Atelier 630: Travel

"No problem, Ya man, Rasta!", were amongst the many words heard over my trip to Jamaica recently. Whenever I travel, I look for two main things: food and people. Those two elements usually says very much about a culture.

The people were friendly, helpful and most of all, very open. Coming from a big city, it's unusual for me to say hi to strangers in the street, but for the Jamaicans, it's quite the opposite. Saying hello to everyone and starting conversations with strangers is the norm.

There's nothing in the world that compares to the feeling of curling your toes in warm sand with crystal clear water rushing towards you. After having been to Mexico where the waves are higher and and more aggressive, it was nice to have peaceful waters for a change.

The highlight of my trip is most definitely jumping off a 35ft cliff at Rick's Cafe in Negril. I can't say much about they food (ahem overpriced for tourists and tasteless in comparison to local foods), but the view was beautiful. It's worth it to drop for that alone - and for the more adventurous and daring, to jump off the cliff.

Other memorable events include our visit to the Appleton distillery (come on, I couldn't go to Jamaica and not visit the home of rum!).

We also visited the YS Falls. Although we did not stay long, an hour was more than enough to see the entirety of the falls, take a few dips. Word of advice, bring crocs or water shoes because the floor of the water basins are filled with rocks - lesson learned.

Despite the fact that we did not see Dunn's Falls in Ochos Rios, I liked the YS falls very much simply because there were less tourists and you could really appreciate the surroundings and beauty of the place.