Post trip, February 2023
We have developed a habit of listing our insights, most memorable experiences, questions, and so on after we return from a trip. Here is our list for Jamaica:
Jamaica is very big, bigger than it looks on a map, and maybe it seems so big because it takes forever to drive anywhere because the roads are so awful.
The tap water is drinkable, surprising because the infrastructure (for things like roads) is so horrible.
People are very friendly and usually open to conversation. (Chad is very friendly, which highlighted this for us.)
Jamaica has amazing natural diversity, both flora and fauna. For example, there are at least four types of unique, beautiful hummingbirds, lots of endemic species, many plant varieties that were unfamiliar to us, etc.
For such a relatively small area, the landscape/climate is quite diverse--beaches to mountains.
There are no big predators!
Stray dogs are everywhere, and they all look the same: mid-size, short hair, tan/caramel-colored. They never approached us, but they weren't afraid of us either.
There were a few feral cats, but not nearly as many as dogs.
There are SO many styles of hair--braids in every design, dreads, natural fuzz, shaved, etc. I think there is more "hair diversity" here than anywhere we've been.
Many of the beautiful landscapes feel inaccessible, including steep mountain roads without turnouts and beautiful beaches on the northern coast with no parking.
The tourism potential here is much bigger than the tourism reality. The all-inclusive resorts dominate and the rest of the country has very little international tourism.
"Tourist atractions," like the botanical gardens or the Greenwood Great House, are at the end of horrible roads or are not adequately marked with signage. Some of the properties are also not very well maintained.
They don't have decent souvenirs. They could do a lot better in this area as well.
In contrast, Bob Marley's house is well-marked, well-maintained, and tourist-friendly. You can definitely tell where the international travelers like to go.
At the the better developed sites, like Dunn's River Falls or Konoko Falls, the system is very inefficient. Nothing is automated. They are 20 years behind in tourist technology.
Restaurants are so slow, even U.S. chains like Pizza Hut and Burger King, and even the nicer hotel restaurants. There is no culture of efficiency. Everything is very laid back.
Outside of tourist areas, and even within them, the standard of living looks pretty low. There are a lot of shacks and a lot of litter.
We did not notice any satellite dishes. Do they have TV? Is it all cable?
There were no diet drinks, and Pepsi reigned over Coke 10 to 1.
KFC and Pizza Hut dominate the U.S. chains.
There is very little public art. We saw only a few murals, not many statues or sculptures, and almost no live music anywhere. That may have been the biggest surprise of all.
The churches were small and non-descript, and were dominated by Anglican and Baptist churches (white and black, respectively), with almost no Catholic churches or other churches.
We never saw any evidence of an LDS presence (missionaries, chapels), although there are 6 wards, 12 branches, and a stake there.
About 99% of the population appears to be of African descent, but the owners of large businesses that we came into contact with (rum distillery, Greenwood Great House, etc.) are white.
We had very knowledgeable tour guides who weren't formally educated for their job.
Well-dressed school children wear clean, pressed uniforms.
The locals don't seem to want to talk about their history of slavery. We can't figure out why. They just seem to largely ignore that part when discussing the cultural and historical past.
To say they love Bob Marley is an understatement.
Some people wore face masks, but not many--about the same as in the U.S.
Compared to Puerto Rico (Jamaica is 1.2x larger but has 280,000 fewer people), Puerto Rico has much better infrastructure: nicer roads, better cared-for sites, better food, better signage, etc.
We felt safe. The locals never felt threatening. The only time we felt unsafe was on the roads. Jamaicans are crazy drivers and the roads, as noted earlier, are awful.
Almost everywhere we went, "the credit machine was down." Prices were often given in U.S. dollars, so to convert to Jamaican (at whatever rate they wanted) probably cost more than just paying in U.S. currency. We liked having both USD and Jamaican dollars available. We paid for very little on a credit card and almost never could use an American Express card ("Don't leave home without it").
One U.S. dollar = 151 Jamaican dollars. That made conversion from Jamaican to U.S. difficult. For example, something that cost 25,000 Jamaican dollars would be about $165 U.S.
