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Last week I went for my 3rd visit to Jamaica. As part of my job as a research prof, I managed to insert myself in a collaboration in the Caribbean with University of West Indies as a chief partner. Most of my trips end up at the Mona campus in Kingston, Jamaica. Unfortunately, I tend to stay on the campus at the vistor lodge for safety and during the week I am pretty much spending all my time in the chemistry labs over there working with a graduate student that I'm co-supervising. On Saturday, my only day free, they took me to one of the beaches and I had a wonderful meal of fried fish escrovitch - which consists of dipping the fish in a spicy concoction of vinegar, onions and scotchbonnet peppers (yum). I was supposed to visit one of the nature reserves with one of my hosts, but they came down sick - probably some virus I unwittingly brought them during my close interaction with them all week. So the beach trip was an alternate destination with somebody else. Well, it was still good to get off campus!
Anyhow, Kingston, Jamaica has its unique vibe and tropical flair. The nights were alive with various concerts at the student arts building. Prince Harri came for a visit during my week there and I managed to see him driving by in his vehicle along with his security entourage (big whip)...The Jamaican woman come in all shapes and sizes, but being on campus most of the time meant they were at that age of mostly being beautiful
They are very polite with a sing song voice (but less sing songy as the Trindadians) and always give a bright smile and reply when you say good morning (In the Caribbean, saying good morning during the morning hours always illicits an immediate and warm response).
The food on campus sucks, mostly fast food Jamaican patties (like samosas) and KFC. But my hosts were generous enough to take me off campus for some wonderful lunches. I had some of the best Jamaican Jerk chicken at a local haunt known for such called Scotchies, some wonderful steamed snapper and of course the eskovitch parrot fish. Right now its hot over there and humid, much like our Windsor weather during august. All and all, a good working trip, but not much for vacations or getting out there.
Some shots of the campus - one of the buildings on campus I kept staring at from the Chemistry lab I was in.
A view of the blue mountains and a forest fire which was happening on the first day I arrived.
More shots from the door outside my lab - quite a scenic spot!
A fruit bat decided to nestle in the rafters above the lab. You could tell it was a fruitbat from the stained guano underneath it.
The chapel on campus, originally a rum distillary in another part of Jamaica. They moved it brick by brick to the campus to rebuild it into a christian church.
Lining the chapel were cedar trees. I thought it interesting that I found some decent bowdrill wood in a different part of the world!
The old aquaduct that used to supply water to the slave plantation the existed prior to the campus. Not operational anymore, but the remnants are pretty cool.
A mango tree. I usually go to Jamaica during the winters but have yet to be there during the mango season which is later in May. I'm told by many of my Caribbean friends (even those outside of Jamaica) that Jamaica mangos are among the best. Also, from my own experience, there really isn't anything quite as fantastic as a mango fresh picked. These guys are still quite green.
Breadfruit - nice tasting when blackened over fire and then deep fried. Yum!
Christmas palm fruits still in colour. Non-edible but interesting.
View from below some kind of tropical locust
I took this shot, because my grad students would get a kick out of this....They probably would want their own sign just like it.
This was the jerk smokers at Scotchies where we had their famous jerk chicken. The jerk pork was also quite wonderful.
A couple of pictures of Devon Place, Kingston where we had lunch. They are well known for their stone oven cooked patties and ice-cream. I had a couple of fish patties and they were amazing. The grounds have large gardens on which to lose yourself in contemplation.
A shot of those crazy looking palms guarding the gate.
The beach we went to on Saturday. I'm really not a fan of beaches. Too sterile for my tastes. Find me a tide pool to play with the anenamies and shellfish anyday....But gotta make due..
But there was a local fish serving place called Andre's where I had some wonderful eskovitch parrot fish. It was a meal worth the uninteresting setting of a tropical beach...
Alas, an almond tree at the parking lot of the beach. It is quite exciting seeing some of these exotic trees and matching them to the nuts so common in our diet!
Thats about it for the trip. I was due to arrive on Sunday night. My plane leaving Jamaica was late two hours and this caused me to miss my connecting flight from Miami. Miami airport is pretty much the worst airport on earth when you are coming from out of country. It was an hour and 20 minutes just getting to see a customs officer and then another 45 min navigating through security as they bump you out of the security when arriving to this airport internationally. I had to stay an extra night in Miami as my connecting flight to Detroit was the last to leave that night. Today I arrived and then had to make new arrangements to get myself from Detroit back to Canada. Next time, I think I'll take the 30% higher ticket cost from Toronto to Jamaica, just to avoid the Miami Airport experience - it is that horrible! I have two pounds of Blue Mountain coffee to remember my trip from and a few pics. I'll probably be back next year to see how this research project is going and keep pushing it along.
