Tweet
Precarious Perch In The Blue Mountains
Published: Tuesday | January 31, 201210 Comments
The road to Newcastle is narrow and winding and huge rocks sometimes fall from the mountains and limit access, like this one did in 2006.
1 2 >
Taking a slow, deep breath while high in the Blue Mountains is something everyone should do before they die. It would be difficult to convince me that air can get any fresher than that.
I was about 10 feet from a blue, metal sign indicating that I was in Newcastle. It was a very narrow, winding roadway that led me to that spot. I had moments earlier got out of the car and was standing near a precipice taking in the view. There were bright green mountains everywhere and, in the distance, the clear, blue sea.
It was nice, though I wondered why it seemed nobody lived there. I could see, in the distance, the Jamaica Defence Force training centre for which the area is perhaps best known, but there were no houses or people walking about. Having left a hot and noisy Kingston that morning to get there, I was rather enjoying the moments of solitude and silence. Then, a shuffle.
I looked behind me but saw nothing more than the now-vacant road that had led me there. In front, the Newcastle sign and an unusually plump hummingbird. Strange.
Seemingly fragile tree
I ignored the sound and resumed my examination of the view. A few seconds later - shuffle, shuffle. This time, the source of the noise was revealed. At the very top of a tall, seemingly fragile coconut tree, I could make out the figure of a man. I had to blink twice to ensure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, for surely no one would be so foolhardy as to take up such a precarious perch. If he were to lose balance, he would have fallen several feet to the ground only to surely roll several feet more downhill. My squinting confirmed that there was, in fact, a man in the tree, and my sheer alarm at the situation prompted me to call out to him. I believe I said something along the lines of, "What are you doing, you lunatic?!"
The man whirled around and looked at me. He seemed as surprised I was.
"Wah gwaan?" he bellowed. "Mi ah come dung!"
Then, in what seemed like one swift move, the man spun around, wrapped his arms around the tree as if it were his ballroom dance partner and walked backwards down the tree. In no time, he was near its base and, after a mighty leap, he landed on solid ground.
I was relieved, but he seemed nonchalant about the entire affair. As he ran up to meet me, I could see that he was wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of yellow trousers. If ever the pants belonged to him, he had years ago outgrown them. They fell well short of his ankles.
Strange Sleeping spot
"How yuh do, man?" he asked. "Is where yuh looking for, di camp?"
I told him I wasn't and quickly asked him what he was doing in the tree. He laughed, heartily.
"Oh, mi just ah cool out, man. No ready nuts nuh deh pan it right now. Mi just ah teck in some breeze and hold off a one sleep," he said, casually.
I asked him how he could sleep in such a place.
He laughed again.
"No man! Mi nah drop. Mi nuh move when mi sleep," he said.
Though his reasoning seemed unreasonable, I decided not to press the matter. Instead, I told him how much I liked Newcastle and that I was surprised there weren't more people living there.
The man, who told me everyone calls him Becky (short for Beckford), said that hundreds of people live in Newcastle. He said the houses were scattered all along the mountains and most residents were at work at that time of the day.
"But people live here, man. Nuff people," he said.
Becky said he sells box and bag juices in Papine, but had taken the day off to rest. Apparently, the previous day was particularly taxing.
"Yuh caan overwork, yuh know. Yuh haffi teck it easy sometime. Caan just get up every day ah work till yuh fool," he said.
I told him I saw the value of his words but joked that perhaps there were better places to take it easy than at the top of a not-so-sturdy-looking coconut tree. Becky laughed.
"Cho man! Hee hee. Ah tru yuh nuh know," he said. "Nowhere nuh sweet like deh so. If ah never two ting all now mi in deh ah snore."
Published: Tuesday | January 31, 201210 Comments
The road to Newcastle is narrow and winding and huge rocks sometimes fall from the mountains and limit access, like this one did in 2006.
1 2 >
Taking a slow, deep breath while high in the Blue Mountains is something everyone should do before they die. It would be difficult to convince me that air can get any fresher than that.
I was about 10 feet from a blue, metal sign indicating that I was in Newcastle. It was a very narrow, winding roadway that led me to that spot. I had moments earlier got out of the car and was standing near a precipice taking in the view. There were bright green mountains everywhere and, in the distance, the clear, blue sea.
It was nice, though I wondered why it seemed nobody lived there. I could see, in the distance, the Jamaica Defence Force training centre for which the area is perhaps best known, but there were no houses or people walking about. Having left a hot and noisy Kingston that morning to get there, I was rather enjoying the moments of solitude and silence. Then, a shuffle.
I looked behind me but saw nothing more than the now-vacant road that had led me there. In front, the Newcastle sign and an unusually plump hummingbird. Strange.
Seemingly fragile tree
I ignored the sound and resumed my examination of the view. A few seconds later - shuffle, shuffle. This time, the source of the noise was revealed. At the very top of a tall, seemingly fragile coconut tree, I could make out the figure of a man. I had to blink twice to ensure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, for surely no one would be so foolhardy as to take up such a precarious perch. If he were to lose balance, he would have fallen several feet to the ground only to surely roll several feet more downhill. My squinting confirmed that there was, in fact, a man in the tree, and my sheer alarm at the situation prompted me to call out to him. I believe I said something along the lines of, "What are you doing, you lunatic?!"
The man whirled around and looked at me. He seemed as surprised I was.
"Wah gwaan?" he bellowed. "Mi ah come dung!"
Then, in what seemed like one swift move, the man spun around, wrapped his arms around the tree as if it were his ballroom dance partner and walked backwards down the tree. In no time, he was near its base and, after a mighty leap, he landed on solid ground.
I was relieved, but he seemed nonchalant about the entire affair. As he ran up to meet me, I could see that he was wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of yellow trousers. If ever the pants belonged to him, he had years ago outgrown them. They fell well short of his ankles.
Strange Sleeping spot
"How yuh do, man?" he asked. "Is where yuh looking for, di camp?"
I told him I wasn't and quickly asked him what he was doing in the tree. He laughed, heartily.
"Oh, mi just ah cool out, man. No ready nuts nuh deh pan it right now. Mi just ah teck in some breeze and hold off a one sleep," he said, casually.
I asked him how he could sleep in such a place.
He laughed again.
"No man! Mi nah drop. Mi nuh move when mi sleep," he said.
Though his reasoning seemed unreasonable, I decided not to press the matter. Instead, I told him how much I liked Newcastle and that I was surprised there weren't more people living there.
The man, who told me everyone calls him Becky (short for Beckford), said that hundreds of people live in Newcastle. He said the houses were scattered all along the mountains and most residents were at work at that time of the day.
"But people live here, man. Nuff people," he said.
Becky said he sells box and bag juices in Papine, but had taken the day off to rest. Apparently, the previous day was particularly taxing.
"Yuh caan overwork, yuh know. Yuh haffi teck it easy sometime. Caan just get up every day ah work till yuh fool," he said.
I told him I saw the value of his words but joked that perhaps there were better places to take it easy than at the top of a not-so-sturdy-looking coconut tree. Becky laughed.
"Cho man! Hee hee. Ah tru yuh nuh know," he said. "Nowhere nuh sweet like deh so. If ah never two ting all now mi in deh ah snore."
Comment