The Conical Glass: Jamaica: no mistaica

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Jamaica: no mistaica

I am blogging in the air again, flying over the Rocky Mountains. So far our trip home from Jamaica has been one of those horrible travel nightmares that make you want to stick close to home for a good long while. First of all, our flight from Montego Bay to JFK yesterday was 3 hours late in departing. Then, once we got to JFK, it took us two full hours to go through customs and claim our luggage. If there's anything duller than watching bags go around and around a carousel for an hour-plus, I don't know what it is. Plus, when my suitcase FINALLY arrived, it was partially unzipped and the bright green luggage strap around it, which I've used for years, was gone.

Note (added later): According to FlightStats.com, the Montego Bay-Jamaica flight on American Airlines is on time only 27% of the time, and its delays are considered "excessive" 39% of the time! It departed a whopping 5 hours late the day after we flew, so I guess we should count our blessings.

Since our flight to SFO was leaving this morning, we had reserved a room at a Ramada Inn near the airport. By the time we checked in, it was after 2 AM and we had time to get about 5 hours of sleep before we had to get up again. Despite the fact that it's the closest hotel to JFK, the Ramada only runs one small shuttle to the airport every 30 minutes. Of course, there were lots of people waiting to get on it, so everyone had to smoosh in there with their luggage so it was more crowded than a Tokyo subway car.

One interesting thing about going through airport security in Jamaica: they don't make you take your shoes off! Hooray. It's probably a good thing since it seems like most of the people catching a flight there are wearing flip-flops with no socks. I see more and more people wearing flip-flops on a daily basis, not just in Jamaica but in New York and San Francisco, too. How do people walk on them all the time without winding up with foot problems? They're not exactly supportive footwear.

Anyway, this is a really petty complaint but here it goes anyway. One of the nice things about United business class is that you get a portable DVD player stocked with a bunch of recent releases. I noticed that one of the selections was the Will Smith tearjerker "The Pursuit of Happyness," which I'd wanted to see but hadn't gotten around to catching in the theater. At first, my DVD player wouldn't start. I traded it in for another. Then one channel of the headphones wasn't working. Finally, everything seemed fine and I watched the first 75 minutes of the film. Suddenly, there were a bunch of technical glitches -- the disc skipped, and the soundtrack wasn't audible. I assumed it was a problem with the DVD, so I had the flight attendant exchange it for another. I forwarded it to the proper chapter and it did the exact same thing! I have no idea what that's about, but I just gave up. I'm obviously having a bad technology day. At least my laptop is working. I'm going to run over to the video store when we get home so I can rent the movie and finish watching it later today.

Note (added later): Fortunately, my neighborhood video store had a copy available for rental. Sometimes bricks & mortar really does beat Netflix.

Luckily, I've been pretty calm on all my flights. I think the techniques I learned in the book did help. I'd checked it out of the library, but I plan to purchase my own copy in case I need a refresher. I'd like to go back to Europe next year, and eventually I'd love to visit Australia and New Zealand. Of course, even if I'm not paralyzed with fear, I do get bored during long plane trips. I read, I do crosswords and sudokus, I listen to podcasts and music on my iPod, I write, I watch movies if the player works... but there's just something about being trapped in an enclosed area for hours and hours that drives me to constantly check my watch and wish I could do something else -- preferably something that doesn't involve sitting. If anyone has any coping strategies for long-haul flights, I'd love to hear 'em. (Maybe Yellojkt will weigh in now that he's back from China?) Keep in mind that I can't sleep on planes and I don't want to take any sedatives, either.

So let me do a final analysis of the Jamaica trip. To recap, I'd been having trepidations about it for almost a year now -- the country is so far away! I'm going to be stuck in a house with a bunch of extroverts I don't know very well! It's dangerous! The "far away" part worked out OK, I suppose, since at least we were able to fly business most of the way. As for the people, they are all really nice, great, friendly folks. We're just different. They're all Baby Boomers, so there was a bit of a generation gap. Usually, that doesn't bother me; a good percentage of my friends are over 50 but for some reason, I seldom think about that, maybe because we have so much in common. Books, for instance. Joe and I were the only people in the house who did any serious reading. I got through five books and he read two, though his were both really long. Not once did anyone ever ask me what I was reading or even take a look at my books, which is weird to me, since my friends and I would have been totally into comparing notes and trading paperbacks. There were also numerous board games at the house where we were staying, but we never succeeded getting a game of Scrabble going. Again, not bad -- just different.

