Caribbean

Rose Hall Plantation, Jamaica

More than a million travelers each year come to Jamaica for the beautiful beaches and tropical climate. No doubt a few come for sex or drugs. Either way travelers looking for a tropical paradise are often less interested in learning about Jamaica’s sordid past. Jamaica provides an excellent example of how tourism can get the upper hand in a poor country, because in Jamaica history — specifically the sordid and horrid history of the slave trade — has been placed in the background while entertaining visitors is given top priority.

Perhaps there is no better place in Jamaica to illustrate this than the Rose Hall plantation. The plantation resides on a beautiful and calm grassy hill close to the tourist center of Montego Bay, where it offers a stunning view of the Caribbean ocean. Once upon a time this was one of Jamaica’s most prosperous plantations, called “the greatest of the Great Houses”. According to a widespread myth, the estate has a violent history. In the 1820s, when Annie Palmer was mistress of Rose Hall, she is said to have killed three of her husbands and thousands of her slaves. Today, the plantation has been transformed into a tourist attraction and those visiting are presented something quite different than a solemn historical site.

On the grounds where the plantation slaves worked themselves to death there is now a golf course, while the fields closer to the house are available for up-scale weddings. The only building that has been preserved is the magnificent Great House, built by slaves in 1770. The guided tour of the premises revolves around this house and its riches. Inside of the house, the guide focus on detailed descriptions of the exquisite furniture, the beautiful silk wallpaper and 18th-century art work.

Occasionally she also provides a gruesome anecdote about the many slaves who resided here. We are told that when slaves were inside the house they had to constantly whistle. Otherwise they were accused of stealing food, and beheaded. The worst stories are about children being tortured, whipped for spilling water, but all anecdotes and historical facts are told in an entertaining style, intercepted by jokes, as if it were details in a thrilling ghost story.

Annie Palmer herself is of course a thoroughly intriguing character that is not left alone by the guide’s narrative. Remarkably enough, slavery is never mentioned to explain her legendary cruelty. Instead, Palmer is portrayed as an exciting white witch, a fascinatingly wicked woman “gone native” because of her black voodoo-practising nanny. An earlier lady of the house is even called “the good mistress”, an expression which bluntly suggests that slavery can be a beneficial system if only governed by a “good” slave master. In spite of all the bloody details, the complete amnesia about slavery is the scariest thing about Rose Hall.

The tour ends in a place of death and terror — the prison dungeons — although they are now turned into a chic gift shop where only a dusty old bear-trap tell of a bloodier history (because there are no bears in Jamaica, bear traps were used to capture runaway slaves). The slaves, ancestors of the majority of Jamaica’s modern population, are placed in the background as anonymous victims, much in the same way as they were treated by Annie herself.

The Rose Hall plantation is located nearby the Rose Hall Highway, 9 miles (15 km) east of Montego Bay. The plantation is open for visitors daily 9am to 6pm, with the last tour starting at 5:15pm.

–Emilia Ljungberg

Planning a trip to Jamaica? Browse Viator’s complete list of tours in Montego Bay, things to do in Negril, Ocho Rios activities, and sightseeing in Trelawny.

Small girl peering round Daisy’s comedor in La Hoya

With charter flights pouring into the Dominican Republic at a cost no greater than that of a weekend break in Spain or France, one imagines this land to be little more than one big hotel complex catering to the two-week bronzers.

However for the intrepid traveller with a desire to take advantage of these cheap flights, there is a world within this tiny island that is a far cry from the tourist-impacted northern and eastern shores, a world that offers an ecological paradise not yet touched by the packaged-holiday resorts.

The southwest of the Dominican Republic is often seen by its fellow provinces as being the donkey’s rump of the island. It has seen little of the country’s booming development, as the money made in the north and east of the island rarely manages to trickle down through the stunningly arid landscape that separates this oasis of natural beauty from its richer neighbouring provinces. The Barahona district boasts one of the most modern airports in the Caribbean, but without the tourists it lies empty.

