JAMAICA May 4-7, 2022
I flew from Sao Paulo to Fort Lauderdale (United via Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles, 22 hours, CAD$680, by far the cheapest route) on May 2-3, 2022. I slept in the FLL airport and flew to Montego Bay on May 4 (Spirit direct, 1′ 20 CAD$101) and rented a car in the airport to drive around the island for 3 days.
Capital and largest city. Kingston
Language. Official English, National Jamaican Patois
Ethnic groups. 92.1% Afro-Jamaicans (incl. 25% mixed Irish Jamaican), 3.8% Chinese, 3.3% Mixed, 0.8% Other
Religion. 68.9% Christianity, 64.8% Protestantism, 4.1% other Christian, 21.3% No religion, 1.1% Rastafarianism, 6.5% Others, 2.3% Not stated
Area: 10,991 km2 (4,244 sq mi) (160th)
Population. 2,726,667[6] (141st)
GDP (PPP) per capita. $9,434 (109th)
Gini. 35 (medium)
HDI. 0.734 high · 101st
Currency. Jamaican dollar JMD. May 2022 xe.com: 1 US$=154 JMD, 1 €=162 JMD, 1 CAD$=120 JMD
Calling Code. +1-876, +1-658 (Overlay of 876; active in November 2018)
Drive on the left.
Observations Jamaica
1. People. Jamaicans themselves are eztremely pleasant and welcoming to tourists after 2 years of not having many. They just relaxed thier Covid rules (to none) in mid April. But it appears to be a 100% black country and white folks stick out like sore thrumbs.
The poverty seems significant. Many appear to drive thier income in the casual work sector selling vegetables or fruit on roadside stands. One gets panhandled quite a bit.
There are a lot of nice homes but all are behind big walls topped with razor wire or electrical fencing.
Jamaican hair is an experience. Some women wear attachments but both men and women rely heaviily on complicated braiding.
2. Tourists. Most must go to resorts as I saw virtually no white people anywhere except occasionaly walking on roads around resort areas.
3. What to see. There is not much of interest except beaches for resorts (virtually all private). There are several waterfalls especially along the north coast (Ocho Rios has several).
4. Costs. Food is relatively cheap. Gas is 2.24 JD (US$1.46) for Octane 87. My car was $75/day to rent. Most museums are cheap but other places (Plantation houses, Bob Marley Museum and nicer waterfalls) are $25 entry, very expensive at world prices.
Day 1
CORNWALL (Montego Bay, Negril) May 4-5, 2022
I arrived after my flight from FLL at 11:30 and it took a while to rent a car (Island Car Rental, Toyota Corolla, about $70/day, milage 165446), got Digicel SIM card and was driving by 1:30.
MONTEGO BAY (pop 500,000) Montego Bay is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area. As a result, Montego Bay is the second-largest anglophone city in the Caribbean, after Kingston.
Montego Bay is a popular tourist destination featuring duty-free shopping, a cruise line terminal and several beaches and resorts. The city is served by the Donald Sangster International Airport (MJB), the busiest airport in the Anglophone Caribbean, which is located within the official city limits. The city is enclosed in a watershed, drained by several rivers such as the Montego River. Montego Bay is referred to as “The Second City”, “MoBay” or “Bay”.
I found MB kind of depressing – many poor people panhandling, many offers to buy marijuana (about $4 per joint or a small packet), and nothing great to see.
Dead End (Buccaner) Beach. This is a tiny beach, possibly only 60 m long, white sand with an acitve bunch of locals and a breakwater on the east end. It is between the airport and the water.
Doctor’s Cave Beach. In MB, it is private and controlled by the Doctor’s Cave Beach Club ($2). It is much deeper than Dead End Beach but longer.
Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. An odd Catholic church, one-story with a flat roof. The many stained glass windows are separated by ventilating louvers. Closed so I didn’t get to see inside.
St. James Parish Church. An Anglican church of grey stone with most of the white paint worn off. Inisde it tis lovely with many high arched windows and elegant wood framing a great stained glass window.As usueal memorials dot the walls.
Sam Sharpe Square. In the NM Urban Legends series, it is a tiny cobbled square in the corner of round about (with a fountain). Sam Sharpe is preaching to 4 young people. He was enslaved on the Croydon Plantation. A Baptist lay preacher, he organized a passive resistance against slavery demanding pay for work done. In 1831, the strike turned into an armed rebellion that was savagely suppressed by the British with hundreds tried and executed in Montego Bay Market on May 23, 1832, including Mr Sharpe. This though led to the end of enslavement in 1834. He was declared one of Jamaica’s national heroes.
