Greetings from a bus in the inner mountains of Jamaica. Green, shrouded in clouds, and rolling into the distance, they make for pleasing scenery during our three hour journey from Montego Bay to Kingston.
From Kingston, we catch a flight tomorrow to country #17 of…. drum roll please….. read to the end to find out!
Overall Impressions of Jamaica
- Impressive nature. Beaches everywhere, waterfalls like a staircase, mountains that grow coffee, and forests so thick you would need a machete to enter. For the record though, we could do without the massive spiders.
- It’s a proud country. Flags, paintings of Bob Marley, statues of Usain Bolt – you name something Jamaican, it’s everywhere here.
- Marijuana’s presence here is not overblown. It’s precisely blown. Or rather… inhaled. Sellers line the streets. One airbnb host in particular smoked every day we were there, and when we all went to a river together, he stopped to purchase some from some guys outside a gas station.
- The tour of Bob Marley’s House is fantastic. With a bunch of other tourists, the guide breaks the ice by having everyone sing, “One love, one heeaaaarrrrt. Let’s get together and feel alright.” While informing us about Bob’s life, he would randomly burst out into song, encouraging us to join him.
- Jamaican food is good! Pattis are like little hot pockets full of beef or chicken. Jerk chicken is a quite spicy and dry meat, but tasty. And, boy, don’t even get me started on the banana bread.
Up Next: Bahamas!
Tomorrow we fly to Nassau. It’s the capital city, and it basically stretches across an entire island – Providence Island. We have an airbnb in the city, which we plan to use as our home-base as we explore, make some friends, eat some food, and just check out what’s going on.
Travel Tip: GADCTSYD
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This debit card seems to be made for travel. You avoid ATM scams with terrible exchange rates. You avoid paying ATM fee after ATM fee, because they all get refunded. It works at any ATM, so you don’t have to desperately hope your one lone bank in the area is open and has cash.
The last perk is potentially the most valuable feature of the card, for anyone who has had a compromised/lost debit card in a foreign country will know. I’ve been sent two replacement cards in both Mexico and Spain and they’ve arrived within a few days for free.
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Anyway, we’ll be up early tomorrow, so it’s probably time for bed.
Love,
Wyatt (and Reyka)