In Jamaica they don't say goodbye, they say "lata mon"

Ah Sunday, our last day in Jamaica, where to even begin...
This day was absolutely incredible. It was our day to relax and take it all in, and wow was there a lot to experience. We began the day at YS Falls, a beautiful nature preserve with waterfall and natural pools, it was beautiful. You can hike to the top, swing from a rope swing, or just relax in an inner tube. Chris even got to zipline over the falls, which was quite an adventurous opportunity. We spent our morning there, in awe of how beautiful it all was.

After the falls, we headed to the Riverside Dock restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately it started pouring, and our trip down the river was in great danger of being canceled. We had planned on traveling up the Black River a ways to see if we could spot some crocs, but the weather was not very accommodating. At Stephanie's suggestion we decided to wait out the storm, and thank goodness we did! We finally boarded the lil dingy and headed upstream, spotting a few shy crocs along the way.
After the river tour, we headed out to sea with Captain Dennis. Our trip was almost over but we had one last stop, The Pelican Bar, and I have to say it was quite possibly the coolest place I have ever been. It is hard to describe how special this place is, but lets just say it was a magical spot. We were greeted warmly by the 3 man staff, I'm sure they don't get a whole lotta traffic way out in the middle of the ocean!
Picture a bar a mile offshore in the Caribbean ocean, made of palm leaves and crude wood branches. You pull up in your boat and dock by the stairs, then venture inside the small hut for a refreshment. Because the bar is located on a sandbar, if you get hot you can walk right down the stairs into the water with your beverage and enjoy the view.We were fortunate enough to be in this amazing locale for sundown, and the sunset that day was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in my life. Even the locals agreed there had not been a sunset like that one in a long time. As we realized the trip was quickly coming to an end, just as the sun was quickly disappearing into the ocean, we all got a bit nostalgic. Stephanie had told us at the beginning of our week in Jamaica that our goodbyes were going to be teary eyed, and now we could see that she was right. it has been an incredible journey, and none of us were quite ready for it to end. But, as the sun must set, we had to say goodbye, and to make it less sad we said what the Jamaicans say, "lata, mon" until next time...

A day for the children

After a much needed free day on Friday, Saturday was a day committed to the local children of Treasure Beach. We decided to do a mock day camp, with activities, crafts, games, face painting, dress up, and refreshments. We had children of all ages, from lil Cassandra who is 3 yrs. to some older kids in their early teens. They trickled in slowly, but by mid day we had a good group and started having some fun.Some of us made Johnny cakes, a traditional Jamaican snack, for the youngins, while others tried to keep up with the kids in games such as kick ball and red light green light. Our German friends, Ursula (pictured dancing with the little ballerinas on the beach) and her son Max, helped us coordinate the day as Ursula was a school teacher back in Germany with many good ideas.

The face painting was a particularly big hit, with the line never getting any shorter, once they had their faces painted they wanted artwork on their arms, too. Neven & Sami (pictured), the artists of the group, spent half the day painting whatever the kids wanted until their arms were sore.

At the end of the day we revealed the best surprise yet, a bounce house!!! Stephanie had told us that for a little bit of money we could rent this wonderful attraction, and the kids just go wild for it. We decided to go for it, and before we had a chance to argue a certain group member decided to cover the entire cost and sponsor this activity. For this, Chris, we thank you and commemorate your generosity! Although it proved to be a great challenge to keep all the kids in control and limit the numbers in the bounce house, it was definitely worth it to see so many ecstatic faces. It was a day none of us will soon forget.

Also not to be forgotten, that night Zahlia turned 22, and we celebrated with cake and music provided by our friendly hotel hosts. We danced the night away with our new friends, both German and Jamaican.

Another day in paradise

Today we had planned on going to another organic farm up in the hills, owned by a Rasta named Marlon who needed some help with weeding and general beautification. We loaded into the van with Stephanie behind the wheel, and went to pick Marlon up. Unfortunately, Marlon was unprepared for us, even though Stephanie had set the date with him a month in advance. She apologized profusely to us and explained that this type of thing is not uncommon in Jamaican culture. The vibe there is so "go with the flow" often things don't pan out as they should, so you must keep an open mind and be flexible. Luckily our group didn't mind returning to the demonstration garden to wrap up the projects we had started the day before, so we headed back there to work the day away.

For lunch we got to go to the locally acclaimed restaurant Jack Sprat for pizza & seafood. It was a nice change of pace from our usual chicken, and it was at the edge of yet another beautiful beach.



