Ochos Rios, Jamaica
Today, we arrived in Ochos Rios on the island of Jamaica.
Along with most of the other lecturers, we were drafted in to escort a tour to the Koyoba River Gardens (oh Goodee… more gardens…).
To be fair, the gardens were quite impressive, with water features galore and humming birds darting around all over the place. I wasn’t overkeen on seeing so many caged birds. All the guides; both in the minibuses and at the gardens were characteristically full of life, with ‘Ya Mon’s and ‘No Problem’s at every turn; all wanted to sing Bob Marley to us as often as they could.
Sometimes, though, the burstingly high spirits feel a little forced, and not always natural. Don’t get me wrong, this is Jamaica; if you can’t be bursting with coolness and full of high spirits here, then where can you? Unfortunately, the gardens were full of people since there were about 5 coach-loads from our ship alone. There were two other cruise ships in, too (P&O Oriana and a Celebrity ship), so as the morning went on, more and more people seemed to be arriving at the park and any charm that it did possess seemed diluted by the crowds.
A communication problem meant that the guides from several of the groups were trying to wrap the tour up and have us back on the coaches at 11am, despite the fact that the itinerary the escorts had been given clearly stated there should be free time at the end, and that we should not be leaving until 11:45. The falls were another issue…
Koyoba River Falls, right next to the water garden, which are quite impressive when viewed from the right location, were supposed to give visitors an opportunity to bathe in the pools at the bottom, or even climb them if people wanted to. Our guide showed us the top of the falls (which is slightly underwhelming and doesn’t entirely do them justice) and completely failed to mention the steps leading down to the bottom of them where the view of the falls is more expansive, or give folks the time to explore them properly. In other words; it was all a little bit frustrating.
On the way back to the ship, we stopped off at a busy downtown shopping area, where the guides were clearly on commission for getting as many passengers as they could through the doors of certain shops. Tracey and I wandered off to look at a large craft market right next door to the shoppping area, and rather wished we hadn’t. Every single stall we passed meant having its proprietor approach us and virtually beg us to look at their goods. Even though we kept telling them that we had no money (which is true because we’d just spent it on a couple of t-shirts in another shop), they would say ‘No Problem’… but clearly there was a problem because we weren’t going to be spending any money on their stall any time soon. The problem is; all the stalls looked identical, all selling exactly the same brightly-coloured shirts, hats and jewellery, Bob Marley hats and ukelelies. The incessant haranguing became quite tiresome, and we were happy when we were finally back on the coaches heading back to the ship.
After lunch, Tracey and I took a walk back into Ochos Rios, only to be harrassed and harangued further. If it wasn’t a shopkeeper hassling us, it would be a taxi driver or beggar with outstretched hands… all wanting our money.
It’s all a bit of a shame. The new ‘improvements’ being made to the cruise terminal in Ochos Rios simply means more of the same endless stalls and shops, bars and beggars, which just leaves the visitor with a poor impression of the place.
It wasn’t until we’d turned back towards the terminal, on the main street, that we found a little bit of Jamaica that fell almost genuine. It was in a small, delightfully understated bar where the beers didn’t cost an arm and a leg and the entertainment was being provided by a young man playing a set of steel drums in the corner. We stopped for a couple of drinks (one of them bbought for me by one of the passengers in my on-board art class, which was nice…), before heading back to the ship in time for sailaway at 6pm.
It’s another sea-day tomorrow, and another class, as we sail towards our next destination, Santa Domingo in Dominican Republic.
