back to the freeze
dump up beach, montego bay
the sun rises at 630am, everyday. it sets around 630pm, everyday.
the big dipper is perpendicular to the horizon.
the sunsets are super short, nothing lingers, it just drops into the water.
when i said i am going to montego bay, and not doing an all-inclusive, lots of people worried for me, as it's supposedly very dangerous. apparently it's been so bad that the rich cruise ships now dock at ocho rios or negril, to avoid the possible violence. and it is true, many G-20 embassies did send out travel warnings.
my eyebrows did do a wrinkle, but i thought, hey, if things get bent, i will just drag my visa card and stay at an all-inclusive. so i went, with a 28L backpack, to my little hostel holiday.
montego bay was a familiar scene. many people walking around, the roads are full of cars, intense driving and honking. the children and teenagers in uniforms are going to school. internet on phone is cheap. i never really looked for a public bathroom in the streets, but i think they may have been a-okay. or not. no idea. didnt really see one. and people smoke lots. and they smoke everything. there are lots of carts selling bits and bobs.
i also learned that GDP for capita for jamaica is just 4868 USD (2016). that's even lower than cuba (7602, as of 2015). they are in fluent dual currency with USD (which usually means their economy is quite weak and the market has stalled). it's beautiful and i found the people full of energy and heat, but 2014, they were ranked the 2nd poorest country in the caribbean.
http://www.aneki.com/poorest_caribbean.html?number=25
most of the murders and deaths that disturbed the tourism is highly intertwined with drug and gang relations. they export bananas, sugar and bauxite (for aluminum); but they are not able to run a facility for actual aluminium production, so all the bauxite gets exported.
the tourism-workers, they are considered 'in-touch-with-tourists.' so they are earning minimum wage. for a full week of work, minimum wage in jamaica is 60 USD.
and they work so hard.
in my little excursions, i met up with people from the all-inclusive world. the week-long princes and princesses. and when they were tight with money (well, tip) ( ' oh but i paid plenty for the booking through the website, i hope they pay you alright, thank you'), it did made me wince a bit. compare to these people, we are so ridiculously rich. 1 USD in toronto wont even buy you a coffee.
never mind, it will still buy you a mcdonald small premium roast coffee( $1 with tax = 1.13, current exchange rate is 1: 1.30, so actually you will have 17 cents change. oops).
but you get the gist.
i did not feel particularly unsafe or unsettled in montego bay. in fact, people i met, and interacted with, where quite gentle with me, the little lone asian girl foreigner, who clearly wasnt doing an all-inclusive. they did call me names and try to get something from me, but i was never forced to a corner, i was free to walk away without a great hassle, and i had people help me out with little things in every step, cuz, well, obviously i am not from there, and they wanted me to be safe and happy.
ive been to a few hard places now. the hardest in my memory will always be phnom phen. but it may be so, because it was the first proper hard place ive been. since then, i realize more and more how wealthy i am, in the eyes of the world. and sometimes, i find it embarrassing.
the jamaicans i met were interesting and a few were very beautifully warm people. and so many of them are physically stunningly beautiful (like, enviously so). but they live there and i go on a whim visit, thanks to the birth lottery.
it was a vacay full of questions, thoughts and LOADS OF SUNSHINE, SO MUCH THAT IM TOASTED. more stories to come.
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