Mountain River Cave

Mountain River Cave (caretaker Monica Wright, tel. 876/705-2790), with its Taino wall paintings first uncovered in 1897, is located 21 kilometers due northwest from the roundabout at the beginning of St. John’s Road on the western edge of Spanish Town. After leaving an Uptown suburb area, St. John’s becomes Cudjoe’s Hill Road as you pass through red earth hills on the way to Kitson and then Guanaboa Vale, the stomping ground of Juan de Bolas. A few kilometers beyond a beautiful old church, pull over at Joan’s Bar & Grocery Shop, marked by a painted facade reading Cudjoe’s Cavern. Monica will indicate the trailhead that leads down a steep hill across the meandering Thompson’s River and up the facing bank through cacao and passion-fruit stands to where the small cave is caged in against vandals. The cave itself is shallow and unspectacular, but its paintings are interesting; it’s easy to make out a man with a spear, a turtle, some fish, and a few women. The paintings are said to be authentic, given the ash and bat guano mix used, supposedly a typical medium for the earliest Jamaican artists. The highlight of this attraction, apart from the well-preserved petroglyphs, is the beautiful walk through lush forests and Thompson’s River, which has a large pool upstream and a waterfall downstream from the crossing, fitting for a cool dip.