Harbour Street Craft Market. Many small wooden buildings with corrugated metal roofs and open areas display brightly coloured clothing, jewelry and wood-carved masks. They all wanted business. Covid was not a good for these people with basically 2 years of minimal business. I talked to a woman called “Big Mama” for a while.
I returned to my car parked on a street near the market to find it towed. I found at the city impound lot and had to pay 12,000 JD (about US$100 to get it out at the municipal building about 4 blocks away. I found out that you must have a parking sticker to park anywhere in MB streets. There are a few large parking areas that I should have used. All cars have a small, green square sticker with 22 on their windshields. Without it, you will get towed – an expensive lesson.
It would not be practical to find the stores issueing parking stickers. Apparently it is the same in Kingston.
Bellefield Great House & Gardens. This 2-story plantation house was closed but I had a walk around it and looked into all the windows including the upper veranda It is completely furnished as when lived in – a dining room and kitchen on the bottom and sitting rooms on the top. The presumed bedrooms on the top had curtains. A round restaurant was all that was open.
Google Maps directed me to a gated community and I had to drive a long way back to finally find the way here (“turn right at the first light and right again at the second light”). Then it is an unsigned right to the house (if you cross a bridge, you have gone too far).
I then left Montego Bay on my way to Negril driving along the west coast of Jamaica.
Samuel’s Bay Marine NP. I am not sure how to access the water here as there is a locked gate with numbers to call.
Bloody Bay Beach. I long white sand beach lining the entire bay. The access is very limited and all private controlled by the many swanky resorts on the water. I drove into one (The Palms) and went down to the water.
Seven Mile Beach. Also mostly private, this beach has much more access via restaurants and bars. The resorts are much less posh. The beach is not as deep as Bloody Bay and is not in a bay so it gets more waves.
NEGRI (pop 6,900) is a small (pop. 6,900) but widely dispersed beach resort town located across parts of two Jamaican parishes, Westmoreland and Hanover.
Negril is about an hour and fifteen minute drive on the coastal highway from Sir Donald Sangster International Airport, in Montego Bay. Westmoreland is the westernmost parish in Jamaica, located on the south side of the island. Downtown Negril, the West End cliff resorts to the south of downtown, and the southern portion of the so-called “seven mile (11 km) beach” are in Westmoreland. The northernmost resorts on the beach are in Hanover Parish. The nearest large town is Savanna-la-Mar, the capital of Westmoreland Parish.
This is a rather unattractive town. Most of the areas next to the water are private with many resorts west and south of the city.
I stayed at Judy’s House in Negri that I found on Hostelworld. It is a number of small individual cabins. $35/nught
Day 2
Barney’s Flower & Hummingbird Garden Jamaica. A lovely tropical garden but not many hummingbirds. Very expensive at US$20.
Negril Lighthouse. A white (needs paint) lighthouse with a locked gate, but right beside the road.
Jamaica Zoo, Lacovia. This zoo appears to have not been open for decades. There is a massive arch and a big parking area but no entrance. The access from the parking area looks rarely used and is overgrown.
I returned to the Cromwell area on May 7 to return to the airport in Montego Bay (see below):
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JAMAICA – MIDDLESEX, SURREY (Kingston, Mandeville, Ocho Rios) May 5-6, 2022
It took me most of a day to drive from Negril on the west coast to Kingston. The road is narrow, busy with traffic, has many slow trucks and drivers and is twisty.
Bloomfield Great House, Mandeville(permanently closed). I drove up here not realizing it was closed.
KINGSTON/PORTMORE/SPANISH TOWN
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island. In the Americas, Kingston is the largest predominantly English-speaking city south of the United States.
Kingston Parish had a population of 89,057, and St. Andrew Parish had a population of 573,369 in 2011. Kingston is only bordered by Saint Andrew to the east, west and north.
Cathedral of St. Jago de la Vega, Spanish Town. This is an imposing brick church with a single bell tower and wood steeple. It was closed.
I stayed at Ragamuffin Hostel in Kingston. I then had a busy day seeing Kingston and started to drive back to Montego Bay.
Day 3
Up early, I was off by 7 am to see all the sites in Kingston.
Bob Marley statue. A standing bronze Bob Marley playing a guitar stands in a small corner surrounded by a small metal fence.
Emancipation Statue. Out side the park on the corner are two large naked torsos on a round cemetn plinth. Just inside the park are 8 busts of prominent Jamaicans.
National Heroes Park. In a large grassy park are several monuments to the heroes of Jamaica.
THE UNDERWATER CITY OF PORT ROYAL (02/03/2009). Port Royal, Jamaica, commonly referred to as “the wickedest city on earth” conjures images of marauding pirates, daring naval conquests, looting, riches, destruction and devastation. It boats an intriguing and turbulent history as it rapidly grew to become the most important trading post in the New World. At the height of its glittering wealth, on June 7, 1692, Port Royal was consumed by an earthquake and two thirds of the town sank into the sea. A series of fires and hurricanes followed and the town was never restored to its former glory. Port Royal lived out its days as a British naval station and remains as a small fishing village today.
