My Beautiful Home - Jamaica

I was born and raised on the beautiful island of Jamaica. With lush greenery and natural beauty everywhere you turn, summer and winter differences seem to fade with every winding turn of the rivers. Jamaica lies smack in the middle of the Caribbean Sea and when viewed on a global scale, it appears to be just a small dot on the globe. This depiction, however, is very deceiving because Jamaica has the biggest heart and the warmest people.

A summer vacation is a time to relax and daydream as visitors are treated to the ripest mangoes and papayas. Fruits, dripping with juice, fresh-picked and cool. There is some good food to tease the palate while vacationing in the summer on this beautiful piece of land.

Let's talk about the beaches. The island boasts beautiful white sandy beaches, natural and clean. From Montego Bay to Negril and around to Portland, the beaches are alluring and cool. The shallow waters at the shoreline make the island a great place to vacation with kids. There are so many opportunities to have fun in the sun as your every whim is catered. From parasailing to glass-bottom boat rides to horse-back riding on the beach, the visitor to Jamaica, whether it is in the summer, winter, autumn or spring has every chance for fun.

In Ocho Rios, Jamaica, there are beautiful waterfalls and if you should ever visit the place do not leave without climbing Dunn's River Falls up and down at least twice. This is also a beautiful and unforgettable place for your nuptials. Beauty and greenery everywhere! Remember, greenery means lots of shade and rest from the sun and a cool retreat.

So, how are the people of Jamaica? As with everywhere else, there is good and bad, but we are a proud people and visitors are treated well and with respect. The Government, knowing that tourism is the backbone of the country's economy, ensures that the resort areas are well protected and that the visitors are safe. The people of the Island, however, are very warm and open. If you take a drive in the early weekday morning, you will witness children in freshly pressed uniforms making their way to school while equally clad parents make their way to work. Jamaicans are a hard-working people.

Visiting the Caribbean at any time of the year is a beautiful and rewarding way to leave all of your worries and cares behind. There is a poem by H.D. Carberry that really sums up the fact that seasons do not make a difference in the islands and it reads as follows:

Nature, H.D. Carberry
We have neither Summer nor Winter

Neither Autumn nor Spring.

We have instead the days

When the gold sun shines on the lush green canefields-

Magnificently.

The days when the rain beats like bullets on the roofs

And there is no sound but the swish of water in the gullies

And trees struggling in the high Jamaica winds.

Also there are the days when leaves fade from off guango trees

And the reaped canefields lie bare and fallow to the sun.

But best of all there are the days when the mango and the

logwood blossom

When the bushes are full of the sound of bees and the scent of honey,

When the tall grass sways and shivers to the slightest breath of air,

When the buttercups have paved the earth with yellow stars

And beauty comes suddenly and the rains have gone.

So, come to Jamaica and feel all right!