On our last night in Jamaica, I did finally agree to go out with the crowd. Several folks had been eager to hear live reggae music, which apparently is trickier than you'd think. (However, there were posters all over the place for the Reggae SumFest later this month, which should provide plenty of opportunity.) They complained that even the music DJs played in clubs was not Jamaican -- lots of American hip-hop, apparently, which appeals to the younger generation of Jamaicans and tourists. The concierge at the Half Moon had recommended a club at the Coral Cliff hotel, right across the street from Margaritaville. The Coral Cliff is also a casino, which seemed like a bad sign (could you hear the music over the din of slot machines?), but the lounge was actually quite pleasant and the band was not bad. They played a few pop-reggae numbers before going into a set of covers of American hits, like Tina Turner's "Simply the Best" and Aretha Franklin's "Respect," so it was hardly the authentic indigenous music of the islands. We left at the reasonable hour of 11:30.

Is Jamaica dangerous? I would say no, as long as you have someone like our driver Ruben to steer you in the right direction. Joe and I were fairly cautious, but our housemates went out a lot and visited public beaches & markets and experienced nothing worse than a bit of harassment from ganja dealers (the men) and a few young hustlers looking for rich Americans a la How Stella Got Her Groove Back (the women). They answered with a firm "no", and it all made for a good story at breakfast the next day. Certainly if you are going to an all-inclusive resort like the Half Moon or Sandals, you'll probably be as safe as you are in your own home. The resorts also run their own sightseeing excursions for guests, and if you need a cab, state-licensed taxis are easily recognizable by their bright red license plates.

Jamaica is a poor country and the tourism industry is incredibly important; according to this site, one of every three employed workers in Jamaica works in tourism and services, and the average income is only US$3,660 per year. I wouldn't let a few well-publicized incidents deter anyone from going -- I mean, horrible things happen in New York too, but I rode the subway there at 2 AM and experienced no problems. People have been mugged and killed right in my neighborhood, and heaven knows things are pretty bad in Oakland right now. No place is 100% safe and if you're looking for lots of warm weather, sun and sand, Jamaica's got it.

Across the board, the Jamaicans we dealt with were incredibly helpful, friendly and had an almost old-fashioned courtliness to their manners. The staff at our estate could not have been nicer. On the last day, Sylvia, the cook and household manager, asked me when we'd be coming back, and that she hoped we'd return, and I'm quite sure she meant it. Our group was sincerely appreciative of her cooking, and we eagerly ate every Jamaican specialty she dished up, even stuff that seemed a bit weird initially. Joe can be a bit of a picky eater, but he devoured things I never thought he'd touch. We took photos of the gorgeously arranged platters of food and applauded after meals. I think we were a pretty fun, low-maintenance bunch.

house

Despite its problems, Jamaicans are obviously very proud of their country. The only time I saw the unflappable Sylvia upset is when she was telling me about a past guest who had referred to Jamaica as "backwards." It's obviously not as techno-savvy as the U.S. but pretty much everyone there seems to carry around a cell phone, and there are numerous Internet cafes. The Montego Bay cable system even has Comedy Central!

So, would I return? I might, though I must admit that I'm such a city girl that my ideal vacation spot is someplace with tons of museums, theater and urban architecture; I'm not into water activities (several of our housemates were avid snorkelers) and sitting around on the beach. But if I could find 8 friends to share the house who were into board games, reading & discussing books, and watching "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report," and Sylvia was still there to do the cooking, I'd at least consider it. I definitely wouldn't take American Airlines' flight from JFK to get there, though.

pool

posted by 125records @ 9:49 PM

2 Comments:

At 11:27 PM, yellojkt said…

Sounds like a great trip.

United Business Class looks fantastic, like little barcaloungers. Unfortuanately I was in steerage with grainy movies and bad sound. On my thirteen hour flight back I had an inside seat and only left it once for a comfort/stretch break. I go very zen and just sleep and read while traveling.
At 3:47 AM, yellojkt said…

I didn't bring it with me, but there is a book called Airplane Yoga that shows stretching exercises that you can do from in your seat.

During my mid-flight stretch break, there were a couple of people in the galley doing lunges. I just did a bunch of toe touches.