Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/156165
sugar cane was cut. They took meticulous records back then," Fitzroy says. Late in the afternoon, after another long day of exploring Trelawny, I check into my hotel suite. It's a warm, seductive evening when I sit down for a cappuccino, listening to the boisterous chatter of recent hotel arrivals planning a night out on the faux town, which for a contrived resort setting is surprisingly quaint. A family of four, skin as white as snow on an Albertan prairie, poses for a photo in front of a Winston Parnell bust erected on the steps of the replica courthouse. At the hotel restaurant, a talented band lays down note-perfect Bob Marley covers and the dance floor is already filled, mostly with resort staff. Jamaicans love to move. Early in the evening I again meet up with Wayne Sterling of the Jamaica Tourist Board, and we return to Falmouth for the Pirates of the Caribbean nighttime extravaganza that was somehow pencilled into my final night's itinerary. I surrender. But when we drive into Falmouth I convince Sterling to make an off-script detour to Franco's Nice Time Bar for a frosty Red Stripe. "Yeah mon," the bartender says to me and then turns to Sterling for a quick exchange in that lyrical Jamaican patois I never tire of hearing. I imagine the drunken sailors of 250 years ago being carted upstairs to sober up while their ships were filled with sugar cane down at the port. Afterward, we stroll the evening streets of Falmouth, along the Albert George Market, through the town square, where palm trees rustle in the wind accompanied by the sound of maracas, and past the courthouse. We walk through the gates to the duty-free port, where a massive cruise ship looms above old Falmouth, its cabin lights twinkling like Christmas ornaments against the darkening sky. Soon Sterling and I are lined up to board a pseudo pirate ship, next to a cruising couple from Lethbridge. Pirate ships and Falmouth? Historically it's a stretch. No doubt the firebrand preacher William Knibb would have scoffed at such frivolity. But why not wrap up my trip into Falmouth and Trelawny's fascinating past with a little lighthearted fun? After all, Sterling seems excited, as we're led by a young woman with the lithe physique of a sprinter, dressed absurdly in pirate garb. "I hope you like to dance mon," Sterling says, already swinging his hips. W *Editor's note: at press time, Braco Estate was no longer open to visitors. p28-41_Jamaica.indd 39 f a l l 2 0 13 | w e s t w o r l d A l b e r t a 39 13-08-12 9:44 AM