Travel Talk

Mystic Mountain & Jamaican Dogsled Experience

What tah gwan,

Today a group of us met and had a tour of the Iberostar Resorts, there are 3 resorts here. The Grand is the 18+ luxury edition, others are more family oriented. Afterward, we drove to Ocho Rios to explore the Mystic Mountain. It was a trip and afterward we headed for some classic jerk chicken at Scotchie’s before the Jamaican Dogsled Experience…

We took off pretty early and finally arrived at Ocho Rios, the driver Dudley is a cool guy and thought I’d throw that in. Once you arrive at Mystic Mountain, you pass these ponds filled with fish, it’s quite tranquil. Afterwards you take this 15 minute skylift to the top of the mountain. The lift is slow and peaceful, could be seen as romantic but wasn’t so much for me as I was sitting with a married lady and a gent from the resort, lol.

Once at the top there is this humming bird sanctuary, have you ever seen a hummingbird? I hadn’t and if I have, I have no recollection. What majestic creatures, no wonder my mom loves them and I’ve been collecting little crafts of the like on my travels for years. I digress but what else is new? Back to hummingbirds, you need a good camera to capture them, they are speedy to say the least.

There is a zip line and infinity pool with water slides which seem quite cool but we were there for the bobsled. The entire run is about 700 meters and then it gets pulled back to the top. The gents at the top told me you can do it without any brakes, figured I’d go full and made a video of it as proof. I do say the words J3$U$ a few times and begin wondering why I never bothered renewing my travel insurance. That aside, you won’t fall off if you go flat open the whole way but it’s a heck of a rush, would have gone again if time permitted.

Afterward we rolled to Scotchie’s for lunch. It’s one of those places that depending on who you talk to, could be known for the best jerk chicken on the island. This meal is the guy next to me, mine was meatier but I did a triple somersault swan dive into it and forgot to take a photo, whoops. We devoured it along with some pork and fish. They had this “crazy hot sauce” and when I was applying it, people were warning me…

Little did they know, “Sir SHABL” is a veteran and down right sociopath when it comes to eating odd stuff and living to tell the tale. I decided to “up the ante” and drank a large spoonful as though it was my favorite soup. My face did go red and I did begin coughing but I blame that on other factors which need not be discussed here. Seriously, the sauce is extremely hot and if you drink a spoonful or just taste it, your mouth and internals will burn, oh they will burn!

Afterwards we hit up the Chukka Carribean Adventure Excursions headquarters. They showed us their dogsled team, yes a dogsled team. What makes this whole project so cool is that people only associate such said teams with Nordic countries. Also all the dogs are rescued form shelters, it’s like giving them a second chance while making something cool for tourists, WIN – WIN, indeed. To add to it, they brought the dogs to the Yukon for some large event and competed. Anything is possible, the odder the better in my opinion.

Right now it’s about 5:40PM, the pool is popping and vacation goers are finishing large bottles of Appleton while enjoying one of the finer luxury all inclusive resorts in the world. I’d be down there but this blog doesn’t exactly write itself, does it? In an hour we’re meeting for dinner and then tomorrow another busy day.

I love Jamaica, granted I’m having an incredible experience and you’ve seen where I am but forget that for a moment. The people here are CLASSIC characters. You remember characters you meet in your life and all others are just “filler on the streets” so to speak. Also the fact that English is the official language adds an entirely new and crazy dimension to it. On that note, my Jamaican slang is increasing by the hour and I’m happy about that. We took a detour on the way home to do something, got to see another side of Jamaica, you know I love it all.

Ya Mon!!

P.S: First time I’ve gone on a trip with other bloggers, everyone here is super chill which really adds to it. When it’s a random match of internet people, you never know what the personality behind the blog is really like…

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