Earlier this year, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) announced that it was submitting Port Royal, a historic port, for inclusion on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites. Port Royal has been on the World Heritage Site’s tentative list since 2009. Located on a spit of land just beyond the Norman Manley International Airport near Kingston, Port Royal was settled originally by the Tainos, Jamaica’s original inhabitants, who used it...

If you can’t beat ‘em, confound them! That seemed to be Danny Boyle’s mantra as he unleashed his fantastically whimsical, crazy-mad, nostalgic bells-and-whistles-of-a-British-history-lesson to an astonished world at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London. Remember Beijing? So pristine, dignified, awesome and, well, staid? There was no way that ‘Great’ Britain could even come close to matching the jaw-dropping spectacle, precision, and spending power of the Chinese, so why...

Ernesto, the latest storm to form in the Atlantic, is reportedly heading towards Jamaica. It could hit between Sunday and Monday. Since news about Ernesto surfaced, we’ve had our eyes on the Olympics, Jamaica50 Independence celebrations, which kicked off at Jubilee Village on August 1, and weather reports on Ernesto. If it hits, as predicted, and no one can predict with certainty the path of any storm, it could make...

Akwantu: the Journey, a new documentary film by writer/director, Roy T. Anderson, a Maroon, answers the question, Who were the Maroons? Akwantu: the Journey documents the struggle for freedom of the Maroons of Jamaica who were able to flee the plantations and slave ships to form communities in some of the most inhospitable regions of the island. Poorly armed and outgunned, the Maroons faced down the mighty British Empire led...

Following the recently concluded Caribbean Tourism Summit in Montego Bay, the Jamaican government announced that it had revised its proposed tax on the tourism sector. Under the tax plan announced on May 24th by Finance Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips, hotels would be charged an accommodation tax from US$2 to US$12, depending on the number of rooms they had, while starting August 1, arriving passengers would be charged US$20. The proposed...

This weekend, an estimated 5,000 lovers of literature and poetry will descend on the community of Treasure Beach on Jamaica’s south coast to listen to 30 authors read from their works at the Calabash International Literary Festival. The theme of this year’s festival, which starts this Friday, May 25th and ends on Sunday, is Jubilation! 50. Started 11 years ago, Calabash was shelved last year because of lack of funding....

Happy Mother’s Day!   This week, Catherine Sweeney, my blog friend, asked a few of us to write a travel tribute to our mothers. Since then, I’ve been thinking not only of the trips my mother and I took but of the places I’ve been that she would have enjoyed. Walt Disney World: Well, I didn’t really go on vacation to Disney. I was there to participate in the Walt...

Approximately 30 minutes before Bacchanal 2012, Jamaica’s Carnival, which had as its theme, Future Shock, made its way to where I was standing near Devon House, the skies opened up. Despite the fact that it had looked ominous all morning, I had left without an umbrella or rain slick. At first, I tried to stare it back  — how could there be rain on carnival day? But as the drops got fatter...

I like happy coincidences. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had no plans to visit the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston but then there I was. So last Thursday evening when the new Marley documentary  premiered at Emancipation Park, I knew I had to be there. As I walked to the park at around 6 pm, I could hear Bob’s music, specifically the song I had heard at...

Today marks the 46th anniversary of the visit of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia to Jamaica. Selassie was emperor of Ethiopia for 44 years. He was also his country’s regent from 1916 – 1930, the year he was crowned emperor. Selassie, who could trace his line back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, was born Lij Tafari Makonnen (Lij means child in Amharic) and became Ras Tafari Makonnen. He...