Generally archaeological excavations represent a long period of time where buildings were constructed, renovated, added, fell into disrepair, were abandoned, collapsed and perhaps built over. In contrast, after just 37 years of existence, the bustling city of Port Royal literally sank into the harbour in a matter of minutes, remaining perfectly preserved as it was on the day of the earthquake.
The Port Royal Cay. Port Royal is situated on the end of an 18-mile-long sand spit known as the Palisadoes, 15 miles from the centre of Kingston. Currently, the peninsula is one continuous strip although at various times throughout its history, the tip on which Port Royal stands was a cay completely surrounded by water.
Pre 1692. Regular occupation at the site began when Britain captured Jamaica from Spain in 1655. The English immediately recognized the cay’s strategic importance in defending the island from the threat of recapture by the Spanish or the possibility of French invasion. They set about fortifying the place and completed Fort Cromwell (later renamed Fort Charles) in less than two years. Construction continued over the next two decades until six well-armed forts surrounded the little cay. Thus Port Royal, during its period of prosperity, was better defended than any of its contemporary Spanish cities, such as Cartagena, Havana, Vera Cruz or Porto Bello.
Within this fortified area the town grew rapidly. Due to its safe and protected location, its flat topography and deep water close to shore, large ships could easily glide in to be serviced, loaded and unloaded. Along with the ships, sailors and merchants alike established themselves to benefit from the many trading and outfitting opportunities there. Between 1655 and 1692, Port Royal grew faster than any town founded by the English in the New World. In 1662 Port Royal recorded 740 inhabitants. At its’ height in 1692, population estimates vary from 6500 to 10,000. With approximately 2000 buildings densely packed into 51 acres, a realistic estimate would be between 6500 and 7000 inhabitants of whom perhaps 2500 were slaves.
Centred on the slave trade as well as export of sugar and raw materials, Port Royal became the mercantile hub of the Caribbean and the most economically important English port in the Americas. The city boasted merchants, artisans, tradesmen, captains, slaves, and notorious pirates who all participated in an expansive business network. It had a governor’s house, king’s house (court of chancery), four churches and a cathedral. Many of the buildings were made of brick, indicating a certain amount of wealth not found at other contemporaneous settlements. Inventories of Port Royal’s citizens reveal much prosperity and the observation that, unlike the other English colonies, Jamaica used coins for currency instead of commodity exchange.
During the early days’of Port Royal’s development, officially sanctioned privateering was also a common practice. Privateers or Buccaneers were awarded official contracts from England to raid Spanish, Dutch and French ships in the Caribbean. Part of the booty was reserved for the Crown and the rest flowed into the coffers of Port Royal’s bawdy citizens. While, this practice was officially ended by the 1670 Treaty of Madrid, privateering and/or piracy, continued well into the 18th century. In 1689, nearly half of the population was involved in this trade.
This then, was Port Royal at its zenith, a vibrant city centre with expensive goods flowing through the harbour day in and day out. See Captain John Taylor, writing in 1688, described Port Royal as “a formidable City: well built, strongly fortified, and Populated by a valiant Inhabitant.” He counted some 600 brick houses and an equal number built of timber. According to Taylor they were mainly four stories high with cellars, tiled roofs and sash windows and had large shops and storehouses attached.
Earthquake and Post 1692. In the midst of this decadence, Port Royal was struck by a severe earthquake at 20 minutes to noon, June 7, 1692. Three violent shocks, each stronger than the previous ripped the earth followed by a giant tidal wave. Within minutes, two-thirds of the entire town disappeared underwater. Nearest to the water’s edge, the streets filled with warehouses were the first to go. The cemetery sank while the church tower crumbled to the ground. One by one, the Forts disappeared under the rising waves.
Of the original 51 acres, 20 sank to a depth of 10 feet and 13 slid to a depth of 35 feet. Two thousand people died immediately and a further 3000 died of injuries and disease shortly after.
While most survivors fled to the mainland, some did remain. Officials like the secretary, receiver-general, and port officers were soon ordered back to work. Trade and privateering were also revived and Spanish treasure was soon filling the coffers once more.
But disaster struck again when a great fire broke out in a warehouse on January 9, 1703. The fire spread quickly, aided by large quantities of gunpowder and other flammable material stored in the various areas of town. The narrow streets and the close proximity of buildings made salvaging almost impossible. By midnight the entire town was reduced to ashes.
