Up In the Hills
A day trip in the Jamaican Blue Mountains
I was really hoping to join an organized group trip to the Blue Mountains but this particular group had other plans so I decided to go solo. I didn't care about going up to the peak 
(which is usually done in the pre-dawn hours to watch the sunrise and is about 4hrs each way), I just wanted to take a break from the heat of the concrete jungle. Also - some of my favorite scenes from Rockers took place up there. Nicki, who worked at the hotel I was staying in, offered me some advice on what to do. She told me this option was going to be the quickest and cheapest way to get the mountains. I could not get lost plus there's a waterfall. Sold. Like most trips into the hills I had to catch a bus from Half Way Tree to Papine, a neighborhood in the northern outskirts of Kingston from which route taxis and buses leave to many destinations in the mountains.
The second route taxi I needed to take was waiting by the supermarket next to where the bus dropped me off, just like Nickie said it would be. Some route taxis have red license plates and their routes marked on the side while others are just regular cars, usually a little beat up looking. This was the latter. I got in and waited a few minutes for it to fill up. The ride to Penfield was only about 15 minutes. The car stops on a dead end road up a hill a few minutes from the main road before turning around. Nickie said to get just get out and keep walking up the road and I'd find the waterfall. There was a concrete road on the left and a snacks/beverage stand to the right with a path right next to it leading to a bridge over water. I figured the right direction to go was towards the water and started walking.
The path was just a dirt trail leading you along the side of a mountain. 
There were a handful of people walking in the other direction so it was less of a hiking trail and more of a path locals took to get around. I assumed it was pedestrian only but about 10 minutes up the road I found a motorcycle parked under a tarp. It must have been ridden along the path since there weren't any other ways to get to where I saw it.
It was hardly the first or last time I saw Jamaicans doing something I thought too dangerous or just plain impossible. The path was by no means steep but was definitely heading up. As I walked it wrapped around the hill I was on and revealed others previously out of sight. There was consistently a stream nearby and I kept expecting to stumble upon the waterfall I was told about. Whether I found the waterfall or not the weather was perfect and I was happy to keep walking until I got tired or had to turn back to avoid hiking after sunset.
As I walked the peaks seemed to get closer. Where I was walking was fairly dense with fruit trees and all kinds of vegetation while the peaks just had grass and a sparse cropping of conifers. I decided I really wanted to get up to the top of one of the peaks. The path was mostly straight with most of the turnoffs seemingly going towards people's houses. There were not a lot of houses on the walk but people definitely lived in this area. There were pipes running for water and people had electricity. After about two hours of walking I realized I
forgot to bring water and was suddenly feeling pretty thirsty. I started to worry about having to cut my walk short since it didn't look likely I would find a shop in these parts. I passed by an area with a handful few more houses than usual, perhaps a small town. The path seemed to split in a couple directions and I decided to take the one heading up (and apologise if I walked onto someone's property).
The higher road got pretty steep and I had to stop a couple times to rest. I was getting closer to a peak though, so it felt like this was the right way to go. As I was walking I could hear the faint sound of music. As I got close to source the vista became more and more dramatic. Soon I was able to make out the riddim, Istanbul. Not being a spiritual person this was probably as close as I got to a spiritual experience; being alone with breathtaking views of the mountains, the cool breeze and the sound of reggae music coming through the trees. I got to a point where there was path leading down and I was sure that just beyond a huge rock I'd be at the top of a hill.
I went in that direction and found a bunch of goats tied up eating grass. 
Just beyond them there was indeed a path leading back from where I came but on top of the hill. I was planning on taking it but I was super thirsty so I decided to get some water from whoever was playing the music. I walked back a short way and found two houses next to each other. The music was coming from one of them but I heard voices from the other so I called out to them and walked up their stoop.
