Remembering Jamaica

It's been, what, a year now since we went to Jamaica. Time sure flies by! 

Looking back on our magical adventure... I find myself craving to go back. However, before that, let's look back on some of our best experiences, both those depicted in this blog and never told before!

(This post will be updated as the memories come back to us and we feel we can pen them down)

Jamaican History

Howdy! Our posts are coming to an end, but don`t worry dear travellers, Jamaica will always be here.  I figured it`s time to talk about Jamaican history, but in depth, unlike my brief conversation with Joel.  So here we go!

The original inhabitants of Jamaica are believed to be the Arawaks, also called Tainos. They came from South America 2,500 years ago and named the island Xaymaca, which meant “land of wood and water”.

On May 5, 1494 Christopher Columbus, the European explorer, who sailed west to get to the East Indies and came upon the region now called the West Indies, landed in Jamaica. Columbus had previously heard about “the land of blessed gold”, he was soon to find out that there was no gold in Jamaica.

The Spaniards, when they came, tortured and killed the Arawaks. The newly introduced European diseases killed the most of the inhabitants because they had little to no resistance. The Spanish also transported hundreds of enslaved West Africans to the island.

The Brits invaded Jamaica in 1655. The enslaved Africans seized the moment, ran off and formed independent communities. Meanwhile, the base of pirate related operation, Port Royal, was built by the Brits.

English Jamaica`s main income used to be piracy, but got replaced by sugar in the eighteenth century. The sugar industry grew so rapidly that the 57 sugar estates in the island in 1673 grew to nearly 430 by 1739. This industry required thousands of people to work on the crops, so the Brits brought a huge amount of enslaved Africans to Jamaica. The Africans ended up outnumbering the white Englishmen with a ratio of twenty to one.

The slaves were unhappy with their treatment and status, and rebelled whenever they could. The original inhabitants also had several wars with the Brits. These rebellions and wars were a leading factor that led to the abolition of slave trade and slavery in the Caribbean. This abolition was passed on January 1th 1808.

Now on to more recent history. The Jamaica Constitution was made in 1962 and is the most fundamental legal document in the country. The document guaranties the freedom, rights and privileges of every Jamaican citizen. The Constitution reflects the county`s independence and remains the cornerstone of Jamaica`s legal systems.

I hope you enjoyed this little piece of Jamaican history, I certainly did. Farewell, dear travellers,

-Lene
http://jis.gov.jm/information/jamaican-history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jamaica

Religions in Jamaica

There are a lot religious beliefs in Jamaica, as the freedom of believing in whatever god you want, was guaranteed by Jamaica’s constitution. Though, most Jamaicans are Protestant. This is due to the Jamaican cultural development, has been deeply influenced by British traditions (European influences). Things like the language, the cuisine, and the music in Jamaica, are influenced by African culture.

Anyhow, heres a chart of the different practiced religions in Jamaica!

Of the practiced religions in Jamaica, you've got Rastafari.

Rastafari is a religion that originated from Jamaica, and began 1930 - as you may remeber, i talked a bit about reggae in a few blogposts ago! Hand in had with reggae, came Rastafari! (a popular rastan, is Bob Marley). Many parts of what we connect with Jamaica today is a big part of the religion, like dreadlocks, and drugs, but it also has a lot in common with christianity!

I hope this explained a bit about the religions in Jamaica!

-Anne

Sources: http://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/article/bob-marley-rastaman
http://school.eb.co.uk/levels/advanced/article/62747

Devon House Heritage Site

Hey, lovely readers!

Today, we went for a visit to the Devon House in Kingston.

It is quite the grand mansion, is it not? We had a short-guided tour of the area which lasted for roughly twenty minutes. (After that, we were given free ice cream!) During the tour, we saw extravagant rooms, and learned a bit about the history of the house also. I will share some of what we learned here;

George Stiebel.

The Devon House was built in the late 1800s by a man called George Stiebel. He was Jamaica’s first black millionaire, and earned money from transporting cargo and smart investments. An incredible feat, considering that he must have met a lot of resistance because of his skin colour. Devon House was only one of 99 properties which he owned, since owning 100 properties or more were illegal in Jamaica at the time. We were also told about all the Jamaica, Caribbean, English and French antiques and artefacts which previously belonged to the different owners of the house. There have been many owners of the mansion through the times, too many to list up here, but it is today a house museum and National Heritage site. Some more pictures of the Devon House;

We all enjoyed the trip to the trip to the Devon House, and the ice cream shop there only made it better. It has been a good day.

-Inger Marie

http://www.devonhousejamaica.com/page/patriarch-devon-house-hon-george-stiebel-cmg

Castleton botanical gardens

Aaand finally!! I get to tell some of the fun stuff! Castleton botanical garden. I'm not that big fan of beaches to be honest. Scratchy sand everywhere, crabs, lots of europeans on holliday, with loud children...No, definitly not my thing. Smooth, quiet tropical garden? Yes please!! The others didn't agree with me, but I convinced them to come along today, before our trip was over, we leave in just a few days you see.