Following the fire, a contentious Bill was proposed that would shift all commerce to the growing centre of Kingston. Merchants were in favour of relocating as they claimed Kingston was healthier and safer than Port Royal. Seamen and sailors countered that Kingston was too difficult for their ships to access. Afier much argument, the Bill was rescinded and both cities were left to develop side by side. However, Port Royal was never to recover as an important commercial core. A series of hurricanes in 1712, 1722, 1726 and 1744 damaged the town to such an extent that it never recovered its former significance as a merchant epicenter. For the rest of the century, Port Royal’s role and importance shifted as it became the main British naval centre in the Caribbean.
Port Royal – 18th century to the present. Port Royal’s role as a British Naval Station extends from 1713 to 1905. During this time, the Station grew in size and tactical efficiency and Port Royal began to shelter fleets for offensive operations.
From 1715 to 1763, a dockyard was founded and consistently expanded in order to facilitate large navy ships. By 1770 it was properly equipped to handle trans-Atlantic voyages. Between 1763 and 1815, the dockyard was efficiently administrated and a new careening wharf was built south of the existing one. Naval operations officially ceased in 1905. Today, Port Royal is a small fishing village with a population of about 2000.
As the focus of this submission is the sunken city of Port Royal, on the surface, there is little to immediately suggest the town’s turbulent past. Most of Port Royal’s secrets lay deep under the water and considerable work has been conducted on the section that remains submerged.
Physical description. Early excavations excavated remains of the fish and meat markets, two taverns, and three ships located along the western edge of the city. In the seventies, and a block of lower-class houses and recovered thousands of artifacts and architectural features. A 1981 to 1990 excavation concentrated on the submerged remains on Lime Street. There is nothing to see at Port Charles. Any artifacts are displayed in the National Musuem in Kingston.
Fort Charles. Built between 1655 and 1770 it had 104 guns and housed 500 soldiers. It is a brick structure with many cannons.
Plumb Point Lighthouse. A large white lighthouse about half way along the Pallisadoes Peninsula.
I then drove back to Kingston to see all the sites downtown.
Holy Trinity Cathedral. An imposing “square” church centered on a massive dome with great rose windows on each of the four sides. Closed except on Sundays.
Sheere Shalom Synagogue. The original synagogue was built in 1885, but was partially destroyed in the 1907 earthquake. The rebuilding was completed in 1912, when the round front was changed to its present oval shape. The only remaining synagogue in Jamaica, it also houses the Jewish Institute, where some historical artifacts can still be seen—they include a 300-year-old Torah and photographs. Visitors are welcome but must ask the caretaker to open the building.
Natural History Museum of Jamaica. The usual rocks and stuffed animals. Free
National Museum. Four rooms with exhibits on the Taino, African art, Port Royal archaeology, and a room with eclectic pieces. I was given a nice tour. Free
Music Museum. In the back of the National Museum, it gives a history of Jamaican music.
National Gallery of Jamaica. Two floors with the highlights: Kopo Gallery (very unique wood sculpture using the natural form of the tree), Historical Gallery, Lithographs by Belesario and Kidd and the Edna Manley Gallery. 400 JD
Coronation Market. This must be the messiest market in the world. Shacks with garbage and produce sprawl out from a covered area.
Trench Town Culture Yard Museum. The cradle of reggae music and the nucleus for many of Marley’s early creative works, Trench Town relates the birth of Jamaican music and its continuing influence in the international space. This is where Marley spent much of his early music career. The “Yard” is now a historical site and cultural museum. Displays include articles, furnishings and instruments used in the early years by Marley, and members of the Wailers band, including Peter Tosh. Guided tour. $12
Bob Marley Museum. The museum is in his home, which he purchased in 1975. This house, featuring 19th-century architecture, was Marley’s home until his transition in 1981. It was converted into a museum six years later by his wife, Mrs Rita Marley. The main museum displays Marley’s personal treasures. The property also features a well-equipped 80-seat theatre, a photographic gallery, a record shop and a gift shop filled with a wide array of Bob Marley memorabilia. $25 (very expensive)
Robert Marley (1945 – 1981) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements of reggae, ska, and rocksteady, as well as his distinctive vocal and songwriting style. Marley’s contributions to music increased the visibility of Jamaican music worldwide, and made him a global figure in popular culture to this day. Over the course of his career, Marley became known as a Rastafari icon, and he infused his music with a sense of spirituality. He is also considered a global symbol of Jamaican music and culture and identity, and was controversial in his outspoken support for democratic social reforms. In 1976, Marley survived an assassination attempt in his home, which was thought to be politically motivated. He also supported legalization of marijuana, and advocated for Pan-Africanism.