Hope you enjoyed the trip log.
Anyhow, Kingston, Jamaica has its unique vibe and tropical flair. The nights were alive with various concerts at the student arts building. Prince Harri came for a visit during my week there and I managed to see him driving by in his vehicle along with his security entourage (big whip)...The Jamaican woman come in all shapes and sizes, but being on campus most of the time meant they were at that age of mostly being beautiful
They are very polite with a sing song voice (but less sing songy as the Trindadians) and always give a bright smile and reply when you say good morning (In the Caribbean, saying good morning during the morning hours always illicits an immediate and warm response).The food on campus sucks, mostly fast food Jamaican patties (like samosas) and KFC. But my hosts were generous enough to take me off campus for some wonderful lunches. I had some of the best Jamaican Jerk chicken at a local haunt known for such called Scotchies, some wonderful steamed snapper and of course the eskovitch parrot fish. Right now its hot over there and humid, much like our Windsor weather during august. All and all, a good working trip, but not much for vacations or getting out there.
Some shots of the campus - one of the buildings on campus I kept staring at from the Chemistry lab I was in.
A view of the blue mountains and a forest fire which was happening on the first day I arrived.
More shots from the door outside my lab - quite a scenic spot!
A fruit bat decided to nestle in the rafters above the lab. You could tell it was a fruitbat from the stained guano underneath it.
The chapel on campus, originally a rum distillary in another part of Jamaica. They moved it brick by brick to the campus to rebuild it into a christian church.
Lining the chapel were cedar trees. I thought it interesting that I found some decent bowdrill wood in a different part of the world!
The old aquaduct that used to supply water to the slave plantation the existed prior to the campus. Not operational anymore, but the remnants are pretty cool.
A mango tree. I usually go to Jamaica during the winters but have yet to be there during the mango season which is later in May. I'm told by many of my Caribbean friends (even those outside of Jamaica) that Jamaica mangos are among the best. Also, from my own experience, there really isn't anything quite as fantastic as a mango fresh picked. These guys are still quite green.
Breadfruit - nice tasting when blackened over fire and then deep fried. Yum!
Christmas palm fruits still in colour. Non-edible but interesting.
View from below some kind of tropical locust
I took this shot, because my grad students would get a kick out of this....They probably would want their own sign just like it.
This was the jerk smokers at Scotchies where we had their famous jerk chicken. The jerk pork was also quite wonderful.
A couple of pictures of Devon Place, Kingston where we had lunch. They are well known for their stone oven cooked patties and ice-cream. I had a couple of fish patties and they were amazing. The grounds have large gardens on which to lose yourself in contemplation.
A shot of those crazy looking palms guarding the gate.
The beach we went to on Saturday. I'm really not a fan of beaches. Too sterile for my tastes. Find me a tide pool to play with the anenamies and shellfish anyday....But gotta make due..
But there was a local fish serving place called Andre's where I had some wonderful eskovitch parrot fish. It was a meal worth the uninteresting setting of a tropical beach...
Alas, an almond tree at the parking lot of the beach. It is quite exciting seeing some of these exotic trees and matching them to the nuts so common in our diet!
Thats about it for the trip. I was due to arrive on Sunday night. My plane leaving Jamaica was late two hours and this caused me to miss my connecting flight from Miami. Miami airport is pretty much the worst airport on earth when you are coming from out of country. It was an hour and 20 minutes just getting to see a customs officer and then another 45 min navigating through security as they bump you out of the security when arriving to this airport internationally. I had to stay an extra night in Miami as my connecting flight to Detroit was the last to leave that night. Today I arrived and then had to make new arrangements to get myself from Detroit back to Canada. Next time, I think I'll take the 30% higher ticket cost from Toronto to Jamaica, just to avoid the Miami Airport experience - it is that horrible! I have two pounds of Blue Mountain coffee to remember my trip from and a few pics. I'll probably be back next year to see how this research project is going and keep pushing it along.
Hope you enjoyed the trip log.
