Rastafari Village Tour in Jamacia

    Right now with the Coronavirus going around, most of us are staying at home and not traveling.  Many places we cannot travel to right now.  I know I have wanted to attend some local festivals that were canceled because of the Coronvirus. This has made me want to dream of the next place I want to travel to.  I believe in the near future all this will pass and we can even find toilet paper in the grocery stores and be able to travel and attend local fesivals safely.  In this blog I would like to talk about my last cruise when me and my wife went to a Rastafari Indigenous village in Jamaca.  Even though I am a Christian, I have always been interested in learning about other cultures. Rastafarianism is one of them.
    To begin this tour, we went to the Montego Bay Gardens where we rented some water sandals. To get to the Rastafari village, we had to walk across a river and we did not bring any water shoes.  Therefore, I would strongly encourage you to bring water shoes with you if you desire to go on this type of excursion. We then walked to the river and had a lesson about the plants in the area because the Rastafarians live off the land and are also vegetarian.  After walking through the river and down a path, we arrived at the Rasti village where we met some very interesting people. First they brought us in and told us about the history of the Rastiafarians and about some of their religious beliefs and customs.  Next, they took us around to some of their different shops where they showed us how they make items like jewlery, soap, and drums. All items are made from the plants and trees in the area.  The man who made the drums was a very interesting character.  He said he had been making drums since he was 8. 

Here he is with my wife showing a sign of friendship.  He also has made all of the drums at the Rasti village.
   After that we went to participate in making one of our favorate items--chocoalate!

Here the Rasti is grinding the chocolate beans after they have been roasted over an open fire.  I think right now when we are being asked to stay home, a nice cup of hot chocolate would be a great treat to enjoy like we enjoyed at the Rasti village.
    We then had a meal provided to us which was made up of seasonal fruits, nuts, and vegetables.  Also to mention in Jamica Conconut is the main ingredent for the food of the Rastifarians.

    We then went to their worship area and two of the villagers led us in playing some music on their drums.

They taught us some music too and we joined in!

All in all this was a very interesting, educational, and enjoyable day which I would recommend to everyone who is cruising  or vacationing to Montego Bay, Jamicia.