Falls

A few weeks back we drove across the island to the north shore to see the beach.  There was a great deal of beautiful scenery along the way.

Kingston is a busy, dusty, noisy place, but it doesn't take long to drive into the more peaceful parts of the country.  The forests are incredibly lush and the road through the center of the island us carved from rolling rock and thickly growing trees.  The effect is most often that of a tunnel, the green light filtering through dense leaves above.  With the windows down, you can smell the rich air rolling past. 

It takes just under two hours to get to the north shore.  We stopped for lunch and had jerked pork.  Jerked meat is very spicy and loosened my sinuses quite a bit, but it is incredibly tasty.  They also serve it with 'festival bread' which is a sort of fried breadroll that is, in my opinion, the apex of the culinary arts.

Our destination was Dunn's River Falls.  It's a little touristy; in fact while waiting in line I met a bunch of Quebecois tourists on holiday.  I had fun showing off and speaking French with them.  They were quite friendly and happy to meet a fellow canuck.

The falls themselves are marvelous.  We made our way down a series of footpaths, watching the small river turn to rapids before cascading down rugged rocks towards the sea.  We followed it all the way down and looked up from the sand on the beach to see the white, rushing streams of cold, clear water.

I didn't take any pictures, but fortunately google has plenty of images of the very waterfall we saw.

After taking in the sights we made way for big lines of tourists, who rented rock climbing shoes and actually made their way with guides up the falls.  It's certainly a way to beat the heat.  But it being January, the Jamaicans complained of the cold.  It must have been 20-25 degrees C. (75 F)

The beach, however, was delightful and full of pale yellow sand.  There were plenty of palm trees and the surf really did look a lighter blue than you'd find anywhere in Canada.  I did jump into the slightly-below-room-temperature water for a splash and found it totally relaxing.   I felt the extremely salty taste brush my lips.  Also, it's easier to float in very salty water I think: I seemed to find it much easier to swim.  But mostly I just floated about and watched the huge waves from the endless ocean roll slowly over the horizon and endlessly buoy me up... and down... over and over again.  It was very cosmic.

On the drive back, we listened to Jamaican Radio, an endless iteration of club and dance mixes blended into one another and mixed together by a DJ who, in a land of DJs, must be indeed skilled to earn his position.  The songs don't start and stop, but carry over into eachother, borrowing basslines or looped choruses.  It was interesting to listen to.

Also, I started getting to know my host, a member of the Jesuit community, a bit better.  We shared some of the more important aspects of our faith and our hopes for our future lives as Jesuits.  For both of us, the radical power of God's forgiveness was an extremely important theme.  As night fell, I felt I was home, talking with my friend.  

I miss all of my friends, scattered across the globe.  But it makes me happy to write to you and share something of my experiences.  Be well!