This lack of traveller interest does not mean that there is nothing to visit or do within the region. The road from Barahona down the coast runs parallel to the beach, uninterrupted for more than 200km (124 miles) arching up and down the lush dramatic landscape that crests the sky-blue Caribbean ocean. Small villages of colourful houses that spread the various valleys lead to empty beaches frequented only by fishermen and children playing truant, which on weekends come alive with Dominicans of all ages dancing to the hip swaying sounds of Merengue and cooking fresh fish on open fires.

Fancy a perfect beach?

Baoruco beach

Quemaito, a 10-minute drive from Barahona, is a beautifully quiet beach with calm turquoise waters accentuated by the brilliantly white round pebbles of the beach. Its shallow reefs make for excellent snorkelling and its two food shacks grill freshly caught fish for lunch.

Further on down the road lies the small fishing village of Baoruco, the sole home of the semi-precious Larimar gem, whose breathtaking colour resembles the waters that lap its shores. Walking along the empty beach you are bound to find handfuls of the stone that wash down from the forested mountains that crest the village.

Next stop along is the most thriving beach of them all, San Rafael, with its long stretch of pebble beach crested by the forested mountains that arch strikingly up to the sky. On weekends the fresh water pools at the waters edge, that are fed by the waterfall rushing down the mountain side, play host to Dominicans young and old. Here you can drink rum, eat fish and dance to bachata at the pool side shacks or just follow the waterfall up to its source and enjoy the awesome views at the top.

The subsequent beach in this line is Los Patos another small fishing village with a large fresh water river that meets the sea. Along its banks are scores of little shacks serving up the mornings catch with plantains and rice. Like San Rafael this small stretch of shore comes alive on weekends with bathers from as far away as Santo Domingo.

How about some animal & bird life?

It is not just the soul-wrenchingly picturesque shores, with their small coconut-bark thatch huts, that make this part of the island the most attractive. The hills that stretch back all the way from the coast into Haiti are seething with life. The Dominican Republic has a greater variety of flora than any of its neighbouring Caribbean islands, with more than a 100 different species of hibiscus alone. A walk into these mountains from any one of the villages along the coast and you will be blessed with spectacular views, hidden communities, all manner of fruit trees, refreshing streams to swim in and the occasional load laden donkey.

True coffee lovers should take a trip up to Polo nestled in the peaks far behind San Rafael, although to reach it one must take the road to Cabral on the Santo Domingo — Barahona road. Here, reputedly, some of the world’s best coffee is grown in the milder climate of this small rural community where there are more donkeys than cars. On the way up stop off at Polo Magnetico, a small stretch of road where round objects, wheels of your car included, seem to role up the hill. This optical illusion confounds both the eye and the stomach.

Fishing boats on the shores of Barahona

In this part of the country the people are the friendliest on the island. Even if someone glares at you, grace them with a beaming smile and the stare will crack into a broad welcoming grin. Speak in Spanish and it’s a fair bet you will be invited home for dinner to meet the family.

Morals permitting, a description would also be apt of Lake Enriquillo with its flamingos, crocodiles and dachshund-sized iguanas, the colourful and dubiously aromatic Haitian markets, and the pounding discos… but then if all were to be detailed here, then this hidden gem would no longer remain the Caribbean paradise that it is.

Finally, my tip for home-cooked Dominican food: catch a 10-minute motorbike taxi (motoconcho) from Barahona to the village of La Hoya. At the entrance to the village there is a small light-green coconut-bark house on the banks of an ox-bow lake where the proprietor, Daisy, serves up the best true Dominican food to be found in the whole region. The setting of this comedor truly compliments the food of this little family establishment.

–Chris Courth

Planning a trip? Check out Viator’s list of things to do in the Dominican Republic, including tours & attractions in Puerto Plata and things to do in Punta Cana. There are more suggested itineraries for the Dominican Republic over on Viator.com.

A former ski chalet in the Swiss Alps?

Maybe you’ve been reading Viator’s Earth Day page, or our new Go Carbon Neutral page. Maybe you’re feeling inspired to make a difference, to minimize your impact and offset your carbon footprint wherever and however you can.

