Sunday, January 24, 2016

Conor and Ellie in Rasta land

If you've been wondering how locals Conor McMahon and Ellie McMahon have been managing the January weather, well, very nicely, thank you.

The pair have been on a hectic press trip to Jamaica for Travel Extra magazine, courtesy of Thomson/Falcon Holidays, as outlined in today's online Sunday Supplement of that publication.

Among the activities enjoyed on the sunny island paradise was a freewheel down Blue Mountain, stopping on the way to roast some coffee beans, sing with the pupils in a local primary school, and cool off in a waterfall.

The bus journey to Blue Mountain brought the couple past James Bond Beach — Ian Fleming, who lived on the island, featured Jamaica in three novels and Dr No was filmed there — and through Portland Parish, where the first tourists came to Jamaica.

They also went to the hometown of 'real Rasta man' Bob Marley on the Zion Bus Tour. Nine Mile village is one of Jamaica’s most popular tourist attractions because it is both where the singer was born and buried, and it is partially legal to consume marijuana.

Marley liked to meditate with a joint in each hand. “Have you ever seen a bird fly with only one wing?” Crazy the Rastafarian tour guide reasoned. “We don’t drink and drive in Jamaica, we smoke and fly.”