Jacks Hill

On Easter Monday morning, a statutory holiday here - well, actually the whole day is a statutory holiday - Fred and Britta joined me on a drive up Jacks Hill. 

Normally, I would have returned the rental car on a Monday morning, but due to the holiday the car rental was closed. Which is a bit odd, considering it is open on Sundays, etc.  However, decided to go for a local drive and take advantage of the car.  The trip exceeded expectations!

Jacks Hill is both a long road through the foothills above Kingston and, I now know, is also a neighbourhood and community with its own identity.  If one drove quickly, which is difficult on pot-holed narrow roads, it is only about 15 minutes out of Kingston yet in a world of its own. 

We had a delightful morning, stopping many times for pictures and to express our amazement to find such a beautiful place right in our own Jamaican backyard. 

Of course, on the way back to made the obligatory stop at MegaMart - every other store in Jamaica was closed, but MegaMart is always open. Hey, if you have a car then you stock up on the heavy stuff and store it: if there is a hurricane I will not only survive and eat well, but will be able to feed my neighbours. And wash their clothes and clean their homes :-)

Part way up Jacks Hill Road, we stopped to view Kingston. This was after we passed through many beautiful homes and estates.  I am from BC, so this was rather like the upper reaches of West Vancouver. 

Looking down upon an estate on the slope of Jacks Hill.

 The flora on Jacks Hill is more exquisite than on the lower reaches and in town Kingston.

After the palatial homes we came, rather delightfully, to the true community of Jacks Hill. This chap was perched by his shop, defunct stove to the right, and proudly pointed out to us the small poster below the store awning announcing that the afternoon would see an Easter Monday Fete at the Jacks Hill Community Centre for all the children and their families. 

 I was trying to take pictures of the many flowers and this little bug decided to get in the picture 

 The back of the "yellow store" in previous picture . . .  all precariously perched on the steep hillsides.

 More perched houses with Constant Spring in the background.

Scenery to the north of Jacks Hill.

View to Kingston, through the screen of bamboo,  from near the peak of Jacks Hill.

Hey, there is always someone who needs a bit of furniture or a few plants . . . in the middle of the mountains and tropical forest. . . 

. . . .  and always a dead car or twenty . . . 

. . .  and always an edifice that you simply cannot figure out

This was the end of the road.  About a hundred metres beyond (to the right, not through the gate) the road continues. However, there has been a severe wash-out and there is a considerable engineering project in process to build a massive retaining wall and connect the two pieces; allowing one to cross Jacks Hill and descent on the other side above University of the West Indies (UWI). We had to turn back and re-trace our steps.  Though not after marveling at the gate of the estate at the end (temporarily) of the road: there are many symbols here and not sure if I have figured them all out.