Jamaica 5 – Treasure Beach 1

From Montego Bay to Treasure Beach Dec 22 (Sat, 2012)

Bye bye Montego Bay!
Now we are moving from Montego Bay to Treasure Beach.
We paid for a pick-up from the next hotel. One way takes about 2 and a half hours.
We were imagining that a Jamaican driver would come to pick us up, but the hotel owner, Roger (a Brit), came for us.
We chatted a lot and he told us interesting stories, tips and info. That was great.
The road condition got worse. The roads are asphalt, but they have a lot of holes. You have to be paying attention all the time, otherwise it could lead us to have some accidents or punctured tires. The government takes a lot of tax from people but no improvements on daily infrastructure.
Roger asked us if we wanted to go and visit Peter Tosh‘s grave and his home. My husband wanted to very much, so he got really excited! Roger said he’s never seen a guest who got that excited. That was lucky for David!

David has been playing Peter Tosh’s music on the car often around that time, so I was getting familiar with his music also. He was in the band, The Wailers with Bob Marley and other members. If Bob is a figure like Paul McCartney, Peter is a figure like John Lennon. Roger and David agree with the idea and that definition gives me a good idea about them! Peter used to be called Stepping Razor. He was short tempered but had direct political messages in his songs.

Peter Tosh: Equal Rights:

This page has the song’s lyrics and its Japanese translation with notes. It’s great!

I don’t want no peace.

That sounds a bit shocking, but when it’s explained, it’s really understandable. If you don’t fight for equal rights and justice, there is no peace to begin with.

From Montego Bay to Treasure Beach, if you go via a town called Savanna la Mar, you’ll find his grave and home where his 96-year-old mum still lives. It’s there along the seashore. We were able to see her and took some photos with her.
There is no fixed rate, but a donation would be required.

Getting there, but the roads are getting worse as well.
The name of the guest house is Nuestra Casa (Spanish “Our House”). People call it Roger’s place.

Dogs are so cute. A father and a daughter.

The house was designed by Roger. Wow! He and his mother also live here. It catches the nice breeze from the ocean and it’s really nice.
He, himself, was teaching drama before. Now he is managing this guest house. After Lonely Planet listed this place as a recommended one, it seems to be keeping him very busy.
We hadn’t had lunch yet, so we asked for it, and had an easy afternoon this day.

The beach in front looks like this:

We walked and spent some time here and then went to an early dinner @ Jerk.
Jerk is the best restaurant around here, Roger said. You can have 5-star meals with the 2-star prices. The chef here usually is usually cooking in Cape Cod in the US (that’s where we were 5 months before and had great seafood there!) comes back to his hometown and cooks here.
We were there a bit too early, I guess, and he wasn’t cooking at this moment. A staff cooked for us. The dish was tasty, but the fish was a little too hard. I know this swordfish is quite hard, but it wasn’t too great.
* I didn’t know this, but after we came back from this trip, my doctor said I should avoid eating this fish as it contains a high-level of mercury. I also checked on the web later and the Japanese gov also warns not to eat more than twice a week. If pregnant, we should avoid it as much as we can…. Oh no! I had this fish twice in 3 days…

Back in the guesthouse, David asked for coffee and I asked for Christmas cake & ice cream. I think I haven’t had ice cream for a year or more. I can not remember the last time when I ate it. Even in the hot New York City last summer, I don’t think I ate it even once! I didn’t realize that. Wow. I don’t hate it, but we just don’t eat it at home. I don’t eat parfaits and sundaes any more since I don’t know when.. I guess I have no more interest in them. I’m getting old and tastes are changing, I guess. I still love cakes and sweets though.
The cake is home-made and Jamaican style. At a glance, it looks like a chocolate cake, but it is a fruit cake. It was yummy!