SUN DESTINATION

Jamaica: Beyond the All-inclusive

By Judith Ritter

Swim-up bars and resort limbo contests are fun, but so is going local in Jamaica’s Garden Parish. “Lift clutch and give Saint Ann’s a shaht.” Translation? Hit the road for Saint Ann, Jamaica.

Jamaica Inn

Go for the burn

Whether at open-air stands with kerosene stoves or at more permanent outfits with plastic tables and chairs, some of the best food in Jamaica is found by the roadside in brightly painted tin-roofed kiosks. Jamaica’s favourite dish, jerk (barbecued meat or fish marinated with Scotch-bonnet peppers), is sold everywhere. Try the combustible local dish at the thatch-roofed Ultimate Jerk Centre (across from the Green Grotto Caves in Runaway Bay).

Feel the riddums

Jamaica has both upscale bars (like Margaritaville in Ocho Rios) and down-home clubs (like Jus Cheers in Saint Ann’s Bay), but the best place to feel the “riddums” of the island is at an outdoor dance. Word of mouth and ad-hoc roadside posters seem to appear by magic to announce the party’s whereabouts ­– usually a vacant lot or beach. Live bands play reggae and its grittier sister sound, dancehall music. No “dahntz” gets off the ground until after 10 p.m., and the revelry usually lasts until dawn.

Go wild

With its soaring peaks, kilometres of white-sand beaches and wild forests, Jamaica offers infinite opportunities for adventure. Ascend the steep rock ledges of Dunns River Falls as the water tumbles over 180 metres into the sea or ride a raft down the White River. For equestrians there is a three-hour horse-trail ride that goes through historic sugar plantations and out to a wild beach for a bareback ride into the turquoise Caribbean. And, if you missed it in Alaska, you can always try your hand at dogsledding in Jamaica. There are no huskies or snow – only teams of mismatched dogs mushing across the sand with glee. Check out chukkacaribbean.com for more details.

Make a pilgrimage

Jamaica is synonymous with reggae and, in particular, the music of Bob Marley. The late Marley is an icon the world over, but the route to the legend’s birthplace and gravesite is surprisingly humble. A single-lane road twists high into the mountains and eventually to the Nine Mile shrine, where guides (who punctuate every sentence with “Yah mon. Rasta love!”) show visitors Marley’s childhood home and the marble tomb where he was laid to rest with his soccer ball, bible and guitar.

Unplug

“There’s slow, slower and Jamaica” the saying goes, and the legacy guest house Jamaica Inn has it all down pat. Few things have changed since Noel Coward and Katherine Hepburn sat sipping cool drinks on the coral-stone veranda over the sea. There is still silence broken only by the waves, the wind rustling the palms and the sound of mannerly conversation and laughter. No phones, televisions, radios or clocks interfere with the unequalled pleasure of reading a good book in the inn’s open-air library. Eighty-year-old Arthur Boyne, guardian of the inn’s beach chairs and towels for fifty years, admits, “It is a little noisier now… but, mostly, time stands still.” Which is a good thing. He is well-acquainted with his guests and knows that “they don’t want nothin’ changed!”

(Judith Ritter is a Montreal-based writer and a frequent contributor to public radio in the U.S.)

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