Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

[tigerinatrance]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

It wasn't just "the spirit" that moved them, it was BOB'S Spirit that moved them.

Yep, even works on Brits. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[tigerinatrance]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos




We make our way to the “Zion Rock”,as it is called,where Bob meditated. The rock about which he sang in Talkin’ Blues. Binji lays on the rock and sings:



Cold ground was my bed last night,
And rock was my pillow too.

I'm sayin talkin' blues, talkin' blues
They say your feet is just too big for your shoes
Talkin' blues, talkin' blues
Your feet is just too big for your shoes



(here is the rock a while ago)



The rock is near the bedroom of the house. You see the house behind Binji.

The kids are singing along with Binji. He has slowed the tempo of the songs down, to better communicate the message – and the kids are singing along, slightly off key and pitch.

[tigerinatrance]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos



This is a food prep area.

He then leads us around the mausoleum, and to the front, where the stained glass window with a lion (a gift from Africa) can be found. Binji starts talking about H.I.M. being crowned “King of Kings, Lord or Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah” and, Scott and I join in – Binji smiles.



He shows us the first of two narrow stained glass windows, also gifts from Africa. The first has three flowers at the bottom, which he tells us are representative of “three little birds”.




The other one was a man with a sack on his back – does anyone remember what it meant?



I look over at the plants, and there is a tiny gecko on a leaf.




We walk into the mausoleum under a “Jah Love” sign.

[tigerinatrance]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

When we get to the building where Bob and his half brother rest, no pictures. I wait for everyone to filter in, take some photos, and follow. When I walk in, I see one of the older French guys in our group, and his eyes are red and filled with tears.

Binji says a few things about the marble, from Africa, and that Bob is buried with his guitar. We walk around the marble tomb, which is draped in shawls and blankets. There are guitars in the corners, things on the side of the marble, and a small alter at the foot.

The Bible is there. Binji tells us we can turn it to what we would like. We turn it to Psalm 87:

His foundation is in the Holy Mountains;
Jah loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things are spoken of you, O City of God.
I’ll make mention to Rahab and Babylon; Philistine and Tyre, with Ethiopia—
And of Zion it shall be said, "This one was born there"; for the Most High himself shall establish the earth.

Jah Rastafari!

Binji leads over our shoulder, “ahhh Psalm 87, good Psalm.” He says.

Psalm 87 is one that was quoted by Bob, and is memorialized in the 1979 DVD of the show in Santa Barbara. Psalm 87 is also weaved into many conscious root-reggae songs.

We stop at the stairs of the Mausoleum, the French people are wondering around, and we sit on the steps and meditate with Binji for a while. And, it hit me, wow – I am hanging out HERE. Who feels it knows it for sure. We chill there for 5 or 10 minutes.

Here is what it looked like a while ago:




(The house is in the picture)

I have these flowers by my sidewalk in the front of my house.




Scott’s work:

[Laurel]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

I am having one of the Jahemotional days today ...

Everyones posts, photos and stories are moving me so much .... how long till I reach??

I have never done Nine Mile ... only read others reports, read various bits on line, etc., but I can not recall the symbolism behind the stained glass window of the man with sack on his back. I can only assume it may be some symbol of man's burden throughout life and the promise held at the end of that journey ??? I should not be so bold as to assume anything, having never had the Nine Mile experience ...

[tigerinatrance]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

We realize that there are 6 other people in our tour, and we start walking to the front of the house, where we can get our shoes. We walk out to the grassy area, and, after some conversation, I ask Binji what he thinks about us showing up, wearing the colors, pictures of Selassie and his Queen on my shirt, The Tribe of The Conquering Lion of Judah on Scott’s shirt and hat.


He said, he loves it when he sees people like us, black, white, all people, who have gotten the message. He confirms that one is “Rasta from creation”, but sometimes it takes 20 or 30 years to realize it. He says you always have had Rastafari in your heart, and you have to live with a Rasta heart.” There may have been more in there, but I can’t remember every verse right now – it pops into my head now and then, and I remember something new. I think that is how it is supposed to happen.



Binji says “Man, I love my Roots.” talking about the drink he had, the bokkle now empty. I ask him if they sell it in the café, and he says “Let’s go” his hand in a relaxed fist , his index finger and thumb pointing forward, his arm moving in an overhand pitch type motion.


And we start walking down the hill to the gate. He has the bottle in his right hand, his spliff and lighter in the left. His hair is back in the tam, and he is taking these huge strides down the hill, like we were power walking, and we get to the gate when we realize “Ohh, there are 6 other people behind us trying to catch up because they don’t realize the tour is over, because we pretty much ditched them when they left the mausoleum.” Oooops. Not very inclusive, is it?


We told Binji we would meet him in the café. I told him that should “take care of business” (meaning getting his tips) with the French people first, and then chat second. He nods and says “true” in a manner that says “Yeah, good idea.” We were all kind of caught up in talking, in “reasoning”, if you will, and we all forgot that he was working.

We walk past the fence and there is the kid who told us he would be waiting on us. We tell him to move on.

We walk through the bar – no Delroy. Hmmm. Oh well, he did not leave us. Of this I am sure.

I point to the table in the far left corner table (if you are standing in the doorway to the deck). It is one table to the left of the one you can see through the doorway:




And tell Scott “This is perfect.” And he says “Oh, yeah, right.” It was the perfect table.

[Soul Hunter]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

This is good stuff TIAT! Love that last shot of the dread. You can tell a Nyabinghi man dat!

[tigerinatrance]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

I just love Binji.