I found two older gentlemen, one rasta and one less obviously so having a conversation. The rasta was removing seed pods from a crop of sorrel flowers spread out on a sheet on the ground. I asked him if I could have a drink of water. He pointed to a faucet at the side of the house. Not having a bottle I drank straight from the faucet. As I was drinking, he pointed out the fact that right where I was standing was a great view. His house was at the top of a mountain and there was a view of the entire city of Kingston along with the harbor. I took in the view, thanked him and confirmed that the path I had just seen would lead me back to Penfield. It would and I walked back towards the goats.
The hilltop path was exactly what I was looking for. It ran the top of the slope with fairly steep drops on both sides. The panaramic views were incredible. I was now looking down towards the path I followed to get here. There were pines with cones on the ground next to them. The breeze was unobstructed and the weather felt perfect compared to the heat of Kingston and the snow back home. 
The path didn't take long to come back down. I saw some cacti I hadn't seen anywhere else on the way down. When I returned to the part of the path I had already taken I tried to take note of how to get up quicker since the way up is easy to miss. The best visual cue I could come up with was the way up was just past a huge pile of fallen bamboo.
I was certainly satisfied with my trip as I got closer to Penfield but I still haven't seen the waterfall. I passed by a house behind a wooden fence and asked a man walking out of it if there's a waterfall nearby. I was guessing it was just off the path or maybe behind someone's property. 
He said there wasn't a waterfall but a stream. He told me I could take a look if I wanted to; it was his property but he's giving me permission. I climbed down and took a look. There were some huge rocks and a fresh mountain spring flowing but nothing spectacular. I climbed back up and continued along the path. The property owner was still there talking to another man. He told me they were walking towards Penfield too and we walked together.
His name was James and he said he grew up in that house but now lived in the city. He told me I could come by the house anytime I wanted. He offered to put me up and show me around, an offer I got from more than one person in Jamaica. We got to Penfield pretty quickly and the first thing I did was buy some water from the stand I saw earlier. I bought a soda for James and his companion as well. I mentioned I still haven't seen the waterfall I knew was around here and he said it was nearby and could show me. He said we can go there on the way to Irishtown, from which we could catch a bus back to town. I had been through Irishtown on my other visit to the hills a few days earlier so I said sure.
We started walking on the beat up road that continues from the main road just left of where I started. A few feet up the road I was able to see a larger stream than the ones I had already seen. There were some pools between rocks and James explained that they were fairly deep swimming holes and he used to go swimming in them as a boy. We passed a small church and he said hello to the lady sweeping out front. There would be services tomorrow. 
There were a couple more swimming holes James pointed out and almost immediately we came upon the waterfall. It turned out that if I just gone left instead of right I would have seen it within 10 minutes of arriving in Penfield. The waterfall wasn't the biggest I've ever seen but beautiful and only a young local couple was near it taking a look. There was a smaller fall slightly down river from it. I was disappointed not having brought my swimming gear. I decided to come back and go swimming.
A little further up the road James stopped by a house to say hello to an elderly couple. He mentioned he hadn't come in this direction in a long time but still knew everyone in the area from childhood. We kept walking up the road with the stream alongside. There were more smaller falls visible from the path. We talked about reggae music for a little while. 
I played some Beres Hammond on my phone. I had been walking for hours at this point and I was getting incredibly tired. The walk to Irishtown took around an hour and I'm not sure I would have agreed to go if I had known the distance from the get go.
James wanted to have a beer in Irishtown before getting on the bus. Two beers, actually, he kept saying "let's drink two beers." We sat down at a tiny roadside bar and ordered a round of Red Stripes with a bag of cheese doodles (that's about all they had to eat and I was starving). 
The beer tasted amazing after such a long walk. James talked to the only other bar patron at the bar besides the bartender about the military station in nearby Newcastle. The sun was setting. We caught the bus back to Papine. James went on to Mona and I caught a route taxi back to Half Way Tree. I came right back to Penfield the next day with my swim suit and went swimming in the waterfall (some of the photos are from the day after).