When we arrived in Ocho Rios, the first thing we did was talk to a guy outside of the dock about getting a taxi. We told him that we would like to go to Bob Marley’s Mausoleum (BMM from now on) and to Dunn River Falls. He said that BMM was about an hour and a half drive there and back and then the falls were about ten minutes from here, so we would need the taxi for pretty much all day. He said that it would cost us $150, but I talked him down to $130. I thought that I might be able to do better, but later I found that gas is equivalent to about $5 a gallon there and that the car would be running almost all day, so I did not feel too bad about it.
We met our driver, Tony “Bright Light” and then headed out. The trip to BMM really did take about an hour and a half, but wasn’t as far as I thought. The trip was all on tiny winding roads and was about as scary as riding in a New York taxi, but the scenery was beautiful.
The whole ride, Tony was telling us about different things that we passed by including movies that were shot near there (two James Bond films and more), things about the school systems, and pointed out many of the wild fruits, and other vegetation. He even stopped and pulled some fresh limes, then later some lemon grass and clove. It was a really neat experience and an awesome custom tour for us.
We eventually arrived in Nine Mile, the town where The Bob Marley Mausoleum is, and pulled into the site. The whole place is surrounded by a concrete wall that is maybe fifteen feet high. We went through the gate and parked. As soon as we got out, there was a small booth cut into the wall that had three Rasta’s letting us know that they has some weed for sale and that it would cure whatever may be wrong with us. We politely declined and walked up some stairs to a small restaurant.
On the way, we had to go through a small room that contained only an upright piano, gold records and two Rasta’s.
We stopped to look and talk to the guys a bit. We also got some pictures.
After the ride, Kasey was feeling a bit car sick and wanted some mango juice to calm her stomach. She asked if they had any, and sure enough, for three dollars they did. After paying, they asked us to sit down, and then started a DVD playing about Bob Marley’s life. We watched while we waited for the juice, wondering why it took so long to get a bottle. It ends up that they were in the back juicing fresh mangos! Yum!
Apparently electricity problems are a common thing there, because the power went out in the middle of the DVD and no one seemed to mind. Instead, a man introduced us as our tour guide and led us into another area of the site.
There were several small stops on the way up the hill where the guide talked about different points in Bob’s life, and then we arrived at the house. This is apparently the house that Bob Marley grew up in before he moved to the U.S. Here is a pic of Kasey sitting on his bed. She was warned not to stay there too long as many women have gotten pregnant by spending too much time in Bobs bed. (Ha Ha. Ok that is not that funny, but the Ha Ha is. All of the guides there have an interesting way to laugh, which they do often. This can’t really be expressed in words though. You should go there though and see for your self!)
Here is a pic of me and our guide. This is at the door to Bob’s actual Mausoleum building. You are not allowed to take pictures inside, so I do not have any.
This next picture has a couple of stories to it.
First, we were told about the star of David in the window. Rastafarians believe that they are descendants of King David though an illicit affair between King Solomon (David’s son) and the queen of Sheba. (lots of interesting stuff in Wikipedia) Anyway, it was explained to us that a six pointed star, like this one, is a “male” stare, while a five pointed star is a “female” star. In explanation, we were told to hold out our arms while in the shower and count the points our bodies made. I’m not going to go into this any further.
The pot (no the ceramic bowl!) is on a stone base. We were told that it is a Jamaican custom to not build a fire on the ground, but rather to build the ground up to a good level and then build the fire on top of that. This pile of stones was for that purpose, but now it just holds this pot. Yes, that is pot in the pot. It kind of grows like a weed around the place, even in the cracks of the sidewalk.
Next we were told that it is a Rastafarian custom to build a “Chalice” when a major event in their life is near. Apparently this Chalice is a humongous bong (or water pipe) that has a bowl that can hold a quarter ounce of marijuana. We are told that that would be about a freezer bag full. Wowzers!
I’ll wrap this up with a funny story. Remember that this place is surrounded by concrete walls. Well, there is a gate that the cars come in and as we were walking down the hill to leave we noticed that there was another gate. We would not have noticed, but there was a hand poking through beneath the gate holding several bags of marijuana and gripping two or three joints between each pair of fingers. We could barely see a mans eye and we heard him yelling “Hey mon, come over here and buy a Jamaican pineapple!” I just made a face and looked at Kasey saying “Yeah. Buy weed from the mysterious arm! I wonder if he sells much.” It was surreal.
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