Cruise: Day 4 - Jamaica
Today's tour was a lovely tubing adventure, followed by playing around in some falls with a rope swing and then lunching on jerked chicken. All of that was very pleasant and all, but not the best part of this trip. (Although Robin also added in a zipline tour, which was one of the best parts of this trip for him.)
On the way there, we rode in a van with Carolyn Barrett (of Barrett Adventures) for over an hour through the Jamaican countryside while she explained things and told us stories and we passed very interesting scenery. (On the way back, we were combined with another group in a larger, more comfortable van, with a very quite driver who did, however, provide today's quote of the day.)
Jamaicans speak English, or at least it's taught in schools and used in street signs, but their everyday language, Patois, is a combination of many elements including Cockney English, Ibo (an African language), and another African language I didn't recognize the name of. They add things to verbs to indicate tense, such as a-go (present), o-go (past), wen-go, and nen-go (didn't go). (Those examples are probably wrong, but she was talking quickly, and they give you an idea of how it works.)
Jamaicans drive on the left side of the road, like most everyone. In the olden days, everyone drove/rode on the left side of the road to keep their right hand free for their lance. Then at the time of the American Revolution, the US switched sides just to be contrary. Canadians and Mexicans followed. Sweden also switched because they have two car makers with a big market in the US, and they didn't want to have to make two kinds of models. (Are these stories true? I don't know. They are interesting, though.)
The roads we were on, mostly main highways, were two-lane roads and had no shoulders or sidewalks. The edges of the road were made of rain forest. We'd see people picking up trash in the road, waiting on the side of the road for a taxi, etc., even though it really seemed like there was no room at all and visibility around the curves of the mountains was too poor. Cars went fast, though, passing often (we witnessed a near head-on collision once). This was especially exciting for those of us used to driving on the other side of the road.
The main form of transportation is taxis, packed quite full. We decided a good video game would be called "Jamaican Taxi Driver," and you have to get the most people possible to the other side of the island while avoiding other cars, pedestrians, chickens, dogs (all the dogs look the same there, by the way), etc. Our driver said that driving there is like Mr. Toad's wild ride. She said you don't just need good nerves, you need no nerves at all.
We saw an amazingly wide variety of architecture ranging from 11,000+ square-foot mansions down to shacks made from readily identifiable elements. There were some solid and beautiful buildings made of adobe or perhaps concrete brick. There were solid buildings of concrete brick. Many buildings were in the middle of construction. There were ugly and flimsy-looking buildings, which really were the most fascinating to me. For example, one way to hold sheet metal on your roof is to put cinder blocks on top. I enjoyed seeing a mansion with a clothesline run between one of its pillars and a tree. I also saw awnings that were sometimes out and sometimes just hanging down vertically. Were the vertical ones broken, or is this just a good idea, especially in hurricane country?
(Sorry, no pictures; we were in a moving vehicle the whole time.)
Our guide said that most of the mansions were actually owned by returning Jamaicans. You go off to a first-world country, and about the second year, you send money home to cousin Nigel who builds a room and moves in. Each year, you send more money and Nigel adds another room. After forty years, you've got a mansion ready to retire in, but it's full of relatives with sweat equity.
The main (legal) exports are sugar cane and oranges. Yams can grow to be very large. For example, last year's winning yam weighed 70 pounds and had about 25 "fingers" coming off it.
In the middle of the island is "cockpit country," karst (cave) mountains which make excellent hiding places. Runaway slaves who came here became known as maroons, from the original word that meant "wild ones." Basically, this allowed the slaves to revolt more effectively here than in other countries. The British found that it was cheaper to get more slaves from Africa than to find their runaways and bring them back. After a while, the maroons were given independence and the British switched to indentured servants.
The literacy rate peaked in the 80% range under British rule but is now only 26%. The explanation is that the politicians sold them out, promising cheap labor.
Jamaica has the most churches per capita. They also have the most rum bars per capita. The churches tend to be visited by women; the men wait for them in the bars. Jamaicans are proud to call themselves Christian, but they also practice opia, aka voodoo, for their everyday needs.
The capital and largest city is Kingston. Montego Bay (where we landed) is the second largest city with a population of 100,000. Most Jamaicans live in villages and know their neighbors. "It's nice, so long as you know what you can live without."
