It seems to be a blessed place where it's always summer and black relaxed Rastafarians live, preaching their simple philosophy, braiding their hair into dreadlocks, sporting knitted hats in red-yellow-green colors, and humming Bob Marley songs. There they drink legendary rum "Appleton" and no less legendary coffee "Blue Mountain". Ripe bananas on the island, as expected, fall from the palm tree right into your hands, and you can spend your whole life on the beach, among cheerful and wealthy people who do nothing but have fun on yachts to the eternal "yo-ho-ho".
Not bad for a start. What else? For example, from history. Well, pirates there, Captain Morgan, Port Royal – the capital of sea robbers in the 17th century, in the '60s – the hippie invasion… And this, what's it – I'll sing now: "Jama-a-ica! Ja-ma-a-a-i-ca!" – the song of young Robertino Loretti: "Jamaica! Under your beautiful tropical sky I want to live and die..."
True, it's somewhere very far away, on the other side of the world. So what? Can you afford it at least once in your life?
And here we are in Jamaica. Where to start? Rastafarians or Bob Marley? Coffee or rum? Kingston or Montego Bay? A difficult choice. But the authority of the king of reggae ultimately prevails. Especially since just as the spirit of Bob Marley invisibly pervades everything in Jamaica, so the spirit of Jamaica itself is concentrated in his truly iconic figure.
For those who don’t know, Bob Marley, who created and performed the legendary hits "One Love" and "No Woman, No Cry", is the most prominent representative of the Rastafari religious movement (what that's about – a long story), an icon and prophet for every inhabitant of the island. The scale of his veneration here is simply astonishing. If Vysotsky is loved and was loved by many in our country, then Bob Marley in Jamaica is literally loved by everyone. Every year thousands of tourists come here specifically to visit his mausoleum and see with their own eyes the modest home of the singer who left this world at the age of 36.
So first I also go to see Marley's house museum. Here you immediately understand that without experiencing this sacred place for all Jamaicans, it is simply impossible to feel the unique atmosphere of the island and understand its inhabitants.
Marley's "family estate" is located an hour's drive from the resort town of Ocho Rios on the north coast. A narrow and in places broken asphalt road winds along a serpentine amidst breathtaking landscapes with views of the sea, until it reaches Nine Mile – the village where old Bob was born. The museum grounds are separated from the village by a three-meter-high brick wall painted with portraits of the "king". In the middle – a gate, a wicket, and behind them – two one-story buildings: to the right – Marley's house itself, to the left – his mausoleum.
The house has a minimum of furnishings: the bed where little Bobby slept, a piano, a guitar. According to belief, a woman who touches this bed will definitely become pregnant (Marley had many children out of wedlock). Everywhere reggae played by homegrown musicians sounds and smoke with a specific smell hangs in the air. "Hey, roll a joint, friend!" an elderly black man, all wrinkled, with dreadlocks and gray stubble, addresses me, holding out a paper wrap. I politely decline. "Irie, brother!" the Rastaman responds amiably.
In Bob Marley's mausoleum there is a sarcophagus, and besides it there is a soccer ball, a Bible, and a ring (a gift from the Ethiopian prince) that Marley always wore on his finger. On top of the sarcophagus is a six-pointed star – a symbol of Rastafarianism.
To see the other house museum – a two-story mansion where Marley lived from 1975 – you need to go to Kingston. The atmosphere there is significantly different from Nine Mile. The first thing that catches the eye is a monument to Bob Marley and the flag of Ethiopia flying over the red brick gate. Not long ago there was another statue of Marley, painted in bright colors and devoid of any officialdom: Bob was depicted with his favorite guitar, at his feet a soccer ball (Marley loved playing soccer) and a portrait of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie (Rastafarians consider him the incarnation of God Jah). Now a new sculpture has been placed there, more standard and emotionally "cold", which of course greatly upsets the fans of the "king".
On the walls – newspaper clippings with reports of triumphant tours, photos of the singer on the soccer field and arm in arm with Mick Jagger, platinum and gold records, awards and orders, religious Rastafarian clothing, the singer's denim shirt in which he performed. In the bedroom – a large bed with a bedspread in red-yellow-green tones, Marley's unusual star-shaped guitar. In the kitchen walls, bullet holes are visible, preserved from the assassination attempt on the singer in 1976 (he, his wife, and a friend were wounded then). Further – a porch and a hammock where Marley rested while composing songs...
After worshiping the holy sites, you can relax and go to the famous rum factory "Appleton Estate". And although the journey there will take several hours over bumps and twists, it is worth it. That is where you can see how sugar cane juice is boiled down, delivered from plantations; look into the vat where the wort ferments; see the local distilling apparatus and understand how to properly store rum in barrels. Visitors are offered to squeeze a glass of sugar cane juice themselves, and at the end of the excursion take a bottle or two of rum – for yourself or as a gift.
The factory is located in the picturesque valley of the Black River, where, by the way, crocodiles live. Appleton Estate is Jamaica's oldest sugar plantation and distillery, operating since 1749. The pirate drink production facility in places resembles an ordinary farm lost in a palm grove. Wooden houses with red roofs, coolness inside the workshops, whitewashed walls and shelves with large oak barrels. While the guide tells how barrels of rum traverse outer space, I inhale the thick aromas of the drink. A slight intoxication arises from the smells alone. Well, after the tour – a tasting of varieties aged from three to 30 years.
Having tasted the rum and smoked a cigar (for those who appreciate it), we get back on the bus and slowly move on.
To be continued.
Vladimir VOSKRESENSKY.
Photo by the author.
Based on materials from IA "Rosbalt"