num_pages: 238
description: My six-year-old daughter and I went to Jamaica for a two-week vacation in the spring of 1988 and stayed for five years. Shortly after we arrived, Hurricane Gilbert made landfall and devastated the island. Hopes for peace and prosperity were revived when the national hero Michael Manley was elected Prime Minister, but were soon dashed by manmade disasters which often befall third world countries whose people do not control their own fates. I taught economics at a boys' college in Montego Bay, married a Jamaican man and moved to the hills where we farmed the land and learned the hard way that there are different realities. We fell in love with Jamaica, the culture of the countryside, the language, the courage, the humor and resiliency of the people, and without the distractions of TV, became immersed in the "here and now." We lived through a time of happy abundance, as the title suggests, which, quite naturally, ended. Sometimes life just rears up and smacks you in the face when that is what you need. Jamaica did that to me, and I am forever grateful.
language: English
title: Mango Season
titlecomplete: Mango Season
ratings_count: 1
publisher: PublishAmerica