Well, we left with a bus shortly after breakfast, dressed as typical tourists in shorts and caps and crazy t-shirts in every colour of the rainbow. The garden was located twenty kilometres outside of Kingston, so the drive was not long at all. there isn't much to say of the gardens, I think the pictures will say more that I can. I did however read that there are over 4000 pifferent plants there, hundreds of different species of palmtrees. They all looked alike to me, though.
 

The garden itself was opened i 1862. And so it is one of the eldest botanical gardens on the western hemisphere. Nowadays it is open to the public everyday and is a good spot for a picnic if you have a little free time on your hands.

we met a couple of nice ladies washing clothes in the river

Wasn't it lovely? We spent a couple of houres there sunbathing on the grass and eating ice cream, before we went home at four o'clock. After that we had a delicious dinner, and now we are currentlly preparing for bed.
Good night my friends!

http://wikimapia.org/10067418/Castleton-Botanical-Garden

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/teenage/Celebrating-Jamaica50---Castleton-Garden_12487524

https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g147309-d149018-i100195513-Castleton_Gardens-Jamaica.html

http://photos.wikimapia.org/p/00/00/58/74/85_big.jpg

http://www.jnht.com/_images/castle_Grdns.jpg

Sports

Greetings dearest readers! Anne here again, and amongst my fellow travellers, Anna, Sol, Inger-Marie and Lene, all hate sports and almost anything that has to do with activity, we all enjoy a game of cricket. 😋

And apparently, cricket is a game played throughout the island, basically a national obsession! I can already tell you that there will be a few games played, and a few friendships will be ended on some makeshift pitches, where you can play cricket here in Jamaica. (Though I wouldn’t mind the end of some friendships in our travel group 😉 - Just joking, hahah😂!)

Football is another popular sport here in Jamaica, while I also played a bit back in my youth In London, I have not played for ages! Anyhow, football has challenged cricket in popularity since 1998, when the national team qualified for the World Cup finals in France!

As you readers must know, Jamaica has a famous record in track that started in 1948, to today, with Usain Bolt, back in 2012 in London, which I proudly witnessed myself! 9.63 seconds, just 0.05 behind his own set world record; 9.56 seconds on the 100meters! 😁

               

Sources: http://school.eb.co.uk/levels/advanced/article/117384

    -Anne 

Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park

Hey, lovely readers!

Today we decided to get to know more about the nature of Jamaica instead of bustling and noisy Kingston. Therefore, a trip to the Blue and John Crow Mountains Park quickly came to mind. The national park lies just a one-hour trip away from New Kingston, so it was easy getting there.

We went to Holywell, an area located 900 metres above sea-level and the closest recreation area to Kingston. Before going, we had already read the National Park’s website, which stated that Holywell had 10 gazebos, a pavilion-structured garden, and a few nature trails. The first thought that came to mind from reading this was that we were going to have a picnic! So, there were some preparation needed before the trip. We had to buy all picnic-related stuff, because this was going to be the best picnic ever, and prepare sandwiches and small treats. Also, remembering to bring extra sweaters, comfy shoes and some umbrellas, should the weather change. And finally, off we went!

We had such a lovely time at Holywell, and we learned a lot. We could have gone on guided educational, coffee or bird-watching tours, but we had decided to rather take it easy and just enjoy nature with a relaxed picnic. (Though we would have gone on the bird-watching tour if it was not scheduled for 6 am! Too early for us, we would probably have fallen asleep.)

Here is a picture of our picnic; 

We had taken an informational brochure from the Visitor’s Centre at the entrance of Holywell, and I will share some of the interesting information that was printed:

Blue and John Crew Mountains National Park is dominated by cloud forest, a rare tropical mountain habitat and is also composed of three mountain ranges; Port Royal, Blue, and John Crow Mountains. Blue Mountain Peak is the highest area in Jamaica, where it lies 2256 meters above sea-level. The wildlife here is very diverse, with many rare plants, animals, birds and insects. Some of these species can only be found here in Jamaica, for example;

Jamaican Blackbird:

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly: 

Jamaican Tody:

Furthermore, The Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park supplies over 40% over Jamaica’s population with domestic water!

Truly magnificent, right? It is nice to experience nature so different to our own, and this trip was a much-needed distraction from the city-life in Kingston. However, now that we have calmed our nerves a bit, we are ready to explore more of Kingston and Jamaica.

-Inger Marie

http://www.blueandjohncrowmountains.org/sustainable-tourism/national-park-recreation-areas/holywell.html

http://www.jamaicatravelandculture.com/destinations/the_blue_mountains/holywell.htm

http://www.blueandjohncrowmountains.org/heritage/natural-heritage.html