“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” ~ Khalil Gibran.

In the midst of my current whirlwind schedule, I am having a hard time knowing where I am. It only lasts a moment or two on waking up, as I try to recognize landmarks around me.  This is what happens when you travel to multiple states in a few weeks, then go out of the country and stay in several homes.  To find myself in my own bedroom this morning (but we’ll be on the road again shortly) was a little discombobulating!  But it is a confusion I cannot complain about.

It is difficult to explain the totality that is life in Jamaica to anyone who has not lived there.  As I drove in the deep countryside, where you can still see men riding their donkeys on the way to and from their farm, machete in hand; where you can still see women walking with their burdens on their head; where going barefoot is still common; where clothing dries outside on a line; I recognized something all Jamaicans know: Jamaicans have style. Even the simplest concrete home includes artistic swirls and moldings that add flair to their design.  Gardens are full of tropical flowers, and there is pride on display in even the smallest of homes.

My parents lived in Jamaica for a total of 23 of their working adult lives, the last decades before they retired to Wales and lived for another thirty years or so.  After my father’s death, my mother lived her last five years in a very nice apartment, part of a residence for retired people.  She had her own space, but could join the others downstairs for dinner.  There were group activities arranged, and occasional performances. At one such occasion she complained that the entertainment was very ‘provincial’, a putdown that I realized arose from her being used to the Jamaican experience.  In Jamaica (which was the opening line to a poem I no longer remember) things are always elevated.  Any room in which there is to be a performance is decorated with not just flowers, but artistically designed flower arrangements.  Swathes of cloth are stretched and placed in a way to highlight the stage. Everyone will wear their finest, and the entertainment will be of the highest quality.  In Jamaica. And this would be in the simplest of locations.  So my mother was spoiled.

Yes, Jamaica is a world of contradictions and unexpected treasures.  Last Friday we made our way, painfully and slowly as the road did not permit speeding, to a venue we had found online during our search for bird sanctuaries.  One of the lessons we learned while traversing the countryside, is that a country kilometer is way longer than a mile, or at least it feels that way as you inch your way around potholes, trying to dodge the worst of the worst.  This particular road not only called for caution in navigating the road, in places it was narrow enough that when you met an oncoming vehicle, one of you had to reverse to a wide enough spot for the other to pass! In the meantime we were driving on roads that looked to have been blasted out of solid rock, and at times the canopy was so dense, the sun rarely peeked through, making you feel you were a part of the mountainside, like an insect on a forest floor. 

We overshot our destination, and I had to walk back up a steep hill to see where the site was.  A worried young lady came out of her shop to ask if I was alright! Oh yes, I reassured her, but is this where the Ahhh Ras Natango Gallery and Garden is? And the young lady (and a gaggle of young children) were happy to show me the driveway up to said venue.  Which was an even steeper hill!

Those who follow me on Facebook may have already seen photos of this wonderful, award-winning tourist spot.  The photos cannot do it justice.  The garden was impossibly created on the side of a cliff, using the ancient art of terraces, and so the plants have to be carefully chosen to be able to withstand the challenges of the environment.  Everything which can be recycled is, and much of the soil has originated from composting (no vehicle could come up their driveway to deliver truckloads of soil!).  The tour includes the history of the family’s development of the spot and some of the obstacles they had to overcome.  Much of their journey involved great struggles, with moments of serendipity when life opened doors that they had not expected.  There is not only beauty as far as the eye can see in the diversity and profusion of plant life, (including views all the way down to the Caribbean Sea and the town of Montego Bay), at the end of the tour there is the gallery of art and woodwork, and (always my favorite) a gift-shop with handmade treasures to tempt you.  During the tour, the resident scissor-tailed hummingbirds (known as Doctor Birds in Jamaica), with their iridescent green breasts, swoop in to perch on your finger and dip their beaks into the feeder provided.  They are named and tame, unscared by the sound of camera shutters clicking,

Part of the story of the development of the land includes the unearthing of a quartz lode, and chunks of quarts can be found glinting at you from spots around the garden.  The family left much of it undisturbed, and this explains the steep angle of the driveway.  It also provided healing energy, so that the visit not only pleases all of the senses, it leaves you feeling healed of whatever aches and pains you may have.

Coming back to the ease and convenience of American city life is a bit jarring, and I am experiencing whiplash.  It will take a while for the sights and glimpses of the Jamaican countryside to dissipate, currently they still sneak into the edge of my peripheral vision.  I am once again reminded of how much we take for granted when we live in an instant gratification world, where nothing is hard to obtain whether by running out to the mall or ordering on Amazon for same-day delivery.  I have appreciated knowing that resources such as water are finite, and should be used carefully, and reused where possible.  I have thought about garbage and how much we waste.  I have recognized how our wasteful lifestyles contribute to the destruction of our planet and our current extreme weather events.  But I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to travel and have such wonderful experiences.

This Friday morning, I hope you have enough.  I hope you can appreciate the beauty of our world in all of its presentations.  I hope that you have your own garden to provide therapy for what ails you. And I hope that, if you are in an area which is experiencing severe heat, you are able to stay as cool and hydrated as possible. 

Have a wonderful weekend, Family!

One Love!

Namaste.