JAMAICA DAY 2, PART I: HOPE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND THE BOB MARLEY HOUSE

 February 16, 2023

At 7:00 AM we met up with Bob's relative Chad, who had arrived at about 11:00 PM and checked into the same hotel we were in while we were sleeping.  Our first stop was at the airport (which was on our way) to put Chad on the driver list for the car and to get some cash from the ATM. Totally unprepared for the exchange rate ($1 US = $153 Jamaican dollars), I pulled out too little--maybe the equivalent of $100 US--but we made it last until almost the end of the trip, not because we were frugal, but because it was easy to pay in US dollars, and we had plenty of those.

Chad ended up being our primary driver for the trip. It was nice to have that option. We may have to invite him along on future adventures!

Our first stop was Hope Botanical Gardens in Kingston. It was our first experience with the lack of signage for "tourist" spots (and one we would have over and over again). We totally missed it on the first pass, and barely found it on the second. We wondered if foreigners don't drive much in Jamaica but rely instead on tour buses and taxis. Maybe tourists are intimidated by the right-side steering wheel and left-side-of-the-road driving. Bob and Chad did great with it, the main problem being turning on the wipers instead of the blinker (which is also on the wrong side). Or maybe tourists mainly stay at the resorts.

Our first stop was Hope Botanical Gardens, aka the Royal Botanical Gardens, in Kingston. I didn't realize it when we were there, but the land the gardens are on has a dark past. Initially, a large estate including the land the gardens are on was given to the British Major Richard Hope in 1655 for his role in overthrowing the Spanish and taking over Jamaica. In the 19th century the estate land was given to a duke as payment for his lost slaves after the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Nothing was given to the liberated people.

In 1873, a section of the estate was turned into the botanical gardens, which now comprise 200 acres.

This path is called "The Divi-Divi Walk."  Divi Divi is a tree that always grows in one direction based on the prevailing winds. It is a reminder to stay pointed in the right direction.

These fun benches are situated in shady spots around the gardens.

Not your average trash cans, right?

We don't look at all like tourists, do we? After Chad took this photo for us, Bob disappeared into the trees, looking for new-to-him birds in the branches.

Chad and I continued on to the crown jewel of the park, the Chinese Garden, which was a gift from China to Jamaica in 2012 in honor of Jamaica's 50th anniversary of independence and their 43 years of diplomatic relations with China. The garden officially opened in August 2015 with the name "Harmonious Enjoyment Garden."

Just inside the entrance is this very large and almost tomb-like carved stone called a spirit wall or screen wall. It is a traditional part of traditional Chinese architecture and is used to shield an entrance. Here is the front:

. . . and the back:

The focal point of the 11 acres that make up the Chinese Garden is the circular "Seat of Heaven," modeled after the Temple of Heaven in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

The stone for this and other structures in the Chinese Garden was imported from China. 

I love the dragon heads poking out over the moat surrounding the Seat of Heaven.

Depending on which entrance you use, you might have one gate . . . 

. . . or your choice of three gates.

When we came into the gardens, Chad started chatting with a man who works there as a guide and who ended up walking with us and pointing out things of interest, identifying trees and plants, and impressing Chad with his knowledge of the music scene in Jamaica. By the end of our time with him, we decided he was a walking Wikipedia. He knew something about everything.

He drew our attention to this tree with a laugh--a canon [sic] ball tree, one he thought we should relate to!

It's pretty obvious where it gets its name.

There are lots of interesting trees in the gardens. This one looks like it is native to Mordor.

One had a long, long branch that extended over the sidewalk and was propped up by a stub of a tree trunk.

This is a natural rock, not a man-made sculpture. It is known as the Chinese Scholars Rock, although I don't know why. It begs to be touched, and touching is allowed.

The Chinese garden is definitely the highlight of the botanical gardens.

Apparently China has been cultivating a relationship with Jamaica for about fifty years, and there are many Chinese enterprises in Jamaica, including a $730 million road that connects Kingston in the south with the northern shore. Many see this as problematic. For example, see this article about Chinese investment in Jamaica's infrastructure.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed our time in this somewhat over-the-top section of the botanical gardens.

Even the trees are exotic. Take this one, for instance:

It carpets the ground beneath it with what look like feather dusters. 

We could have stayed another hour or two, but we had an appointment with Bob Marley, so we had to cut our time short.

Just a mile or so down the same street the gardens are on is the home that used to belong to the famous reggae musician Bob Marley. I didn't know much about Marley before we started planning this trip to Jamaica, but I had heard a lot of his music when one of our kids got into reggae and ska when he was a teenager. To prepare for the trip, I read the book Catch a Fire. (See more about the book at the end of the post.) I learned a lot and Marley, reggae, and Rastafarianism, and I was excited to see the place where a lot of the events in the book took place, including a failed assassination attempt in 1976.

First, one must stop at the life-sized statue of Bob. He was thin and not very tall, just 5' 7".

Pictures on the pedestal include his hero, Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia and the original "Ras Tafari" or Prince Tafari; the three women who were Marley's back-up singers (including his wife Rita); and the Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey.

Bob, Bob, Judy, and Chad:

"Herb," or marijuana, is part of the Rastafarian religion. There was even an Herb Shop on site.

The house was made into a museum by Bob Marley's wife Rita in 1986. Bob and Rita were married in 1966 when he was 21 and she was 20. They had been married for 15 years and had three children together (though both had other children with other partners) when he died of melanoma at age 36 in 1981. 

The only way to go in the house is with a guide, and no photos are allowed inside. The rooms are filled with framed news stories, records, awards, and photos. His favorite shirt and jacket hang on one wall. The studio Marley created and used to record some of his hit music is still there, as are the bullet holes in the wall left by the would-be assassins.

Once outside, pictures were allowed. This very step on the back of the house is supposedly the spot where Bob Marley penned the words to his song "Three Little Birds," one of his more iconic songs.

There was one room at the end of the tour where photos were allowed. In the center of the room sits Marley's restored 1976 Land Rover.

I love this photo of Marley (center) as a young man and this image of him after he became famous.

READING

Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley was first published in 1998 and has gone through several more editions. It was written by Timothy White, the award-winning editor of Billboard magazine. One critic said Catch a Fire is "probably the finest biography ever written about a popular musician." 

I got a little bogged down in all the musicology included in the story, but I found the details about Rastafarianism and Marley's life fascinating. It enriched my travel experience in Jamaica far more than I anticipated, giving me insights into the history and lifestyle of Jamaica, including the "herb" (marijuana) and dreadlocks culture,  the country's ties to Ethiopia, the people's love for music, etc. I definitely recommend it for anyone traveling to Jamaica