That’s great and all, but maybe we also hear you asking… “that’s all very worthy, Viator. But what’s in it FOR ME?”

Fair enough. We know it’s hard to be worthy all the time. So we’ve created an extra incentive to whet your earth-loving appetite. We call it a contest. You may win things. And everybody goes home happy, including Planet Earth.

Here’s how it works: You simply write a reply of 50 words or less to the question below. Use our “comments” feature to submit your reply. The deadline is April 30, 2007. We’ll pick 3 winners and post the best replies here on the Viator Blog.

The prizes: There’s some cool stuff, including 100,000 miles worth of carbon credits to help you offset the impact of your travels in 2007. We’re also offering gift certificates on Viator.com, which you can use to book an eco tour or a hike or a bike ride or public transit pass, you get the idea. For complete details see below.

The question: Read the question below. Think about it. Then write no more than 50 words that make us laugh, make us cry, make us understand why Global Warming is, or isn’t, an imminent disaster. The deadline for submissions is April 30, 2007. The Viator Team will pick 3 entries that makes us laugh and/or cry about the issue of global warming. That’s it. So start writing!

Global Warming:

Imminent disaster or “my mountainside property will soon be ocean front… sweet!”?

Tell us what you think about that question and you could win the grand prize: a US$200 Viator gift certificate plus an offset from Viator for 100,000 air miles worth of carbon emissions with CarbonFund.org (just so you won’t feel guilty about your trip). First runner up will receive a US$100 Viator gift certificate. The second runner up gets a US$50 Viator gift certificate.

To submit your entry, leave a reply below to this blog post. The deadline is April 30, 2007. Good luck!

–The Viator Travel Team

Is everyone on the Anna Nicole tour?

Have you seen this Anna Nicole Smith story from Reuters?

“Visitors to the Bahamas can sunbathe, snorkel, golf, gamble and shop. Now there is a ghoulish new tourist attraction: touring the sites connected to deceased former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith. The Anna Nicole tour starts at Doctors’ Hospital in Nassau, where her son Daniel died in September just days after she gave birth to a daughter, Dannielynn. From there it weaves up to Lake View cemetery where he is buried in an unmarked grave and where she will most likely be buried too, lawyers permitting.”

What started here at Viator.com as a tongue-in-cheek conversation (ha ha ha, wouldn’t it be weird if we offered this tour…) has blossomed into a mini-controversy. At Viator we offer dozens of tours and activities in Nassau and the Bahamas but not (as of yet) the so-called ‘Anna Nicole Smith’ tour.

First of all the whole Anna Nicole Smith saga is incredibly sad, and not a little strange. And profiting from it seems wrong, pure and simple.

But then there’s the Bahamian view. A political science professor quoted in the Reuters story made an interestintg point: “The Bahamas competes for tourists with Caribbean nations so many view the publicity as a blessing… We are sorry that she is dead but look at the tourists!”

Taxi drivers, hotel owners, restaurant staff — tourism is a critical part of the Bahamas’ economy. And from a local perspective the Anna Nicole obsession can help sustain travelers’ interest in visiting Nassau for weeks or even months to come.

So is it wrong? Is it right? And should we sell it on Viator.com? We do offer things like the Dearly Departed Tour and Movie Star tours in Los Angeles. Is an Anna Nicole tour in the Bahamas that much different? Or is it taking the obsession with celebrities to a new — and unwanted — level?

What do you think?

–Scott McNeely

In case you’ve been living under a rock (or in case you’re American), the 2007 Cricket World Cup kicks off on March 11. What gets us really excited (besides the cricket) is the location: the Caribbean! From Barbados to Jamaica, St Lucia to Antigua and more, the world of cricket is descending on the Caribbean for nearly two full months of the world’s best cricket.

For those in North America and most of Europe, cricket is as much of a mystery as American Football is to the rest of the world. What are all those guys doing standing around? Why does it take so long? Who’s winning? For those who call themselves ‘cricketing nations’ the answers are simple - it doesn’t matter, it’s all part of a greater experience. So we’ve created a primer about cricket, along with Viator’s overview of all the teams in the competition. You might also want to check out the official 2007 Cricket World Cup website (though be warned it only works in Internet Explorer).

