Sleepless in Jamaica 🇯🇲
Welcome back to Sunday Somewhere, sent to you from a comfy little chair in Kingston, Jamaica. I wanted to try taking the chair with us to our next Airbnb, but then all the Jamaicans would ask "hey mon, watchu doin ova dair wit dat chair mon?" And I'd have to explain that I was a thief and we'd get arrested and now that just wouldn't be very much fun now.
Mexico is the bomb.
We've said it before and we'll say it again. For the weather, sites, food, and people, Mexico is pretty hard to beat. This was our first time on the Yucatán Peninsula, the once-Maya area of Mexico where lots of folk speak ancient languages and ruins are all over.
We went to Cozumel and Cancún, almost missed our flight to Kingston because I thought it was in the afternoon only to check the night before and realize it left at 9:50 am, then we made it here.
Jamaica, mon 🇯🇲
Got a lot to say:
- Reggae music is everywhere. Bob Marley can be heard wailing, "...Hear the children crying!" from many a shop walking down the road.
- Water pressure is limited to day time, barbed wire is everywhere, and the city streets are covered in potholes and ruts. Jamaica is not very developed. At least, this part isn't.
- It's also super Americanized. We stopped at a Krispy Kreme today to get some water.
- The plane here was full of the Olympic Soccer and Handball teams of Jamaica! They were a lively bunch, to say the least.
- Based solely on not smelling it too much, pot doesn't seem as prevalent as expected. Maybe once we head up north, toward Rastafaria, the ganja will be more in the air.
- I guess there's a lot of corruption here. At least, that's what the Uber driver said. When regular citizens say this often, I always wonder if governments are truly corrupt or if they're just really bad at governing. Either way, it's always sad to see people suffer due to unhelpful leadership.
- People have been very kind to us. They stare - obviously we stick out as white people in a country predominantly made up of black people - but it just feels like a 'whatchu guys doin here' kind of stare. Then, we say "hello" with a smile and they greet us back.
- A quote from Ryan Trahan, a Youtuber Reyka and I like, resonated with us recently:
"It really feels like everywhere I go I find nice people. I find kind people. And it feels like the sentiment is generally that humans aren't very nice. And I even hear people say that certain places, certain cities, certain countries are much more rude, and I just don't think I believe it.
I really hope you enjoyed this rambly email. It's late and I'm getting loopy, so I really hope it all made sense. Also, in case you were wondering why we haven't published any videos for a while, Reyka's laptop screen, the one we use for editing our videos, has decided to remain black even when on. Not ideal, I know. Our next video will likely be released in a few weeks, when we are back home. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise, as we now have nothing to distract us from experiencing the wonders of Jamaica and meeting loads of locals, which is what travel is all about.
Hope you have a great week.
Love and Peace,
Wyatt (and Reyka in spirit)