Dogsledding in Jamaica

This is Marley, my favorite member of the Jamaican Dogsled Team. He’s proof that, while Jamaicans have no snow, they do have an excellent sense of humor.

Chukka Carribean Adventures offers all kinds of activities — ATV, horseback riding, and so on — but they’re perhaps most famous for their program that rescues mutts from the local SPCA before euthanization, and turns them into sled dogs.

Of course, the sleds in Jamaica look a little different, but the basic concept is the same.

This is our musher, Damion Robb, who recently won a race in Ontario. And while I was dogsledding in Lake Tahoe, Jamaican Newton Marshall was busy becoming the first Carribean musher to complete the Iditarod.

The dogs stay in a large kennel, and each dog has his own house. They’re trained as adults and are found homes as pets when they’re too old to be sled dogs anymore.

If you’d like to sponsor the program by adopting a Sun Dog, just click the link. (Chancey and Doc are dead ringers for Chuck.)

P.S. They had a videographer there. I’m at 51 seconds:

I’m afraid Marley here is taken.

Taste 1,000 Fruits: 90. Jamaican Apple 91. Guinep 92. Breadfruit 93. Jamaican Almond

Our schedule in Jamaica was so packed I wasn’t able to make it to a fruit market, but I still added a few new ones to my list.

Jamaican Apples are delicious. They’re crisp like conventional North American apples, but have a much lighter texture — like a less-dense Asian pear.

The best ones are deep red with skin that gives a bit when you press it. They’re thirst quenching, and they’d make an excellent palate cleanser.

You can eat the whole thing except the pit, which is pretty large. I had something very similar in Costa Rica when I was 15. Ticos call them Manzanas de Agua, or water apples, and the ones I had were pale pink with no pit to speak of — it was neat to have that memory flood back when I bit into the Jamaican Apple.

These are Guineps, which I’d tried in Puerto Rico recently, but couldn’t figure out the name. They taste like citrusy peaches. There were a few Puerto Rican natives on trip who called them Quenepas.

You smash or bite the outer shell, which cracks open to reveal a jelly-like fruit inside with a large pit. You suck the fruit away from the pit, and the texture is a little like slimy algae. Much of the fruit pulp will stay on the pit. I’d love to freeze a bunch and use them as ice cubes in a tropical drink. So pretty.

I didn’t get a shot of the entire Breadfruit because they served it roasted as part of our meal at Scotchies. Roasted breadfruit tastes a lot like a potato, with a creamier texture more like a yam. It’s good with salt and butter.

This is O’Neil from the Jamaican Dogsled Team crew (more on that later). He’s one of my new favorite people. While we waited for our dogsled ride, he pointed out a huge pile of fly-covered, horse-gnawed Jamaican almonds.

They’d fallen from a tree on the property, and he shook each one until he found one that rattled, which is an indication that the almond is ripe.

Then he cut away the hull by using a rock to hit the back of his knife, and offered us each a taste. It tasted like almond, with a hint of horse saliva.

Friday Mixtape!

I’ve always wished I knew more about music, and this is part of my Life List project to listen to 1,000 new songs. Right now I’m up to 362, and on Fridays I share some of my new favorites. If you’d like to share some music with me, please send your picks to maggie at mighty girl dot com, and I will listen to them.


“Call and Response” by Or, the Whale


“My Good Gal” by Old Crow Medicine Show


“Laundry Room” by The Avett Brothers


“White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes


“Steady Rollin'” by Two Gallants


“No Ceiling” by Eddie Vedder

Still looking for more music? Here you go: Mixtape 1, Mixtape 2, Mixtape 3, Mixtape 4, Mixtape 5, Mixtape 6, Mixtape 7, Mixtape 8, Mixtape 9, Mixtape 10, Mixtape 11, Mixtape 12

See the view from Coit Tower? Check.

Seeing the view from Coit Tower is part of my Mighty Life List goal of getting to know San Francisco like the back of my hand. What have you crossed off your list lately? Let us know in comments.

For those of you not from around here, this is the impressively phallic Coit Tower, which was built as a monument to fire fighters in 1933. Lillie Hitchcock Coit, who bequeathed the money for the project, was so fond of chasing fires around the city and pitching in to help the brigades that she became a mascot of the Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 5. She also smoked cigars and wore trousers so she could gamble in male-only establishments.

I was looking forward to climbing the stairs, but apparently they’ve been closed for 28 years for liability. An old elevator takes you to the top, and you only climb the last winding flight.

The view up there is incredible. It helped me orient myself in the city — I’m notoriously bad with directions — and gave me a better idea of just how small and lovely San Francisco is. We tried to take the tour, but it was too hard to hear, which is a bummer because I’d really like to know what’s going on in this mural:

Oh my.

Anyway, if you’re ever in San Francisco, this is worth doing. I can’t believe it took me so long to get up there.

Friday Mixtape!

I’ve always wished I knew more about music, and this is part of my Life List project to listen to 1,000 new songs. Right now I’m up to 362, and on Fridays I share some of my new favorites. If you’d like to share some music with me, please send your picks to maggie at mighty girl dot com, and I will listen to them.

This Weeks Friday Mixtape via Laura Mayes


“Summer Sun” by Koop


“Swim” by Surfer Blood


“Summertime” by Josh Rouse


“Catch the Sun” by Doves


“Sweet Disposition” by Temper Trap


“Know How” by Kings of Convenience


“The Great Escape” by The Rifles

Still looking for more music? Here you go: Mixtape 1, Mixtape 2, Mixtape 3, Mixtape 4, Mixtape 5, Mixtape 6, Mixtape 7, Mixtape 8, Mixtape 9, Mixtape 10, Mixtape 11

Friday Mixtape!

I’ve always wished I knew more about music, and this is part of my Life List project to listen to 1,000 new songs. Right now I’m up to 355, and on Fridays I share some of my new favorites. If you’d like to share some music with me, please send your picks to maggie at mighty girl dot com, and I will listen to them.

Reader Aubriane Taylor sent in a bunch of great picks, these three are my favorites:


“Comme des Enfants” by Couer de Pirate


“Robots” by Dan Mangan


“Cavalier Eternal” by Against Me!


“Welcome Home” by Radical Face
via Susan Fung

Still looking for more music? Here you go: Mixtape 1, Mixtape 2, Mixtape 3, Mixtape 4, Mixtape 5, Mixtape 6, Mixtape 7, Mixtape 8, Mixtape 9, Mixtape 10