Cricket for Beginners

Cricket is about getting together with your mates, sharing a few beers and watching grown men throw and hit a hard solid ball at each other. It’s part of the local culture. If you go to a live game, it’s almost mandatory to paint your face in your team’s colors, wear an oversized sombrero and try to start a ‘Mexican’ wave at every opportunity. If you’re watching from home, you are sure to invite your friends around, throw a few steaks on the BBQ and crack open a slab (that’s a box of 24 bottles of beer to those outside Australia!). The sound of cricket is the sound of summer.

So what is it all about you ask. Well, here are the basics to get you started. Cricket comes in three forms:

The traditional ‘Test’ match - 2 innings for each team, unlimited overs (usually 90 per day) and played for up to 5 days (occasionally 3- and 4-day tests also occur). This is the original form of the game, which the purists love.

One Day - much criticized when first introduced in 1971, this format is now incredibly popular and is used for the ICC World Cup. Each side gets 50 overs each and the game is usually played over 7 - 8 hours.

Twenty/20 - the newest incarnation of the game, where each team gets only 20 overs and there’s a time restriction of 80 minutes per side. Exciting and experimental, some think this is the future of cricket.

Now let’s break it down to the very basics of the game:

1. The ground is an oval and the main action takes place on the ‘pitch’ (a dryish, flattened strip of grass located at or near the center of the oval), which is around 20 meters long and 3 meters wide.

2. The pitch has a set of wickets at each end. Each wicket has three vertical posts (stumps) with three small horizontal ones (bails) placed in grooves on the top of the stumps.

3. The fielding team consists of a wicket keeper, bowler and nine fielders. (think baseball: the wicket keeper is the catcher and the bowler is the pitcher).

4. The batting team generally has two batsmen on the pitch. Their aim is to make as many runs as they can without getting out.

5. How do you get a batsman out? - a fielder catches a ball the batsman hit before it touches the ground; or the batsman misses the ball and it hits the stumps and knocks off the bails; or the batsman stops the ball from hitting the stumps with their leg (LBW); or the ball hits the stumps when in play and the batsman is out of their ‘crease’ (the line in front of the wicket; again, think baseball: when a batter doesn’t reach a base before the baseman gets the ball, as in a ‘force’ out, or gets tagged trying to reach a base). When a batsman goes out, his side is said to have ‘lost a wicket’. Although there are 11 players on a side, you have to have at least two batting, meaning you only have 10 wickets to lose, and once you’ve lost all 10 your side has been ‘bowled out’.

6. In Test Cricket, you have to bowl the other side out twice in order to win the match. If neither side can bowl the other out twice, the match is a draw. (It’s this aspect of Test Cricket that aficionados savor; because you have to bowl the other side out twice, you always have to balance your thirst for scoring runs with your hunger for taking wickets.) In one-dayers and Twenty/20, whichever team has the most runs at the end of the day wins the game. (Which, say the purists, is what makes these ‘limited-overs’ forms of the game more like baseball, and less like cricket.)

Got it… simple, right? There are loads of other rules and regulations but as long as you understand these six things, you are well on your way to a few weeks of cricketing fun in the Caribbean.

Viator’s Picks for the 2007 Cricket World Cup

Now to get you talking like an armchair expert, here is Viator’s run-down of the teams participating in the 2007 ICC World Cup.

Australia
Unbackable favorites to win (yes I am a biased Aussie, but facts are facts!). There may no longer be a Shane Warne in the side, but the Aussies still have the best batting line-up in the game and great young bowlers are queuing up to claim a spot in the toughest team in the world to make a name for themselves. If the likes of Hussey, Clarke, Symonds, and of course captain Ricky Ponting hit form, there will be no stopping an Australian victory. Keen to rob retiring cricket legend Glenn McGrath of one last trophy, all other teams will be out to spoil the Australian’s party.