Born in Nine Mile, Jamaica, Marley began his professional musical career in 1963, after forming the Teenagers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, which after several name changes would become the Wailers. The group released its debut studio album The Wailing Wailers in 1965, which contained the single “One Love”, a reworking of “People Get Ready”; the song was popular worldwide, and established the group as a rising figure in reggae. The Wailers released a further eleven studio albums, and after signing to Island Records the band’s name became Bob Marley and the Wailers. While initially employing louder instrumentation and singing, the group began engaging in rhythmic-based song construction in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which coincided with Marley’s conversion to Rastafari. Around this time, Marley relocated to London, and the group embodied their musical shift with the release of the album The Best of The Wailers (1971).
The group started to gain international attention after signing to Island, and touring in support of the albums Catch a Fire and Burnin’ (both 1973). Following the disbandment of the Wailers a year later, Marley carried on under the band’s name. The album Natty Dread (1974) received positive reception. In 1975, following the global popularity of Eric Clapton’s version of Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, with a live version of “No Woman, No Cry”, from the Live! album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which reached the Top 50 of the Billboard Soul Charts. A few months after the album’s release Marley survived an assassination attempt at his home in Jamaica, which prompted him to permanently relocate to London. During his time in London he recorded the album Exodus (1977); it incorporated elements of blues, soul, and British rock and enjoyed widespread commercial and critical success. In 1977, Marley was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma; he died as a result of the illness in 1981. His fans around the world expressed their grief, and he received a state funeral in Jamaica.
The greatest hits album Legend was released in 1984, and became the best-selling reggae album of all time. Marley also ranks as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of more than 75 million records worldwide. He was posthumously honoured by Jamaica soon after his death with a designated Order of Merit by his nation. In 1994, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone ranked him No. 11 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. His other achievements include a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and induction into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.
Devon House Mansion is the architectural dream of Jamaica’s first black millionaire, George Stiebel. Having gained his wealth from gold mining in South America, Stiebel was among three wealthy Jamaicans who constructed elaborate homes during the late 19th century at the corner of Trafalgar Road and Hope Road. This corner fittingly became known as the Millionaire’s Corner.
The Devon House mansion is a blend of Caribbean and Georgian architecture, furnished with Jamaican, English and French antique pieces and reproductions. There are manicured, green lawns.
Peter Tosh Museum. 1944 – 1987) was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band the Wailers (1963–1976), after which he established himself as a successful solo artist and a promoter of Rastafari. He was murdered in 1987 during a home invasion.
The museum has his M16 guitar (in the shape of an M16 rifle). $5
Hope Botanical Gardens. Backing onto the Blue Mountains, it has large grassy areas and several “gardens” with flowering hedges and flower beds. $2 parking.
Blue and John Crow Mountains WHS. The site encompasses a rugged and extensively forested mountainous region in the south-east of Jamaica, which provided refuge first for the indigenous Tainos fleeing slavery and then for Maroons (former enslaved peoples). They resisted the European colonial system in this isolated region by establishing a network of trails, hiding places and settlements, which form the Nanny Town Heritage Route and associated remains, i.e. secret trails, settlements, archaeological remains, look-outs, hiding places etc., bear exceptional witness to the phenomenon of grand marronage as characterized by Windward Maroon culture which, in the search for freedom from colonial enslavement, developed a profound knowledge of, and attachment to, their environment, that sustained and helped them to achieve autonomy and recognition.
The forests offered the Maroons everything they needed for their survival. They developed strong spiritual connections with the mountains, still manifest through the intangible cultural legacy of, for example, religious rites, traditional medicine and dances.
The site is also a biodiversity hotspot for the Caribbean Islands with a high proportion of endemic plant species, especially lichens, mosses and certain flowering plants.
The cultural and natural heritage of the Blue and John Crow Mountains comprises 26,252 ha of tropical, montane rainforest within the larger Blue Mountain and John Crow Mountain ranges. These two ranges cover approximately 20% of the island’s total landmass and are recognised for their biodiversity significance within the Caribbean Region. The property spans elevations from 850m to 2,256m asl. The high elevation, rugged landscape and the north and south-facing slopes of the mountains of the property have resulted in a wide variety of habitat types with nine ecological communities within the upper montane forest of the Blue Mountains (over 1,000m) and John Crow Mountains (over 600m). These include a unique Mor Ridge Forest characterised by a deep layer of acidic humus with bromeliads and endangered tree species. Above 1,800m, the vegetation of the Blue Mountains is more stunted with some species restricted to these altitudes. Above 2,000m the forest is known as Elfin Forest due to the stunted and gnarled appearance of the trees which are heavily coated with epiphytes including hanging mosses, ferns and tiny orchids.
There is an exceptionally high proportion of endemic plant and animal species found in the property, Jamaica having evolved separately from other landmasses. In addition, the property hosts a number of globally endangered species, including several frog and bird species.
