3-in-one Jamaica trip report

[mountaingal]

i wander a bit around the graveyard. they've really improved it, used to be nuff bush, and you couldnt even make out some graves. but the church has annual graveyard tithe and many families, including ours, pay for the upkeep and an eventual spot when we've shuffled off our mortal coil.

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i'm fascinated by this tombstone - a replica of the church. couldnt find the name of the occupant.
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[mountaingal]

mixing the cement.

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seeking shady on the fence
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[mountaingal]

back up to the food tent outside the church for a post-burial meal. most people opted to eat inside the church.

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[mountaingal]

after food, folks went home. i was happy to go back to my room and strip, and turn on the fan.

i reflected on the funeral. i remembered mostly the feeling of being at home, geographically and culturally. was it the ritual? or was it just me at this stage of my life, longing for a return to a simpler life. i enjoyed connecting with friends from my youth - so few of them still there, as most have migrated. i loved being around my generation - cousins from 70 to three months. i wanted my kids to be there.

some family friends came over and i found out that one of them knows Xavier, and also that we have mutual friends in Toronto. It's a small world indeed.

[mountaingal]

Sunday, our last full day in Santa Cruz, was easy. Went up the street to a roadside shop for some coconut water and a chat with the dread who runs it. walked around the neighbourhood, visited with old families.

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ran into my cousin and her kids making their way back to May Pen.
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went into Santa Cruz to visit my grandmother and great grandmother's graves at St Matthews church, and managed to snap this regrettably inadequate picture of STETHS on the way back - mainly for Wahalla.
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[mountaingal]

Monday we ate breakfast together as a family for the first and last time at Chisholms. We talked about when we would next come back to Jamaica in these numbers. Sadly, conversation also covered my grand-aunt's final days. Won't say much, just that they were unhappy, and that family dysfunction is a terrible thing. Some tears were shed.

A last visit to D, where I took this shot of a setting hen.

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Richie drove us in two waves to Montego Bay. I was in the first wave, going with cousins who had an earlier flight. i wasn't flying out, but was taking transit to get to Oracabessa. I said goodbye to Mother and Stepdad, cousins, Chisholms and Longwood.

End of first leg.

[My Looh]

That was such a great celebration of life! One earthly chapter ends and a new heavenly chapter is now to be written.

Looking at your videos it took me back to Jamaica when my parents took us to church dressed in our Sunday best clothes. The last funeral I attended up here in Canada the youth were wearing running shoes, baggy pants and t-shirts. Nice to see in your videos that the young ones are all still so well dressed.

I miss that sense of respect for self and others that we had in our community in Jamaica, there is very little of that up here in Canada. Apparently it is too much trouble to get your children to change when going to pay respects to the dead up here.

[mountaingal]

That was such a great celebration of life! One earthly chapter ends and a new heavenly chapter is now to be written.

Looking at your videos it took me back to Jamaica when my parents took us to church dressed in our Sunday best clothes. The last funeral I attended up here in Canada the youth were wearing running shoes, baggy pants and t-shirts. Nice to see in your videos that the young ones are all still so well dressed.

I miss that sense of respect for self and others that we had in our community in Jamaica, there is very little of that up here in Canada. Apparently it is too much trouble to get your children to change when going to pay respects to the dead up here.

thanks for commenting, milo. i think there are different cultural approaches to funerals for sure. for example, the last few funerals i attended in Canada were held the funeral home and not at a church. While in Jamaica, funerals are at church, and the expectation is that you dress up in God's house, whether for funeral or not.

[diabolical_Tanya]

That was such a great celebration of life! One earthly chapter ends and a new heavenly chapter is now to be written.

Looking at your videos it took me back to Jamaica when my parents took us to church dressed in our Sunday best clothes. The last funeral I attended up here in Canada the youth were wearing running shoes, baggy pants and t-shirts. Nice to see in your videos that the young ones are all still so well dressed.

I miss that sense of respect for self and others that we had in our community in Jamaica, there is very little of that up here in Canada. Apparently it is too much trouble to get your children to change when going to pay respects to the dead up here.

AMEN I was thinking the same thing

[mountaingal]

Oracabessa

Wikipedia says the town is named after a trading post set up by the Spanish called Oracabeza. i liked the name, so mellifluous. maybe that's why i decided to try staying there. i wanted to go somewhere off the beaten path, cool enough to offer some relief from the hellish Santa Cruz heat, and near the sea.

it ended up being the highlight of my trip. i met some eccentric expats, saw baby turtles hustling to the sea, and overdosed on mangos.

i loved being in Oracabessa, and i miss it even now, more than my hometown.


the view across the street from the upper level of B&B Oracabessa.
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[MsExced]

Just beautiful, I can feel the peacefulness coming thru the screen

Oracabessa

Wikipedia says the town is named after a trading post set up by the Spanish called Oracabeza. i liked the name, so mellifluous. maybe that's why i decided to try staying there. i wanted to go somewhere off the beaten path, cool enough to offer some relief from the hellish Santa Cruz heat, and near the sea.

it ended up being the highlight of my trip. i met some eccentric expats, saw baby turtles hustling to the sea, and overdosed on mangos.

i loved being in Oracabessa, and i miss it even now, more than my hometown.


the view across the street from the upper level of B&B Oracabessa.
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[mountaingal]

my plan was to rest mentally in Oracabessa, do a bit of walking, read some introductory philosophy books (graphic books really) i brought from Canada.

i chose B&B Oracabessa after going onlline. it was cheap and got good reviews, run by a German couple. Their speciality was fresh-baked german bread every morning.

i took the Knutsford Express from MoBay to Ochi, and a route taxi from Ochi to Oracabessa. I had no idea where this b&b was, i just knew it was on the main road. I asked the taxi driver if he knew of it. He didn't answer. I came to learn that his silence meant he did not want to say the words, "I don't know". Anyway, with the help of the other passengers, i found my way.

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[mountaingal]

knocked the gate, nobody answered. there were two dogs in yard, they didn't bark or anything, eventually a girl came out to greet me. "I'm a guest," I announce, you know, caw di two a wi black and i thought there may be some misunderstanding. She told me the owner wasnt there at the moment and took me to my room for the next 5 days.

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[mountaingal]

Stashed my stuff, then the girl, her name is Shanique, gave me a mini tour of the place.

just outside my room, on the corner of the veranda.
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front veranda. I controlled up that couch my first three days, till some other guests came (yes, i was the only paying customer for a while but I didn't mind).
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back hall, where they tended to hang laundry to dry. those are spray-painted 45s stuck to the wall.
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the guest kitchen for folks who wanted to cook for themselves. the cookware, cutlery and everything was ancient, but they worked.
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[mountaingal]

Just beautiful, I can feel the peacefulness coming thru the screen

fi real ms exced. it was nice and breezy too. it was about 4:30 or so in the afternoon.