[tigerinatrance]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

Yuh nuh, I think the guy with the bag (in the window) is symbolic of "movement of Jah people" - "We're leaving Babylon, and goin' to our father's land." I think that is the meaning -

at least, I remember Binji singing in a very metered, syllabic style:

"Ex-hah-dus, Move-ment of Jah Pee-pole."

That's why I am making the connection.

Oh, I am guessing that if you have been to Nine Miles, you know why I wrote the verse that way - as if he were singing it in that slowed down style so that those people from "da four carner a de eart" can understand the message.


If you haven't been, I hope you smile to yourself the first time you hear it.

[tigerinatrance]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

Binji was upstairs in no time. He sits down at our table and we pick up the conversation. We talk about all the people that come from all over the world, the language through the songs, that some people come with translators, that he can speak some Italian, and he says a few things in Italian. We talked about how this allows people to “overstand” the message.



Which then brought us to a discussion about Rasta speak – Saying “Hi” rather than “Hello”, because of the “Low” contained in “Hello”, thereby making it a less powerful word than “Hi”. Likewise for “I’ll be back” vs. “I’ll come forward again” and so forth. Itinually, Idren, InI, and so on. We had a great talk about language. I could have continued it for much longer.

We order lunch. As we are finding out what they have at the café, Binji is to the side saying “dem vegetarian, vegetarian”, obviously because we were talking about Rasta, and he knew that we knew, no meat. (Of course, there are variations on this, but we won’t get into it here.)

They tell me that they can make me a vegan fruit smoothie (which was so good, I had 2. Could have had 3!) and vegan rice and peas and steamed veggies. Scott asks the waiter what’s good, and he says “jerk chicken.” Meanwhile, Binji is on the side, still saying “uh, vegetarian, dem vegetarian”. Scott orders the chicken.




(This was not our meal, but I thought it would be funny to just stick in a picture of some jerk chicke, rice and peas)

Binji was bummed. I was bummed because Binji was bummed – but oh well – the truth of the matter is Scott does like jerk chicken, and all the guy at Bob’s had to say was that it was really good. Know yourself.


He asked me if I really saw his picture in the United States. I tell him yes, more than once. He does not hate that. I started to tell him about all of the raving reviews he received here. I asked him if he remembered Napi and Lil’ Sis. I had to go through a few more details, such as the poetry, a description (based only on pictures I have seen here, mind you), and then I say from St. Louis, and Bob told you she wanted to say some poetry – “Now you’re talkin’ to me” he says.


I told him about how someone here (ShugarShug maybe?) said that she loved his laugh, and that when she was having a bad time, she would think about it and it would make her feel better. So Binji tells me to make sure that I tell Napi and Shugar to come to Jamaica “so dey can feel da love fe dis side” I assured him I would pass it along, and he told me he would really appreciate it. So ladies, if you wanna hook up with a Rasta man in Nine Miles, I can make it happen.






Scott brings out a magazine that he bought here. It had Bob Marley on the cover, and two full sized Marley posters inside. It contained stories about artists from all over the world. Scott pulled it out and gave it to Binji. The magazine was a hit. Binji could not pass a picture of Bob without saying “Top man.” “Big Man” “Top man of reggae” “Six-ty yaers old!”



So, another, older dread walks up looking for Binji because he needs a tour guide. He is distracted by the magazine Binji is looking at. He asks if the magazine is ours, I tell him, it’s Binji’s now. Binji starts showing him the book, they exchange “top man”s a few times. They are flipping through and they come upon a picture of Burning Spear, to which the older dread says “Rodney!” with a laugh.



They are totally lost in this magazine.

[Laurel]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

Tiger - Oh Man!!! Mi needin to feel da love dat side sumpin fierce!

Love the shot of the 'Rastas pouring ova da magazine' -

Hmmmm - so Binji has no real clue of his wide spread 'fame' ... bless his heart - that's what is making him so special!!

[Pepper]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

Originally posted by tigerinatrance:
[QB]

Ooooh, this all looks so good, especially as I sit here eating tuna and a tossed salad.

[Shezuk]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

tigerinatrance
Your report is great, I am a fan. Been reading trip reports for nearly a year now, and just today started posting on the board.
Love your pictures
Love your report.

I remember Binji, from when, I went last year. We went with a friend that knew binji. So he did all the talking. I didn't talk much, but now, wished i did.

[tigerinatrance]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

Oh, he was starting to get a clue, believe me - he brought it up again, as I said asking me about how I saw his picture, what the ladies have to say about him, and so on.

I am putting together a package for him, including pictures we took with him at Nine Miles- if anyone has any photos that you would like me to send down, PM them to me, and I will do so.

Binji was great - he and I really hit it off. In fact, he and I did most of the talking ourselves. In fact, before we left, he said something to Scott about making sure he took care of me and held onto me and stuff - Scott did not go into anymore detail except to say "he really liked you." (And I mean that in the most innocent of ways)

I plan on sending him the new Rolling Stone with Bob on the cover.

[Laurel]

Re: Ocho Rios, Jamaica Inn, Blue Mountains, Nine Mile with photos

Surely he will love that!

What a great idea to collect others photos and send to him in a package - Binji's Fans -

Nappi & Lil Sis - send some good ones!!

Now - may I ask ... Is Nine Mile something we could do just after I arrive?? this summer I will be collected in Montego Bay - plane usually lands about 1:30, and rather than going to my usual Negril, we are off Port Antonio. Can we do Nine Mile on the journey from Montego Bay on the way to Port Antonio?? Or is it not realistic?? Should I just save that destination for another time??