The area is rugged, remote with limited access thereby providing additional security against some threats. The boundaries of the property are well designed to include the key attributes of its biodiversity values. Nevertheless there are a range of current and potential threats to the property, including from invasive alien species, encroachment, mining, fire and climate change.
It took almost 3 hours to drive through the park from south to north on a very windy, mostly one-lane road. There wasn’t much traffic but some was crazy Jamaicans going fast and cutting corners.
Noel Coward’s Firefly. Google Maps took me the wrong way and then corrected it. Eventually follow the signs taking a rough narrow road up to the house. The house is closed and not toured, but one gets to the grounds – manicured lawns with another worldly view down to the coast and the ocean. A stature of Coward sits on a bench and his grave is below. See the bar in a 1600s house. Wedding receptions are held here on the lawns and dance floor. The older guy wanted $15 but I only gave $10, more than enough just for a view.
The house was given to a friend who gave it to the government. Apparently it is going to be renovated. $10
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (1899 – 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called “a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise”.
Coward attended a dance academy in London as a child, making his professional stage début at the age of eleven. As a teenager he was introduced into the high society in which most of his plays would be set. Coward achieved enduring success as a playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter, and Blithe Spirit, have remained in the regular theatre repertoire. He composed hundreds of songs, in addition to well over a dozen musical theatre works (including the operetta Bitter Sweet and comic revues), screenplays, poetry, several volumes of short stories, the novel Pomp and Circumstance, and a three-volume autobiography. Coward’s stage and film acting and directing career spanned six decades, during which he starred in many of his own works, as well as those of others.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Coward volunteered for war work, running the British propaganda office in Paris. He also worked with the Secret Service, seeking to use his influence to persuade the American public and government to help Britain. Coward won an Academy Honorary Award in 1943 for his naval film drama In Which We Serve and was knighted in 1969. In the 1950s he achieved fresh success as a cabaret performer, performing his own songs, such as “Mad Dogs and Englishmen”, “London Pride”, and “I Went to a Marvellous Party”.
Coward’s plays and songs achieved new popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and his work and style continue to influence popular culture. He did not publicly acknowledge his homosexuality, but it was discussed candidly after his death by biographers including Graham Payn, his long-time partner, and in Coward’s diaries and letters, published posthumously. The former Albery Theatre (originally the New Theatre) in London was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre in his honour in 2006.
OCHO RIOS (Spanish for “Eight Rivers”; pop 17,000) is a town on the north coast of Jamaica, and is more widely referred to as Ochi by locals. Beginning as a sleepy fishing village, Ocho Rios has seen explosive growth in the last decade to become a popular tourist destination featuring duty-free shopping, a cruise-ship terminal, world-renowned tourist attractions and several beaches and acclaimed resorts.
In addition to being a port of call for cruise ships, Ocho Rios also hosts cargo ships at the Reynolds Pier for the exportation of sugar, limestone, and in the past, bauxite. The town is served by both Sangster International Airport (97 km west of Ocho Rios) and Ian Fleming International Airport (17 km east of Ocho Rios). Scuba diving and other water sports are offered in the town’s vicinity.
The name “Ocho Rios” is a possible misnomer, as there are not currently eight rivers in the area. It could be a British corruption of the original Spanish name “Las Chorreras” (“the waterfalls”), a name given to the village because of the nearby Dunn’s River Falls and several small waterfalls just south of the town.
Island Village Market. A cute shopping center surrounding a grassed area and a bandstand and fronted by a beach with a swimming area. Stores include several jewelry stores, restaurants and a Starbucks.
Shaw Park Gardens. A 25-acre garden of 600 species of flowers along with many ferns and shrubs such as bougainvillea, palms, hibiscus, and ferns. The entrance to Shaw Park is some 900 feet above sea level, giving a great view of Ocho Rios from the top of the gardens. The park is then tiered over many levels, meaning that many different plants which thrive at different altitudes can be grown here.
The garden boasts a majestic waterfall that cascades down a rocky bank, surrounded by many varieties of beautiful flowers. Shaw Park Gardens were originally part of the Shaw Park Estate, an opulent property named after its first owner, John Shaw. The estate came to prominence after it was sold to the Pringle Family in the early 20th century. The Great House was converted into a hotel, the “Shaw Park Hotel”. Flora McKenzie Pringle Stewart lovingly cultivated the hotel’s garden. It is these gardens that are now Shaw Park Gardens. $10
Turtle River Falls And Garden is a 15-acre tropical garden with the Turtle River pours into 14 cascading waterfalls. Several varieties of indigenous and endangered plants grow naturally in the gardens. Exotic birds are housed in a walk-in-aviary and a Japanese Koi Pond. $10
Konoko Falls. Konoko Falls is so picturesque that one wonders if it’s really all-natural including little jacuzzi-sized swimming pools at the foot of the falls and a manicured grass area. $10
I stayed at Tina’s Guesthouse about 15 km east of town US$40/night.
