. It was incredible. The things you learn from getting deep into a different society is not only removing another block on the ignorance wall, but totally enlightening at times.
I'll give you a colesnotes version of our vacay.
1. We start on Northwest side at Montego Bay. We stayed at The Birds Nest in Iron Shore, about 3 km from the city of Montego Bay. This hostel was run by some Germans and in a "richer" area of Jamaica. Every massive home was fenced and had at least 3 dogs. These dogs are aggressive and bark heavily if you walk by, especially at night.
Above is Kelsey with a Brazilian and Israeli at our hostel.
Downtown Montego Bay. Not many tourists here
We didnt care too much for Montego Bay as it has become very touristy and lost the cultural aspect of Jamaica.
2. Moving on, we headed south on the West coast to Negril. We took local taxis for a minimal price of 500JA(equivalent to 5$ Canadian)...most tourists would pay 40$CAN for this. GO LOCAL, man...You save tons of money.
Above two locals, a local dog and myself on the 7 miles of Negril beach.
Negril, I love Negril. It has 7 miles of beach, totally 'lax and uber awesome energy. Jamaicans in Negril give you space while you're sitting on that beautiful beach, whether you're near the west cliffs or central. Here is where I fell in love with lobster everything..including lobster pizza. MMmMMmMmmm...
There is a special energy in Negril, it's strange, I love it.
We found a hidden gem in Negril, it is called Ras Rody's. Ras Rody's is an Ital Food stand near the west end cliffs. It's real Rastafarian food.
Let me give you a little background on Ital Food.
Ital means Vital. Life. All that we are is what we eat.
Ital means Vital. Life. All that we are is what we eat.
The Rastafarians have developed a rich culture of dietary traditions and ethnomedical knowledge all steeped in ancestral tradition. The fundamental values of Ital can only be pursued in a state of harmony with nature. Rights to the land are natural rights, as the fruits that it bears are for the shared consumption of the commons. This is in sharp contrast to the legal rights of ownership prescribed in Western society. Rastafarians work tirelessly to protect the natural world in service of Mother Earth who has graced them with a replenishing food source. Cultivating familial plots of land with diverse arrangements of crops ensures the health of the soil, the same soil that nourished their forbearers and their children alike.
Rasta at Ras Rody's
A real Rastafarian will not eat flesh of any kind, nor will it eat any animal biproducts OR any products with preservatives etc.
3. After my favourite city, we went a bit east and further south to Treasure Beach. This place is FREAKIN' WEIRD. It seriously felt like one of those horror movies where the town is quiet...a sole red pick up truck drives by and there are churches and bible thumpers everywhere. Oh, and alot of red heads(the scotts moved here years ago)
Me on the quietest beach...Treasure Beach in Fisherman's Bay
Can I say one more thing about Treasure Beach? We were at a restaurant called... Jake's , I believe. One of the only few in the town... It seemed all fine and dandy...Until we looked in this small fenced in area on the sand behind our dinner table. Guess what we saw? A grave. Yes, a grave. A 2 year old child was burried there. While we ate our dinner. Anyhow. We left Treasure Beach bright and early the next day.
Really nice people though.
4.Now... we took local taxis for almost 8 hours(from TB to Spanish Town to Kingston to Port Antonio...but only cost us 700JA- 7$CAN) to get us from Treasure Beach to the Central-East Northern beautiful town of Port Antonio.
Port Antonio is gorgeous. It has a port where the cruise ships used to come often, but over the past few years it no longer has cruise ships coming through except maybe once a week. The town's locals have lost alot of their jobs, but they still remain positive friendly and beautiful.
Port Antonio is a 2$ cab ride away from Blue Lagoon where the film Blue Lagoon was filmed with Brooke Shields. Blue Lagoon is also right next to a very quiet beach called Winnifred. Which is where we stayed in the forestfilled hill in a local's home. Winnifred beach has had one bar/restaurant on it for 25 years owned by Painter and his ex wife.
Kelsey at Blue Lagoon
There is a lot to see in Port Antonio, a great amount of kind people to meet and awesome food.
While in Port Antonio make it to the street parties on Thursday nights and the scrub a dub party ..haha.. east of Winnifred beach. Travel with the locals, for the most part they're kind and gentle and friendly.
5. From Port Antonio we went West towards Ocho Rios. Ochie, as the locals call it, is very familiar to us as we were there only a year ago. We visited some of the schools and brought school supplies down. We also made friends with a rasta, who now rides a horse around town, that is a school teacher and artist. Funny guy named Glenville.
Glenville on his horse named Phoenix
We realised after touring more cities that Ocho Rios would actually be one of our least favourites, but with our favourite food in the entire country being found at Calabash on James St in downtown Ochie...we have to go. And not to mention all fo the friends we have there including a sweet boy named jahWayne and Glenville.
Back to Calabash on James St. You have to go. If you're in Ocho Rios or nearby...just GO. This place is run by Rastas named Iwah and the cook Andrew. The locals that head to Calabash are generally quiet, rastafarians who practice bush medecine and study society as a whole. Very intelligent with knowledge to share.
At Calabash with Kelsey, Wayne and Glenville
We were in Ocho Rios for 15 days...we had booked 20, however got a bit bored and had to mosey on back to Negril...but FIRST ... we had to climb blue mountain. If you're in Jamaica...CLIMB BLUE MOUNTAIN.
6. From Ochie, back through Kingston to the Blue Mountains near Mavis Bank.
We stayed in a hostel owned by Jah B. DO NOT GO TO THIS HOSTEL. This "rastafarian" is NOT a rastafarian. He is a money hungry, rude, inconsiderate and ignorant business owner in the mountains. Stay far from him. Please.
Climbing BM was harder than I expected. We left at 2am from Jah B's hostel (which I did not sleep because of weird stuff going on with some locals and british...not to mention, I did not eat because he was such a rude man...our room was freezing cold damp and stunk ...etc)
The sight of Kingston at sunrise from the Blue Mountains is beautiful.
Top of Blue Mountain at sunrise
This took us four hours to climb...but it was worth it. It's a long story, but a local actually joined us. His name was Chad...this is just another example of how incredibly humble and beautiful the Jamaican people are. We met this kid on the bus near Ocho Rios...he asked us if we wanted help getting to the top of the BM because he used to live there. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have made it. He took amazing care of us. And actually had skipped work that day.
7. Back to Negril.
Our best friend Nuria met us for the last week in Negril.
And so the story ends...
But it doesn't, because the owner of our apartment in Ocho Rios didn't refund our last five days...so we have to use that time up somehow in the next 9 months.
If you want to travel to a place with loud great music, a love of healthy food, beautiful sights and inexpensive...hit up Jamaica. Do it the backpacker way. It's well worth it, I promise.
