Part
One .. Port Royal
Part
Two .. Port Royal Development Project
Part Three .. Spanish Town & Kingston
Part Four .. Foods, Fauna and Flora
April, 2001
Fruit trees
Breadfruit growing on the tree (near the center -- see the round green fruit -- about the size of a grapefruit) and a banana tree with some green bananas in the center
Sugar cane on a cart
The art of eating green coconuts
Left: Tamara is sipping out the coconut juice
with a straw after the vendor hacked away one end with his cutlass.
Center: The vendor then opens up the fruit with his cutlass so we
could get to the meat.
Right: Rocky, our driver, scoops out the pudding like coconut meat
with a sliver of the husk as a spoon.
Here's the grove of coconut trees
This is ackee fruit up in its tree.
This is what ackee looks like when it is ripe enough to pop open (rather alien-looking), with some mangos behind it. The one at the bottom right is a Bombay mango, the next one up is known as a Blackie mango and the yellowish-reddish one is a St. Julian mango. All very good eating, particularly the Bombay and the St. Julian, or 'Julie'. There are numerous varieties of mangoes in Jamaica, all differing in taste, size, colour, texture and shape. [Mango info from Sonia Scott].
A Jamaican Breakfast
Ackee is cooked up with bits of saltfish and other sauteed vegetables. The
consistency and taste is similar to scrambled eggs with bits of bacon and
grilled onions. Behind the ackee and saltfish is a good helping of fried
plantains (very good!).
Here's a papaya (called paw-paw in Jamaica) tree growing just outside of our hotel room.
This time the ackee and saltfish (in the back) is served with roasted breadfruit -- with a texture sort of like french fries and a taste similar to parsnips (or a mixture of potatoes and onions with a little nutty flavor).
The Blue Mountains
This is just one of the many gorgeous vistas that can be seen while driving up into the Blue Mountains. It was already hot in Kingston when we left the city at about 9 am, but soon we were up in the cooling mists of the mountains, with even some drizzle. You may think of Jamaica as just a tropical island and not realize it has real mountains -- with the tallest peak standing at 7,400 feet.
A colorful road side stand
Another roadside stand
A beautiful hillside with a purple jacaranda tree in bloom.
The Blue Mountain Coffee Packing House
Inside the dark shed we could see bag upon bag of coffee beans, and the air was filled with the heady aroma of roasted coffee (I don't even like to drink the stuff, but the smell was heavenly).
Part
One .. Port Royal
Part
Two .. Port Royal Development Project
Part Three .. Spanish Town & Kingston
Part Four .. Foods, Fauna and Flora
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