Day 4
Dunn’s River Falls. One of Jamaica’s national treasures with deposits of travertine rock, the result of precipitation of calcium carbonate from the river. Combined with its location near to the sea makes it unique. $25, 1000JD with a Jamaican ID> 
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GENERAL
Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola (the island containing the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic); the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands lies some 215 kilometres (134 mi) to the north-west.
Originally inhabited by the indigenous Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. Many of the indigenous people either were killed or died of diseases, after which the Spanish brought large numbers of African slaves to Jamaica as labourers. Named Santiago by the Spanish, the island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, when England conquered it, renaming it Jamaica. Under British colonial rule, Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with a plantation economy dependent on the African slaves and later their descendants. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many freedmen chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British began using Chinese and Indian indentured labour to work on plantations. The island achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962.
With 2.9 million people, Jamaica is the third-most populous Anglophone country in the Americas (after the United States and Canada), and the fourth-most populous country in the Caribbean. Kingston is the country’s capital and largest city. The majority of Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, with significant European, East Asian (primarily Chinese), Indian, Lebanese, and mixed-race minorities. Due to a high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, there is a large Jamaican diaspora, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The country has a global influence that belies its small size; it was the birthplace of the Rastafari religion, reggae music (and associated genres such as dub, ska, and dancehall), and it is internationally prominent in sports, most notably cricket, sprinting and athletics. Having punched so higha above its weight, Jamaica is often considered the world’s least populous cultural superpower.
Jamaica is an upper-middle-income country with an economy heavily dependent on tourism; it has an average of 4.3 million tourists a year. Jamaica performs favourably in measurements of press freedom and democratic governance. It ranked first in the Caribbean on the World Happiness Report for 2021. Politically it is a Commonwealth realm, with Elizabeth II as its queen. Her appointed representative in the country is the Governor-General of Jamaica.
Etymology. The indigenous people, the Taíno, called the island Xaymaca in their language, meaning the “Land of Wood and Water” or the “Land of Springs”. Yamaye has been suggested as an early Taíno name for the island as recorded by Christopher Columbus.
Colloquially, many present-day Jamaicans refer to their home island as the “Rock”. Slang names such as “Jamrock”, “Jamdown” (“Jamdung” in Jamaican Patois), or briefly “Ja”, have derived from this.
HISTORY
Prehistory. Humans have inhabited Jamaica from as early as 4000–1000 BC. Little is known of these early peoples. Another group, known as the “Redware people” after their pottery, arrived circa 600 AD, followed by the Taíno circa 800 AD, who most likely came from South America. Though often thought to have become extinct following contact with Europeans.
Spanish rule (1509–1655). Christopher Columbus was the first European to see Jamaica, claiming the island for Spain after landing there in 1494 on his second voyage to the Americas. His probable landing point was Dry Harbour, called Discovery Bay,[35] and St. Ann’s Bay was named “Saint Gloria” by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land. He later returned in 1503; however, he was shipwrecked and he and his crew were forced to live on Jamaica for a year while waiting to be rescued.
The Taínos began dying in large numbers, both from introduced diseases and from enslavement by the Spanish. As a result, the Spanish began importing slaves from Africa to the island.
Many slaves managed to escape, forming autonomous communities in remote and easily defended areas in the interior of Jamaica, mixing with the remaining Taino; these communities became known as Maroons. Many Jews fled the Spanish Inquisition to live on the island. They lived as conversos and were often persecuted by the Spanish rulers, and some turned to piracy against the Spanish Empire’s shipping.
By the early 17th century it is estimated that no more than 2,500–3,000 people lived on Jamaica.
Early British period. Henry Morgan was a famous Caribbean pirate, privateer, plantation owner and slaveholder; he had first come to the West Indies as an indentured servant, like most of the early English colonists.
The English began taking an interest in the island and, led an invasion of Jamaica in 1655.
When the English captured Jamaica, most Spanish colonists fled, with the exception of Spanish Jews, who chose to remain on the island. Spanish slave holders freed their slaves before leaving Jamaica. Many slaves dispersed into the mountains, joining the already established maroon communities. During the centuries of slavery, Jamaican Maroons established free communities in the mountainous interior of Jamaica, where they maintained their freedom and independence for generations.
Meanwhile, the Spanish made several attempts to re-capture the island, prompting the British to support pirates attacking Spanish ships in the Caribbean; as a result piracy became rampant on Jamaica, with the city of Port Royal becoming notorious for its lawlessness. Spain later recognised English possession of the island with the Treaty of Madrid (1670). After that, the English authorities sought to rein in the worst excesses of the pirates.