Rating: Prepare to see the Aussies take out the ICC World Cup for the third consecutive time. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie … OI, OI, OI!

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Travelers have been sending us questions about the new passport requirements for US citizens. So a recap is in order, in case you’re unaware of the most sweeping changes to US travel documentation in a decade.

Beginning January 23, 2007, all US citizens traveling to/from the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada and Central & South America must carry a valid US passport. There are no exceptions, it applies to all US travelers including children. This is a Homeland Security measure aimed at making it more difficult to enter the US illegally. If you don’t already have a US passport, the US State Department website tells you how to apply for one.

For complete details read our original blog post about the new US passport requirements.

-Scott McNeely

If you’re not American, congratulations! None of this applies to you, so you can safely skip this Travel Alert.

If you are still reading, we assume you’re a U.S. citizen. In which case we want to remind you of the new Homeland Security law coming into force as of January 23, 2007. That’s the day the U.S. government is requiring all U.S. citizens (repeat: all citizens) to present a valid passport in order to travel between Canada, Mexico, Central & South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda. It’s called the Under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) and nobody in the travel industry is very happy about it.

The one big exception is if you’re traveling via cruise ship (as opposed to by air). Cruise ship passengers are allowed to embark and disembark freely, as long as they have two valid forms of ID (a birth certificate and a driver’s license are sufficient).

The other big exception is if you’re traveling to / from a U.S. territory that is not included in the WHTI program. In other words, you will not need a passport to travel between Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Swains Island, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

In all other cases you’ll need to present a valid U.S. passport at the border. Say ‘adios’ to hopping across the border in San Diego for a game of Jai-alai in Tijuana. Say goodbye to impromptu cross-border visits to our Canadian brethren up north. And say farewell to those last-minute trips in your private jet to Aruba. No passport, no shoes, no service.

-Scott McNeely

As a gift to our blog friends and family this holiday season,

Viator is offering 15% off all purchases made by December 31, 2006.

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What is the travel world buzzing about this week? In a word, summer. As the top half of the planet eases into winter, the northern hemisphere travel compass starts pointing south, to destinations where ice comes in your drink, not on your windshield.

The New York Times Travel section picks up on the “go south” theme with features on Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. The Times also throws in an excellent article on Venice, Italy, in case you’re one of the lucky ones to visit Venice off-season when the skies may be filled with rain, but the streets and canals are gloriously empty of tourists.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Travel section is feeling the same “take me somewhere warm & sunny” vibe, with a handy A to Z guide to the Caribbean, from Aruba to the Virgin Islands and every sun-kissed spot in between.

In the UK the Guardian is keen on fishing in New Zealand, where, thanks to the miracle of Planet Earth’s axial rotation, summer is fast approaching. Also featured are Trinidad (think: beach), Dublin (think: Guinness) and Beijing (think: cool!).

In Australia the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s The Age argue it’s time to add Fiji to your travel wishlist. As well as India. There’s also a pleasantly controversial article here about hitting the road for the holidays without your family. You know, leave the loved ones at home while you hit the slopes or hiking trails.

The global news round-up finishes this week in Dubai, where the Khaleej Times has profiles on Australia (extreme sports) and South Africa (wildlife, wildlife, wildlife).

Let us know what your hometown newspaper is buzzing about.

-Scott McNeely

A friend I traveled with in Africa was (and is) obsessed with monkeys. While I and our other traveling partner went for reasons encompassing things like exposure to different cultures, food, and, well, lions and hippos and elephants, our companion went for the primates.

Which when you come to think of it is not a bad way to organize your travels. There are a lot of places you can see monkeys - and chimpanzees, orangutans, baboons, and other primates - and we book tours to many of them. You can visit the sacred Monkey Forest in Bali, or explore wildlife parks in Costa Rica and Barbados. In Belize, locals have joined together to create a Baboon Sanctuary.

For sheer audacity however few places beat the Taj Mahal for cheeky monkeys. One recently toppled a bit of decorative masonry there. But such wanton monkey vandalism is relatively rare - still, maybe a pith helmet wouldn’t go astray.

-Bruce Melendy