Jamaica? Yeah mon!!

In the middle of the freezing cold temperatures we’ve had lately around the Bay Area it can definitely be hard to imagine a warm and tropical place. We’ve been fortunate enough recently to have the opportunity to take a trip to just such a climate. Jamaica!!

Natasha and I usually prefer a backpacking style of travel and to really try to see as much of each country as we can. With the busy holiday season coming to an end it was definitely nice to have a few days to unwind, spend some time sightseeing and really trying to get a sense of the people and customs of this foreign culture.

The locals there speak a dialect of English called Patois which can definitely be hard to understand. It’s not so much the words they use that are different but their accent and manner of pronunciation. To give an example of the dialect from our Lonely Planet guidebook here’s how a Jamaican would say “I just dropped my plate’ – “Dat wurtless plate jump right outa me hand! :)

It seemed the people are a lot more forward and the most random of a stranger had no problems coming right up to shake hands and ask us where we’re from. While a bit disconcerting at first, it was nice to be able to not have the social barriers often present in our culture.

Cottonwood tree in Treasure Beach:

Boat tours in Negril:

Callaloo vendor on the streets of Negril:

Pelican Bar, mile out at sea, Treasure Beach:

A quick self-portrait on a boat tour:

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 13th, 2007 at 7:13 am and is filed under Travel, Weddings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.