Jamaica

Had I stayed on the boat, I would have only had 3 days in Jamaica which was definitely not enough to do what I wanted.  I ended up staying for just under 2 weeks, staying with random people I met through Couchsurfing or at the yacht club.  I travelled around by hitching, getting lifts from people who had put me up, or ridiculously overcrowded minibusses. Probably marginally worse than Peru which is quite an achievement.  I got sorted out in the Royal Yacht Club a few days, then Kingston, Port Antonio and Portland Parish, Montego Bay, and Negril.

It is a really cool country, with a great culture, delicious food, and beautiful beaches.  However, a lot of the country/people are incredibly poor. Being white, you get hustled and hounded by people trying to sell you all sorts of shit, or just telling you to buy them something or begging.

I stayed with a Rasta guy called Cass for a couple of days in downtown Kingston.  Full on in the ghetto, easily the most unsafe place I have been in the whole year. If you google 'Fletchers Land, Kingston', most of the things seem to tell you to stay away - especially as a short white guy...

However, Cass had lived there all his life, knew everybody around, and nobody gave me any trouble which was good.  Cass is one of the funniest people I have met - had me laughing pretty much the whole time I stayed.  He is a Reggae artist (youtube Cassafaya), and he took me to a show/gig he was doing at a place called Reggae Yard. Very '8 Mile'. I didn't quite fit the demographic there. A great few days.

 These are his kids who were also pretty funny.  They laughed at me and said I looked weird because I was white, had 'funny little lips' and a 'pointy nose'. Cass and them all loved Mr Bean and we watched it online.  I got called Mr Bean for the time I stayed.

The front door

 Sweet house.  In a small village called Sheffield near Negril.

 Negril beach.

 Another horrible beach.

 Me and Eddy. Eddy very kindly put me up for a few days on his boat.  Not featured is Otis, the big 6ft 9' monster.  He cooked some awesome chicken stew with rice and peas for dinner one night. He also only talked to me in Jamaican Patwa so I understood next to nothing of everything he said.

 Cheesy photo at Boston Bay, Portland Parish.

 Boston Bay

 Boston Bay

 Winston did potentially the best Jerk chicken I had in Jamaica.  His shack is in Boston - the home of Jerk.

 Kids doing flips at sunset on the beach

Assembling my Jamaican produce - Spiced bun, Appleton rum, ginger beer, and Ting.  Ting is basically Lilt.  I was devastated to find that they don't have Lilt in Jamaica as before I came, I assumed that everyone drank it there.  Luckily they have Ting, which everyone drinks.

Jamaica was good.