Staying up all night

Blue Mountain Peak

The Blue Mountains of Jamaica rise up to the northeast of Kingston, creating a windward bulwark for the island. If you hike up to Blue Mountain Peak, the island's highest point at 7,400ft, and time it such that you arrive at dawn on a clear morning, you can watch the sun come up over Cuba and see the entire island of Jamaica beneath you.

Jennifer and I tagged along with the Peace Corps Environment Volunteers, coming up the mountain with 16 of us jammed in a rattling jitney. In Jamaica, it is not typical to see a bunch of white people in such a common conveyance, which explains why the police checkpoint stopped us and, with little humor and less haste, questioned us. Jennifer stepped forward as Country Director, opting to use the persona that works best at Latin American checkpoints, joking, but the Jamaica constabulary do not have a funny bone. As a friend told me, "They get shot at too often." One of the volunteers in back whispered, "Tell them we're a church group!" Anyway, after about an hour of inward and upward travel, the already rough road became passable only to 4W-drive, so we transferred vehicles at a slanted crossroads town called Hagley Gap, under the scrutiny of the locals hanging around in front of the little shop.

Drinking Blue Mountain Coffee on the Blue Mountain.

By the time we were dropped off at Jah B's bunkhouse, we were particularly ready to unfold our limbs and savor the cool mountain air. The scene was definitely mellow; coffee beans lay drying in large sun trays and the farm tabby befriended Jennifer while the volunteers played ukelele and guitar. Then everyone lay down to try and grab some shuteye before starting our hike at 1am. Some of us were thwarted, however, because one of the volunteers snored loudly enough to wake people down in Kingston. Before we knew it, it was time to go, but not before one of Jah B's fellow rastas had cups of their home-grown coffee in our hands. Then we donned headlamps and set off.

Blue Mountain Peak

The hike is 7 miles, ascending some 3000ft, through rainforest and switchbacks. Halfway up, at 3am, the dense foliage opened up briefly and we got a look at the sky. I am not often able to goggle at such a starry panorama, partially because I am never awake at such an ungodly hour, but I am also rarely up high on such a clear night. We didn't even have to look up, the horizon was below us and stars at eye level looked as crisp as the lights of Kingston off towards the west. But we turned our attention back to the trail, working up a sweat with little to look at other than the bobbing beams of our headlamps. Near the end, it started to drizzle, adding to the drench of sweat we already had going. We reached the top and the disappointment was twofold. First, we were soaked and though I would have never believed it possible in Jamaica, it was cold enough to see our breath. Second, it was obvious that there would be no sunrise for us, no vistas, since we had come all this way only to hike into the middle of a dense cloud. We huddled with other hiking parties in the ruins of a trail house, warming ourselves as best we could at little fires we made from brush. When daylight came, we snapped some pictures, and headed back down the trail. At least for the return, we could see our environs, the beauty of the rainforest and, when we'd descended out of the cloud, views of hills and ravines and coffee plantations. I even saw two endemic Jamaican birds for the first time (if you must know: the Jamaican Toby and the Crested Quail Dove). Back at Jah B's, we bought a couple packets of his coffee (best Blue Mountain coffee I've tasted) and loaded into the 4WD with the Volunteers for the drive back down to sea level.

Rebel Salute

A photo from Google, mine did not turn out.

The following weekend, we went to stay at Old Fort Bay near Ocho Rios.  One of the main reggae festivals was going to be just down the road, so we joined another embassy family and rented a little vacation house there. Jennifer and I took advantage of the free babysitting to leave Carter and go to the concert. Music in Jamaica starts very late, and even though we had been up all night the previous weekend hiking Blue Mountain Peak, we were prepared to be up all night again. So it was midnight when we parked at the Rebel Salute festival, early enough to be as yet uncroweded. Several times, approaching the gates, we were offered branches of ganga, once literally under the nose of the police. Inside was a large field in front of the stage, most people brought their own chairs, I even saw a camp cot, with some folk opting to sleep through the acts they did not care for. I was excited to see the one old school act I had seen before in Kingston (the Congos, though they were sadly disappointing). Other acts were a mix of styles: revolutionary reggae by Kabaka Pyramid, old time lover's rock by Sanchez, pop by Christopher Martin, and roots by Luciano. On the whole, the showing was not that impressive, Luciano was my favorite. On a side note, just recently Luciano has cancelled his upcoming tour dates because his teenage son was shot and killed at school here in Kingston. We left before 6am, too early to see the bigger acts, but I had enjoyed the scene and sampled some of the fare from the food stalls. To our surprise, Jah B had a coffee stall there and we were able to holler out a greeting to them.

Being at Old Fort Bay made it easy to forget the vaguely disappointing concert. I borrowed Carter's GoPro camera and took some underwater shots while snorkeling. I got some great shots of some of my favorites: the juvenile yellowtail damselfish that are rich blue with neon blue polka dots, trumpetfish with their footlong bodied and snouts like seahorses, and a puffer fish hiding in blue coral, watching me warily. But mostly it was a lovely, breezy bay to relax beside, and the families just hung out happily.

A puffer not too pleased to see me.

Old Fort Bay