Sunrise over the Blue Mountain Peak, Jamaica

Jamaica is very mountainous; its highest and longest range is the Blue Mountains. The British were not very creative or original; either that or they longed for home and so the same old familiar names were applied across the empire.  The peak is 2256 m (7402 ft) above sea level and from there it is said that you can spy Cuba, 90 miles away, on a clear day. So far, my visits have not coincided with a clear day so I cannot testify to this.

While there, I was prudent and do like the locals do; climbing at night so I cannot tell you much about the trip up. Our guide, who must be an owl, since he was able to get us to the summit in the pitch darkness. He claimed that at the end of slavery the slave took to the mountains because Germans had been brought in to settle the free lands on the plain. It did not take many to do this since there had not been much flat land and the little that existed was planted with sugar cane. The plantation owners thought the slaves would soon come to their senses and return since they were sure that the slave would not survive on the mountain. That did not happen and so Chinese and Indians were brought in to work on the plantations.