The EARLY morning my rasta friend Demus came knocking on my door I felt like knocking him out! He showed up with a coffee in his hand and said “GET UP, we’re going to bathe in the river!” That sounded so unappealing to me this early but I put on my swimsuit and grabbed my towel. He advised me to bring my shampoo too.

When we got up the hill I realized I’d been to this spot before….Milford Falls! CLICK HERE to read my first post on it. I was shocked to see it in the daytime, I’d missed ALL of this at my nighttime viewing!

Demus in front of Milford Falls

The early morning was very cool so I was a little wary about stripping down and getting under the water but I so wanted to do this! Demus took my camera and did pictures of me shampooing in the falls. This was the most refreshing experience of my life!!

Here is some video he took of me and the surrounding area. Beautiful place! And several locals came up here to bathe while I was there too, I guess it’s just what they do in this area. Don’t mind the talking on the video, Demus was on his phone at the same time LOL.

If anyone is in the Ocho Rios area and would really like to experience this I’m totally sure Demus could take you up there. Let me know and I’ll get ahold of him.

This is one of my favorite things I’ve seen in Jamaica – the “Happy Home Recipe”. And it was hanging on the wall in one of the smallest board houses I’ve been in. It was such an example of what life is about, instead of material things and money. Things like this reassure me I’m on the right path.

Jamaica Happy Home Recipe

The recipe reads:

4 cups of love
2 cups of loyalty
3 cups forgiveness
1 cup of friendship
5 spoons of hope
2 spoons of tenderness
4 quarts of faith
1 barrel of laughter

Take love and loyalty and mix thoroughly with faith. Blend it with tenderness, kindness and understanding. Add friendship and hope, sprinkle abundantly with laughter. Bake it with sunshine. Serve daily with generous helpings.

This place isn’t really called “ghetto beach” but I’m not sure it has a name. I’d never been here before and a friend of mine referred to it as such, so the name stuck. This little hideaway is located right outside Ocho Rios, off the main highway across from Mystic Mountain. The hike down the hillside to the water wasn’t super easy to do, and getting back up was worse LOL. But it was a true little hidden treasure.

Waterfalls at Ghetto beach

The hike down was through some thick trees which just made excellent photo opportunities. This is looking through the trees out onto the ocean.

There really isn’t much of a “beach” down here, just a small patch of free space to sit and enjoy. But we brought our own snacks and some overproof rum and cranberry juice. Anything is better with rum! Us girls mostly enjoyed the water while the guys chilled on the sand.

Interestingly enough there was a little cook shop down here! Some rasta had a little shack and was cooking up and selling fish. The boys visited with the locals by the shack and had some of the fish while we swam. Here’s a picture of the cook shop from one side. I should have taken a picture of it, but off to the left in those trees there was a hammock hanging over the water. It was awesome.

This next picture shows how close this little spot is to Ocho Rios. That cruise ship dock is right at Ochi.

We spent a couple hours enjoying our rum and cheesebuns. The weather was cool this day and the water was refreshing. A couple of the boys enjoyed the waterfalls and there were a few other locals having a nice time down here. Not super eventful but exceptionally pretty!