Stephanie and her children Anna, Naomi, & Saphir (pictured here on the beach) joined us for a little fun in the sun, and we explored a bit of the coast while our food was being prepared. The food was fantastic, real authentic Jamaican seafood dishes, yummy pizza, and once again we enjoyed a lunch time swim in the warm Caribbean waters. We could see why the locals kept telling us about this place, it was a great reward for all our hard work in the garden.

Just another day out on the farm...

We spent Wednesday doing various projects around the garden that Stephanie had expressed a desire to get accomplished. We weeded with machetes, watered, planted aloe and other crops, began to dig trenches for a water treatment system they want to set up, and simply enjoyed working outside and feeling like we were accomplishing things around the garden. The weather was nice, not stifling hot like we expected, so group morale was high.

Once the afternoon heat came on, we had our lunch break to avoid the hottest hours of the day. We headed straight to the private beach behind Viking's house to cool off, and proceeded to swim and relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.After our swim we headed to the local lunch spot (there is really only one close enough for us to walk, that's how small this town was) and it was owned by a wonderful lady named Miss Bevvie.
Miss Bevvie prepared lunch for us most of our days in Treasure Beach, and it was usually the same delicious plate every day. For ~$3 we would get a heaping plate of rice & peas (actually beans but they call them peas in Jamaica), a fried plantain (similar to a banana), and some chicken. We had to call her a few hours ahead to put in our order, we were a huge group to cook for single handedly! We came to love Miss. Bevvie, she was a warm woman who would set the tables up for us and give us free juice with our lunch, and the food was always scrumptious.

After lunch it was back to work, then dinner at Viking's house followed by a tropical rain storm that came through town. We walked back to our hotel in the rain, tired from working and quite thankful for our umbrellas...

Wattling the day away...

After an early breakfast of french toast and exotic local fruits at Stephanie & Viking's house, the group was excited to get to the farm and get working! As we walked to the farm, our cute lil friend Cassandra (shown above) joined us for a stroll. This little girl was with us a good portion of our trip, and her giggles kept the group smiling throughout our stay. Stephanie then walked us around the demonstration garden to tell us about what they have planted and what needs to be accomplished, and to introduce us to our big project.

The garden was definitely in its infancy, and our project for the day was to rebuild a wattle hut that had been destroyed during hurricane Dean. The hut would serve many purposes once complete, including providing shade for volunteers & workers, showcasing educational posters and information on organic permaculture farming for the school groups that will come to the garden, and it may even be used to house volunteers who come to work on the farm in the future.

After Stephanie left we began to work on the Wattle hut, luckily we had a team of Jamaican comrades to show us how wattling is done. Basically the process involves measuring out branches to fit the length of the walls, sawing these branches down to the right size, and weaving them around a middle post (between the 2 outside posts) to secure them in place. It was a blast, and to watch the hut's walls and even windows get put into place was a gratifying experience.


By the end of the day we were wattling like champs, and we were amazed at how much we had accomplished. Although we did not finish the entire hut in 1 day, we finished most of it and by the following afternoon we had completed our big project.

So after a very, very long journey we made it safely to our new home for the week, Treasure Beach. Jamaica is amazing, we have been greeted warmly from the minute we stepped through customs; our driver Satchwell was waiting outside to escort us the 2 hours out of Montego Bay to the much more low key Great Bay area. We all agreed it was nice to be going somewhere other tourists on our flight were not, we are excited to experience the real people and culture here by avoiding those areas. We all slowly boarded the van after many hours of travel, hot and tired but excited, Satchwell put on some true Jamaican reggae beats and we were on our way. Soon the grogginess of travel lifted and we started to take in our new surroundings. As we drove Satchwell explained various lyrics to songs we could not understand due to the thick accents and patiois dialect, and pointed out landmarks areas such as Black River which was the first town in Jamaica to have electricity, a car, and a telephone. Once at our hotel, The Inn at Great Bay, our hosts welcomed us and showed us to our rooms, which are all comfy and accommodating. Since we had some time to kill before orientation we headed to the beach (basically our backyard) to take a dip. The water was incredible, warm and so relaxing, and a much needed activity after being on 2 buses and 2 planes. We had friends immediately, the locals were eager to show us around and chat with the newbies. We have been here less than 24 hours and already it is shaping up to be an experience of a lifetime, we are all excited to get dirty at the farm tomorrow and start the projects we came here to do. More to come!
-Kelsey


