Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/201279
Continued from page 33 which date back to the mid-1700s and are now owned by Everglades Farms. The air is ripe with fermentation. Not far away is another vestige of Jamaica's colonial past: 567-hectare Braco Estate. On the way there, we drive through the sleepy hamlet of Duncans, home to a severe-looking stone Methodist church dating to 1882. Goats graze in the shade of the belfry. Jamaica has many claims to fame, among them reggae music, world-class sprinters and rum. Sterling informs me of another one: the country supposedly has more churches per square mile than anywhere else, a claim that's on full display in the parish of Trelawny. When family patriarch, the late Winston Parnell, purchased Braco in 1920, it had already evolved from sugar cane farming to cattle ranching. Parnell was an entrepreneur. Before he died in 1992, he converted an idyllic seaside portion of the property into a resort, and his grandson Adorjan Fitzroy later returned from teaching in Hungary to help further develop tourism with horseback riding, cycling and historical walking tours. I find Fitzroy and one of his employees, Garey Kenlyn, at the reception building. They offer to take me on a mountain bike ride through the estate.* It's mid-afternoon and sweltering, prime time for beachside cocktails – not physical activity. But we ride uphill along a bumpy road that's shaded, to my relief, by dense forest. In 20 minutes, we break out into open pastures dotted with pimento trees, the source of fragrant allspice seasoning. Fitzroy pauses and stoops down to pinch a handful of greenery between his thumb and forefinger. "Lemongrass," he says, holding it up for me to smell. Eventually the road ends at a small shelter overlooking Maria Buena Bay and a scene of Caribbean geographic clichés that encapsulates Trelawny: leafy trees, rolling deep green hillsides and scythes of sandy beach lapped by turquoise sea. Kenlyn, not a natural cyclist, leans his bike against the fence and lights a smoke while Fitzroy shares some of Braco's history. "Recently we found a record book in the great house from the 1830s. It showed who was working on the plantation and how much sugar cane was cut. They took meticulous records back then," Fitzroy says. Late in the afternoon, after another long p28-37_Jamaica.indd 37 day of exploring Trelawny, I check into my hotel suite. It's a warm, seductive evening when I sit down for a cappuccino, listening to the boisterous chatter of recent hotel arrivals planning a night out on the faux town, which for a contrived resort setting is surprisingly quaint. A family of four, skin as white as snow on a Manitoba prairie, poses for a photo in front of a Winston Parnell bust erected on the steps of the replica courthouse. At the hotel restaurant, a talented band lays down note-perfect Bob Marley covers and the dance floor is already filled, mostly with resort staff. Jamaicans love to move. Early in the evening I again meet up with Wayne Sterling of the Jamaica Tourist Board, and we return to Falmouth for the Pirates of the Caribbean nighttime extravaganza that was somehow pencilled into my final night's itinerary. I surrender. But when we drive into Falmouth I convince Sterling to make an offscript detour to Franco's Nice Time Bar for a frosty Red Stripe. "Yeah mon," the bartender says to me and then turns to Sterling for a quick exchange in that lyrical Jamaican patois I never tire of hearing. I imagine the drunken sailors of 250 years ago being carted upstairs to sober up while their ships were filled with sugar cane down at the port. Afterward, we stroll the evening streets of Falmouth, along the Albert George Market, through the town square, where palm trees rustle in the wind accompanied by the sound of maracas, and past the courthouse. We walk through the gates to the duty-free port, where a massive cruise ship The Methodist church in Duncans, Jamaica, dates back to 1882. looms above old Falmouth, its cabin lights twinkling like Christmas ornaments against the darkening sky. Soon Sterling and I are lined up to board a pseudo pirate ship, next to a cruising couple from the Canadian prairies. Pirate ships and Falmouth? Historically it's a stretch. No doubt the firebrand preacher William Knibb would have scoffed at such frivolity. But why not wrap up my trip into Falmouth and Trelawny's fascinating past with a little lighthearted fun? After all, Sterling seems excited, as we're led by a young woman with the lithe physique of a sprinter, dressed absurdly in pirate garb. "I hope you like to dance mon," Sterling says, already swinging his hips. *Editor's note: at press time, Braco Estate was no longer open to visitors. go with CAA To borrow from Bob Marley, "everything's gonna be alright" when a CAA expert books your Jamaica getaway. Call to arrange your escape to the four-star Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort and Spa in Ocho Rios today. Prices start at $915* per person, plus $390 taxes (departs December 16, 2013). Or call CAA Travel for other options to Jamaica. *Prices subject to change without notice and based on availability at time of booking. GOING PL ACES >> w i n t e r 2 0 1 3 37 13-10-16 9:27 AM