You have to sit on right-hand side of the plane to experience this: The flight attendants collect refuse from the last beverage service as your flight nears its end. Your plane begins descending over the ocean. No land is in sight but you’re not concerned. In fact, you’re getting a little excited because you know you’ll be landing soon. As you continue your gentle descent toward the sea, your plane banks to the left. Then, as the aircraft levels its wings, you look out the window. There! Rising out of the sapphire and turquoise water like Hamunaptra, there it is: Jamaica!
We line up for final approach. The water suddenly gives way to the shore, and then just as suddenly, a runway. When we touch down, plane-wide applause breaks out. Turns out the vast majority of passengers are snowbirds from Canada eager to get out into the warmth of a tropical island. I have never heard applause like that just for landing.
Since I only had a carry-on, I passed through Customs very quickly and made my way over to the designated kiosk where we were to wait for our transfers.
It took a while for everything to get sorted out. (I should be used to this part by now. “How long before the bus arrives?” “Bus soon come. No problem, mon.”)
My turn came and I was matched with my driver. A short walk to his car and we were soon on our way to Ocho Rios. My driver was a very nice gentleman. A bit quiet at first, but after a few questions from me, he warmed up and we began a conversation.
I noticed the new A1 highway was pretty much completed. It was smooth. A welcome change from the previous aging highway, although I do miss some of the towns the old highway used to pass through. Falmouth comes to mind. There was still some construction going on in places. And as usual, I saw a few pieces of heavy machinery sitting idle. Sometimes the operators are nearby seemingly on break, or in some cases, nowhere to be seen. But somehow, the roads get built, the roads get repaired; the work gets done. And the trucks that are out plying the roads love to use their engine brake. So much so that my driver even commented on it. Back in the states, use of the engine brake, or “Jake’s brake”, is illegal in many populated areas.
After about an hour and a half we arrive at Rooms Ocho Rios. My driver dropped me off and went on his way. A couple of hours after he left, I got that sinking feeling when I realized I left my baseball cap in the trunk of his car. I brought that cap purposely to keep the sun off my face during the times when I’m outside for more than a couple of hours. Having been burned before – literally – when I didn’t have one, I made sure that would not happen again. Plus, it is a cap from a special event; you cannot replace that cap. I could easily go buy a different cap but I decided not to. After mentally going over my itinerary I realized that I might be ok without it.
Now that I was here, I looked for something to do. It was early afternoon. I decided to go for a long walk around Ocho Rios.
My wanderings took me over to Turtle River Park, a park I had passed by several times but never actually visited. I spent a little time over by the pond. It is a beautiful park. Quite serene, even though it sits in the middle of town. Hedges and palm trees line the walkway leading into the park. Since I was not rushed, I took my time to appreciate what this park had to offer. Maybe because it was a weekday, there weren’t too many people out. It sure made for a very nice time to be out there.
From there it was on down Main Street. I saw from a distance The Ruins at the Falls. In 2002, Lancelot, the driver I met my first time in Jamaica, took me there to look around. In 2007 I had dinner there (link to the Back in Time post). In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful places on the island to dine.
By now it was late afternoon and time to start thinking about dinner. My plan was to return to The Ruins at the Falls for dinner. I asked the receptionist at the hotel what she though about The Ruins. She offered that Mongoose was better. Based on my experiences in 2007, I found it hard to believe that there was a better restaurant in the area than The Ruins. I still had four more days here and plenty of opportunity to go back to The Ruins another day so I followed her recommendation and had dinner at Mongoose Jamaica Restaurant & Lounge instead. (I heard a few years after this visit that The Ruins closed down sometime late in 2013).
Turtle River Park sign photo credit: Jamaica Travel and Culture website
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