Bless this coffee…
Biking through the posh neighborhoods, and gully communities, which seem to pass one into the other so abruptly in this bifurcated city, on a quiet cool Sunday morning can be a wonderful thing. Especially when there is rum to sweat out of the system, and the church choirs are just picking up steam in the omnipresent jamaican churches.
Destination: my favorite coffee shop, to check the morning's news and views and to recaffeinate for the ride home (unfortunately it is all up hill...).
One of their morning's first customers, I am privileged to witness the opening group prayer, what I assume is a daily ritual performed by the crew of pleasant young women who always serve me the lovely Blue Mountain coffee with a suggestive smile. Not simply a prayer, though, as much as a five minute plunge into song and hymn, holding hands in a tight circle, eyes closed, oblivious to the cafe patrons who continue to file in, patiently waiting for their own chance at redemption through ritual... Though their sacrament of coffee is not quite the same...
King Fish in Port Antonio
The rainy season makes it a little harder to enjoy the beaches of Portland, on the North Coast of Jamaica. But that can't stop us from indulging in the bounties of the sea!
Saturday had us at a nice place on the outskirts of Port Antonio, in the Parish of Portland, called Anna Banana. The king fish steak, steamed, was excellent.
The Living and the Dead in Jamaica
A friend once told me, as we drove together over the Blue Mountains from Kingston to the much more pleasant North Coast, that Jamaicans treat the dead better than the living.
The notorious Nigh Night, a massive party involving dancing, food, drink, music, and in some cases I hear, shots fired into the air, is the culmination to a long period of mourning and partying before a deceased person's soul is finally sent on its way.
Graves in Jamaica can range from the modest and tradition to the perhaps distastefully outlandish. This cemetery in St. Andrew, on the way to St. Mary, told a million little stories, from the memorials scratched in a grave while the cement was still wet, to the trash on the ground, the rum bottles and cookies laid on a loved one's shrine of a grave, to the elaborate mausoleumof a final resting place.
Limitations of Rationalism
Political Science. It was so easy to say, back at university, answering "what's your major." What a wonderful feeling, learning grand models that could not only explain but help you predict human behavior.
Now, having lived in the realm of international relations, in one form or another, for a number of years, I long for those days of confidence. Not to exaggerate the simplicity of my education, of course - there was plenty of skeptical back and forth. But at the end of the semester you still walked away with your grand theories.
Human, or government for that matter, behavior, presents itself as irrational more often than it rings of realism or liberalism etc, in far too many cases. Navigating the webs of relations and causes/effects can leave one with head spinning...
You mean I get to do this for a job?
I stole the sign saying "Seating Reserved for Diplomatic Corps."
Jamaicans love their loud music in the first place, so a stadium packed with 30,000 rabid tribal political supporters, with as many airhorns, called for speakers this big.
Jamaica's People's National Party, currently the opposition party in government, held its final National Convention before the next general election, when its leadership promises to take back the government it lost to the Jamaican Labor Party in 2007. It has, indeed, been an eventful four years under JLP leadership, with what amounts to warfare in Tivoli Gardens, global recessions, changes in the tides of global powers and alliances, and a myriad domestic woes.
The public session on Sunday set an all time record for attendance.
Inspiring the crowd - Jamaican style.
Snacking Through a Sunday
Sunday afternoon stirfrying, Jamaican veggies
Finally arrived in Kingston - FroYo!
Finally arrived in Kingston - FroYo!
My favorite Orange Seller, on Olivier Road
Country Driving
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- The biggest Avacado ever
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- Awesome lunch at Mr. Lee’s
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- Mr. Lee’s roof, St. Mary
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- Avocado Tree
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- Giant spiders in St. Mary
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- Unique Advertising
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- Washing Clothes in the river
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Ted Meinhover
Monday, February 6th at 15:24 Ted Meinhover shared Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's photo.
"Winged Spirits: Birds in Chinese Painting"
Name That Bird! Recognized by my forked tail, I’m one of the first birds to return in spring, heralding warmth and flowers. In this painting, the remaining strong winds of winter ruffle feathers, bend branches, and roil waves. What am I? ("Winged Spirits" opens next Sat!) http://ow.ly/i/ruIq
February 11 - August 5, 2012
By: Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Ted Meinhover
Sunday, February 5th at 15:53 Hey, I still have familial obligations... Alphonso, my beta fish, wouldn't last too long on his own.
Ted Meinhover
Sunday, February 5th at 14:31 About time I get back on the ol' bike
http://connect.garmin.com/player/147340211
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