Quote of the day - "Thank you for your cooperation for letting me drive you back without a scratch."
On the way there, we rode in a van with Carolyn Barrett (of Barrett Adventures) for over an hour through the Jamaican countryside while she explained things and told us stories and we passed very interesting scenery. (On the way back, we were combined with another group in a larger, more comfortable van, with a very quite driver who did, however, provide today's quote of the day.)
Jamaicans speak English, or at least it's taught in schools and used in street signs, but their everyday language, Patois, is a combination of many elements including Cockney English, Ibo (an African language), and another African language I didn't recognize the name of. They add things to verbs to indicate tense, such as a-go (present), o-go (past), wen-go, and nen-go (didn't go). (Those examples are probably wrong, but she was talking quickly, and they give you an idea of how it works.)
Jamaicans drive on the left side of the road, like most everyone. In the olden days, everyone drove/rode on the left side of the road to keep their right hand free for their lance. Then at the time of the American Revolution, the US switched sides just to be contrary. Canadians and Mexicans followed. Sweden also switched because they have two car makers with a big market in the US, and they didn't want to have to make two kinds of models. (Are these stories true? I don't know. They are interesting, though.)
The roads we were on, mostly main highways, were two-lane roads and had no shoulders or sidewalks. The edges of the road were made of rain forest. We'd see people picking up trash in the road, waiting on the side of the road for a taxi, etc., even though it really seemed like there was no room at all and visibility around the curves of the mountains was too poor. Cars went fast, though, passing often (we witnessed a near head-on collision once). This was especially exciting for those of us used to driving on the other side of the road.
The main form of transportation is taxis, packed quite full. We decided a good video game would be called "Jamaican Taxi Driver," and you have to get the most people possible to the other side of the island while avoiding other cars, pedestrians, chickens, dogs (all the dogs look the same there, by the way), etc. Our driver said that driving there is like Mr. Toad's wild ride. She said you don't just need good nerves, you need no nerves at all.
We saw an amazingly wide variety of architecture ranging from 11,000+ square-foot mansions down to shacks made from readily identifiable elements. There were some solid and beautiful buildings made of adobe or perhaps concrete brick. There were solid buildings of concrete brick. Many buildings were in the middle of construction. There were ugly and flimsy-looking buildings, which really were the most fascinating to me. For example, one way to hold sheet metal on your roof is to put cinder blocks on top. I enjoyed seeing a mansion with a clothesline run between one of its pillars and a tree. I also saw awnings that were sometimes out and sometimes just hanging down vertically. Were the vertical ones broken, or is this just a good idea, especially in hurricane country?
(Sorry, no pictures; we were in a moving vehicle the whole time.)
Our guide said that most of the mansions were actually owned by returning Jamaicans. You go off to a first-world country, and about the second year, you send money home to cousin Nigel who builds a room and moves in. Each year, you send more money and Nigel adds another room. After forty years, you've got a mansion ready to retire in, but it's full of relatives with sweat equity.
The main (legal) exports are sugar cane and oranges. Yams can grow to be very large. For example, last year's winning yam weighed 70 pounds and had about 25 "fingers" coming off it.
In the middle of the island is "cockpit country," karst (cave) mountains which make excellent hiding places. Runaway slaves who came here became known as maroons, from the original word that meant "wild ones." Basically, this allowed the slaves to revolt more effectively here than in other countries. The British found that it was cheaper to get more slaves from Africa than to find their runaways and bring them back. After a while, the maroons were given independence and the British switched to indentured servants.
The literacy rate peaked in the 80% range under British rule but is now only 26%. The explanation is that the politicians sold them out, promising cheap labor.
Jamaica has the most churches per capita. They also have the most rum bars per capita. The churches tend to be visited by women; the men wait for them in the bars. Jamaicans are proud to call themselves Christian, but they also practice opia, aka voodoo, for their everyday needs.
The capital and largest city is Kingston. Montego Bay (where we landed) is the second largest city with a population of 100,000. Most Jamaicans live in villages and know their neighbors. "It's nice, so long as you know what you can live without."
Quote of the day - "Thank you for your cooperation for letting me drive you back without a scratch."