Jamaica (III). Ocho Rios and Discovery Bay

In Ocho Rios, the main tourist attraction is Dunn River's Falls. Actually, it appears even in Jamaican money, in one of the largest notes.

This is Dunn River's Falls. Without any doubt, one of the highlights of our trip to Jamaica. It is a chain of waterfalls which end in the beach. You go there, rent some water shoes and start climbing from the beach. After one hour or a bit more, you get to the top. While you climb, there are many pools and it is nice to stop and relax there, with beautiful scenery around you. The only problem is the crowds!!

Me at one of the most beautiful spots:



This is the beach from where we started our climbing adventure.



After Dunn River's Falls, we came back to Ocho Rios and tried to visit Reggae Xplossion, the most important Jamaican music museum in the island. But it closed down forever!!! a pitty...



Then, we relaxed in a nearby beach, whose name I barely remember... maybe Turtle Beach...



Then, time for a craft market...



The next day, we continued traveling West, towards Montego Bay. However, we stopped at Discovery Bay, the place where Christopher Columbus (or Cristóbal Colón) arrived in Jamaica. He got to the island a couple of years after arriving for the first time at America (Bahamas). This bay was the place of the arrival.

Now, there is a small not so interesting park called Columbus Park. Some photos taken there:

Jamaica (II). Port Antonio

After almost 3 hours in that packed bus, we got to Port Antonio. The change with respect to Kingston was dramatic: a small little town with a lot of activity.

First thing, getting a room there. We ended up in a great victorian-style hotel with views to the Caribbean sea! Not bad!



That evening was a relaxed one: some cocktails by the sea...



... and first swims in the Jamaican Caribbean.



The next day, it was a really nice one! We went around Port Antonio, to the really famous places in that area, many of which have appeared in Hollywood movies: Blue Lagoon, Cocktail...

First stop, the Blue Lagoon. It is an amazing blue lagoon in a place where the sea gets in land. It is really deep, more than 50m!, and that together with some rivers putting fresh water into it create this amazing color!




After swimming a little bit there and trying to get really deep, we hired a boat and went around.



We went back into the Blue Lagoon, Monkey Island, Cocktail beach and Sunset beach. Wow, that was the Caribbean in its purest!! :)

This is Monkey Island:



And this, Sunset Beach:



Then, we moved to French Man's Cove, another amazing beach. That beach is really special! There is a river getting to a beautiful small beach surrounded by rocks. You can swim both in the river and in the sea!!




At night, we traveled by route taxi to Ocho Rios. A route taxi is a car that goes from the city of one city to the center of the next. If you want to travel for a while, you normally have to transfer several times. But that is easy... You say where your final destination is and everybody around will do all they can to put you in their friend's car! ;)

Jamaica (I). Kingston

My holidays this year were in Jamaica. I went with Naoko to Jamaica for 8/9 days. We planned to go to Cuba as well, but it was expensive and we decided to visit all the island we were at. These are the places we visited (the ones with pins). As you can see we traveled all the island and mixed with locals quite a lot, unlike most tourists to Jamaica!



We flew into Kingston, the capital city. Kingston is the only real city in the island and one of the only in the Caribbean. It has around one million inhabitants. According to the statistics, it is the most dangerous city in the world!! 2 people killed here every single day. This is due to the fact that there are some dangerous shanty towns where drug wars and mafias are strong. As a tourist you have to stay out of that areas!! We passed by riding a bus and I tell you it is not the greatest place on Earth! I did not even dare to take any photos...

Kingston does not have much for tourist to see actually. The main places to visit are Bob Marley House and Devon House.

Before getting down to those, two photos:

1. People riding bikes and wearing this kind of clothes and hats made us realize we were really in Jamaica, home of reggae!



2. Streets in Kingston look really rural, very appropriate for a tropical island in the Caribbean!



Well, now, Bob Marley House. This is the house where the music legend lived in Kingston. Here, he composed and even recorded some of the greatest hits in music history. The house is well preserved and some rooms were left as he left them. It really makes you feel it is a special place. No photos allowed. The gardens were painted or decorated with his paintings and photos.



And there was a nice statue of him at the entrance of the house.



The other tourist attraction is Devon House, a colonial house built by the first rich black man in Jamaica. Quite a nice house!!




Night life in Kingston is quite intense, but it was difficult to find old-school reggae in the sense of Bob Marley. Current Jamaican music has its roots in reggae but it is closer to club music, with more aggressive lyrics and way of singing.

After one day and a half, we moved to the North East, to Port Antonio, perhaps the last undeveloped beach area in Jamaican North Shore. The way to get there, a tightly packed local bus!! More than 20 people in such a minibus... challenging!! We would have to get used to get squeeze beyond imagination!!! I would have never thought a car can bring up to 10 adult passengers!!!! before Jamaica...

Nombre desafortunado en Canadá

Sí, Nganha (pronúnciese Engañá... o eso espero!) es el nombre de una oficina de cambio de moneda y préstamos. El dueño no debe saber mucho español... o nunca habría llamado su tienda así! Confianza lo que es confianza, pues que no da mucha ;)

Visto en Toronto, ON / Seen in Toronto, ON:


Explanation: This post is written in Spanish because that is the language in which it is "funny", or intents to... The text on the window, pronounced as a Spanish speaker would pronounce it, literally means "Cheated". Considering this business is a loan and currency exchange office, well... not very trustable! XD

Fires in LA

As you may have heard in the news, there are big fires in LA right now. They have been active for more than one week now. Some historical landmarks such as Mount Wilson astronomical observatory have been threatened by the fire blazes.

The fires are just next to Pasadena. Actually, all the neighboring towns (Altadena, La Cañada, Glendale...) have been partially evacuated. The situation is that the city is covered in smoke and the sun has a spectral appearance...

The smoke covering the mountains where the fires are:



This is what the Sun looked like today at 2pm:



And these are the shadows it creates... The colors are strange, too reddish... It feels like twilight but it is just after noon.




And this morning, everything smelled burnt when I opened my windows...

Back from Toronto and Niagara Falls

Last Friday, I went to Niagara Falls and have stayed until Monday night in that area. I visited the Falls (both the US and Canadian sides) and I traveled to Toronto, a great city!!

The videos...

I have posted tens of photos but, I also have some videos! I uploaded some days ago in youtube. Here they are!

On The Road

My last road trip last for 9 days and was 5000km long. I passed by California, Nevada,Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Not bad!! As you can imagine, I saw many different landscapes and I had the opportunity to take some photos on the road.

State panels:

- Arizona (sorry for this one, not too clear!)



- Utah (click on the image to see it better...)



- Idaho



- Wyoming



- Montana



I passed by Mormon towns in Utah...




... striped hills in the desert...



... and amazing road cliffs in Utah.



I drove so much that, in one night, the landscape changed dramatically! From the red lands in Utah desert to the green scenery in Idaho/Wyoming/Montana. Quite a change!!





And on my way back, I went through Nevada Great Basin and enjoyed the views.



I also found trucks which can be driven in both senses (forward and backwards) ;P



And had to drive in horrible weather conditions in some mountain passes.



The last night, I could also enjoy a beautiful sunset as I approached Las Vegas.



So many hours behind the wheel give you much time to think and to enjoy the landscape. You can empty your head and just enjoy the drive. Quite a nice experience!