Alright, back into my favorite town in Jamaica….Lucea. I’m still not sure why I’ve always found this little town so charming compared to the rest of the places I’ve been in Jamaica but I just love it!

Its taken me 6 years to actually make the stop in Lucea and look around, so I decided I better make it worthwhile and capture some of the important places in the town….the government buildings.

Lucea Municipal Building

As usual, I always seem to manage to find the police and fire stations. These firemen didn’t seem as welcoming as the Negril and Ocho Rios crews who invited us in for full tours. But they didn’t seem to mind us taking the pictures. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what’s wrong with those windows LOL.

Lucea Fire Station

Lucea Police Station

I thought the official tax collector building was kinda funny. In my mind that should be a part of City Hall but it seems they need to make a bigger statement in the streets by having its own building.

Lucea Tax Collector

And I’m just assuming this next building is as important as the rest. The roads and works department.

Its interesting to have seen all these “official” looking places because I sometimes forget that Jamaica’s a place like any other. They too, run regular business like any other country in the world would. I just get swept up in all the charm and beauty of Jamaica and don’t remember there’s daily life going on everywhere.

The minute I met this guy I knew I had a star on my hands LOL!!

I spent some time wandering around Lucea, Jamaica a couple weeks ago. Its a town I’ve driven through so many times but never stopped to look around. This day I decided to do just that. I wandered down towards the fishing area on the shoreline to look around. Its full of boats and little shacks where the fisherman sell their catch. My nose drew me to this shack where a man was cooking up something that smelled heavenly….GARLIC!

Jamaican Cook

I just had to take a stroll over there and find out what was on the menu.  He had fresh chopped garlic simmering up in the hot oil in his makeshift frying pot over open coals.  Look closely, the firepit is an old tire rim haha.

In the picture below you can see what he’s creating…the pot contains cornmeal dumplings, yam and boiled banana.  In the bowl is some saltfish and in the big pot is onion, tomato and scallion.  I REALLY wished I could have stayed around to eat some.  The people who cook in the middle of nowhere in the streets ALWAYS have the best food!

Jamaican cooking

The guy seemed really friendly about sharing and it was funny, as soon as he saw I had a camera with me the show was on!  I asked if I could film him while he did his thing.  Honestly I don’t know why I didn’t stay on him longer.  He looks so proud that I’m even interested!

I’m telling you guys, this is the importance of getting out and meeting people while on vacation!  You might learn a thing or two about how they roll in Jamaica!

Jerk Festivals

I stumbled upon the Hanover Jerk Festival by accident after meeting a couple locals in Negril. These guys I met at a nightclub one night invited me to the town of Lucea for the festival the next night. Of course I say YES! I would have never known about it otherwise, and after seeing that I was the only white person there, apparently not many tourists know about it.

Lucea is about a 40 minute drive from Negril and we arrived at the festival around 11pm. It was already packed?unusual because the nightlife in Jamaica doesn’t typically start til after midnight. It was being held at a school in Lucea and cost me $500 J (approx $7) admission.

Town of Lucea, Jamaica

Immediately inside the gates there were a bunch of tables and Barbeques set up where I assume they were serving various Jamaican Jerk dishes. I had already eaten so unfortunately I never sampled any of the food.

Even though this was a food festival, much like everything in Jamaica, the whole thing was pretty much centered on the entertainment instead. The stage show was situated in the schoolyard where hundreds of Jamaicans were gathered with rum in hand and blowtorches ready to ignite (see Reggae Sumfest post for blowtorch info). It was nice to see that there were both adults and children present.

The majority of the stage show was focused on the Digicel Rising Star 2008 competitors and I was pleasantly surprised at the young talent Jamaica has to offer. They showcased groups and solo artists alike, and the final Rising Star act was the winner of the 2008 season, Cameal Davis. She’s pretty awesome.

In between the Rising Star performances, several Jamaican dance groups were showcased as well. This is always my favorite thing to see in Jamaica, the dancers are top-notch! This group was my favorite; I didn’t catch the name of them.

The surprise guest at the end of the night, who alone, was WORTH my $500 J, was Jamaican music legend Ninja Man. I was totally not expecting to see a big artist appearance and it made my night complete! His show was awesome as he was inviting young Jamaican MC’s up on stage to battle him. It was hilarious and fully entertaining.

The last shock of the night was that the festival ended rather early by Jamaican standards. I think we were out of there by 2:30am, and I was back to Negril and in bed by 3:30.