"Easter Monday" - we arrived!
Jamaica is everything that you would imagine and hope for. Our two hour trip to Treasure Beach was a first rate tour de Jamaica: trees strangled by flowering vines, teal blue water, challenging and mesmerizing patiois, and after a fairly smooth travel schedule we arrived here in Treasure Beach at 3:23 pm (JA time). After the trip through the verdant green ravines, hillsides, and valleys - we were greeted by a proper Jamaican celebration; complete with 12 beach laid speakers, cricket games, football, red stripe, swimming, and sun. We swam for the first time today to find the beach warm yet refreshing and full of sand-dollars. Our new friends taught us the tricks to surfing the Jamaican waves.
-Amber

So after a very, very long journey we made it safely to our new home for the week, Treasure Beach. Jamaica is amazing, we have been greeted warmly from the minute we stepped through customs; our driver Satchwell was waiting outside to escort us the 2 hours out of Montego Bay to the much more low key Great Bay area. We all agreed it was nice to be going somewhere other tourists on our flight were not, we are excited to experience the real people and culture here by avoiding those areas. We all slowly boarded the van after many hours of travel, hot and tired but excited, Satchwell put on some true Jamaican reggae beats and we were on our way.

Soon the grogginess of travel lifted and we started to take in our new surroundings. As we drove Satchwell explained various lyrics to songs we could not understand due to the thick accents and patiois dialect, and pointed out landmarks areas such as Black River which was the first town in Jamaica to have electricity, a car, and a telephone. Once at our hotel, The Inn at Great Bay, our hosts welcomed us and showed us to our rooms, which are all comfy and accommodating. Since we had some time to kill before orientation we headed to the beach (basically our backyard) to take a dip. The water was incredible, warm and so relaxing, and a much needed activity after being on 2 buses and 2 planes. We had friends immediately, the locals were eager to show us around and chat with the newbies. We have been here less than 24 hours and already it is shaping up to be an experience of a lifetime, we are all excited to get dirty at the farm tomorrow and start the projects we came here to do. More to come! -Kelsey

"Easter Monday" - we arrived!

Jamaica is everything that you would imagine and hope for. Our two hour trip to Treasure Beach was a first rate tour de Jamaica: trees strangled by flowering vines, teal blue water, challenging and mesmerizing patiois, and after a fairly smooth travel schedule we arrived here in Treasure Beach at 3:23 pm (JA time). After the trip through the verdant green ravines, hillsides, and valleys - we were greeted by a proper Jamaican celebration; complete with 12 beach laid speakers, cricket games, football, red stripe, swimming, and sun. We swam for the first time today to find the beach warm yet refreshing and full of sand-dollars. Our new friends taught us the tricks to surfing the Jamaican waves. -Amber

JAMAICA here we come!

As Spring Break approaches here at Cal Poly, the Alternative Breaks program is gearing up for our first ever international service trip! We are taking a group of 10, mostly the Student Community Services staff, to Jamaica to test the waters in a small fishing village called Treasure Beach. We are volunteering with the organization VIJON (Volunteer in Jamaica Opportunity Network) and will be assisting them in their organic permaculture garden. They have many hopes for the future of this garden, and we are excited to assist them in reaching these goals.

Stephanie Genus, of VIJON, expressed the many different aspirations they have for the garden:

The eventual goal of the farm is to offer guided tours to community members, school groups and interested visitors. Although the older generation of farmers didn’t use chemical fertilizers and pesticides, now it is the norm and many think the only way to produce food. We want to show successful cultivation the all natural organic way, without any use of chemicals.

The garden is still in its infancy, Cal Poly students will be dedicating their time to bringing this project to fruition. The Cal Poly volunteers will be weeding, planting, and doing whatever else is needed on the farm; this also includes reconstructing a wattle hut that was destroyed during hurricane Dean. The hut will not only offer shade for workers in the day, but have educational posters on the wall explaining various aspects of permaculture and organic farming.

Also, there is no use of permaculture in a broad sense in Jamaica, which would be so invaluable to the island if it took hold. As for serving the community with food, as of now it serves only those who work at the garden. Currently we are piloting a fund raising program in conjunction with TIFA for villa guests to pre-order food baskets for their arrival which will be supplemented from the VIJON garden when need be.

With that said, it makes perfect sense for Cal Poly to take on this project. Our campus has a very strong Agricultural presence, and many of our volunteers are actively involved with the CP Organic Farm and know a lot about permaculture. This project also fits the strong theme of sustainability that has swept over the campus this past year, and is taking the nation by storm.

Stay tuned for updates, VIJON service trip dates are March 24th-March 31st.