In 1660, the population of Jamaica was about 4,500 white and 1,500 black. By the early 1670s, as the English developed sugar cane plantations worked by large numbers of slaves, black Africans formed a majority of the population. The Irish in Jamaica also formed a large part of the island’s early population, making up two-thirds of the white population on the island in the late 17th century, twice that of the English population.
18th–19th centuries. During the 1700s the economy boomed, based largely on sugar and other crops for export such as coffee, cotton and indigo. All these crops were worked by black slaves, who lived short and often brutal lives with no rights, being the property of a small planter-class. In the 18th century, slaves ran away and joined the Maroons in increasing numbers, and resulted in The First Maroon War (1728 – 1739/40), which ended in stalemate. The British government sued for peace, and signed treaties in 1739 and 1740.
A large slave rebellion, known as Tacky’s War, broke out in 1760 but was defeated by the British and their Maroon allies. After the second conflict in 1795–96, many Maroons from the Maroon town of Cudjoe’s Town (Trelawny Town) were expelled to Nova Scotia and, later, Sierra Leone. Many slaves ran away and formed independent communities under the leadership of escaped slaves such as Three-Fingered Jack, Cuffee and at Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come.
By the beginning of the 19th century, Jamaica’s dependence on slave labour and a plantation economy had resulted in black people outnumbering white people by a ratio of almost 20 to 1.
The British abolished the slave trade in 1807, but not the institution itself. In 1831 a huge slave rebellion, known as the Baptist War, broke out, led by the Baptist preacher Samuel Sharpe. The rebellion resulted in hundreds of deaths and the destruction of many plantations, and led to ferocious reprisals by the plantocracy class. As a result of rebellions such as these, as well as the efforts of abolitionists, Britain outlawed slavery in its empire in 1834, with full emancipation from chattel slavery declared in 1838. The population in 1834 was 371,070, of whom 15,000 were white, 5,000 free black; 40,000 “coloured” or free people of colour (mixed race); and 311,070 were slaves. The resulting labour shortage prompted the British to begin to “import” indentured servants to supplement the labour pool, as many freedmen resisted working on the plantations. Workers recruited from India began arriving in 1845, Chinese workers in 1854. Many South Asian and Chinese descendants continue to reside in Jamaica today.
Over the next 20 years, several epidemics of cholera, scarlet fever, and smallpox hit the island, killing almost 60,000 people (about 10 per day). The 1871 census recorded a population of 506,154 people – 13,101 white, 100,346 coloured (mixed black and white), and 392,707 black. This period was marked by an economic slump, with many Jamaicans living in poverty. Dissatisfaction with this, and continued racial discrimination and marginalisation of the black majority, led to the outbreak of the Morant Bay rebellion in 1865 which was put down by with brutality. It became a Crown Colony in 1866. In 1872 the capital was transferred from Spanish Town to Kingston.
Early 20th century
In 1907 Jamaica was struck by an earthquake—this, and the subsequent fire, caused immense destruction in Kingston and the deaths of 800–1,000 people.
Unemployment and poverty remained a problem for many Jamaicans. Various movements seeking political change led by Marcus Garvey, father of the Back to Africa Movement and Jamaica’s first National Hero, a prominent Pan-Africanist and proponent of the Back-to-Africa movement. He was also one of the chief inspirations behind Rastafari, a religion founded in Jamaica in the 1930s that combined Christianity with an Afrocentric theology focused on the figure of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia. Despite occasional persecution, Rastafari grew to become an established faith on the island, later spreading abroad.
The Great Depression of the 1930s hit Jamaica hard. Jamaica slowly gained increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. Jamaica attained full independence on 6 August 1962. The new state retained its membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. Bustamante, at the age of 78, became the country’s first prime minister.
Post-independence era. Strong economic growth, averaging approximately 6% per annum, marked the first ten years of independence fuelled by high levels of private investment in bauxite/alumina, tourism, the manufacturing industry and, to a lesser extent, the agricultural sector.
The optimism of the first decade was accompanied by a growing sense of inequality among many Afro-Jamaicans, and a concern that the benefits of growth were not being shared by the urban poor, many of whom ended up living in crime-ridden shanty towns in Kingston. This, combined with the effects of a slowdown in the global economy in 1970, Manley’s government enacted various social reforms, such as a higher minimum wage, land reform, legislation for women’s equality, greater housing construction and an increase in educational provision.
The economic deterioration continued into the mid-1980s, exacerbated by the largest and third-largest alumina producers, Alpart and Alcoa, closed; and there was a significant reduction in production by the second-largest producer, Alcan. Reynolds Jamaica Mines, Ltd. left the Jamaican industry. There was also a decline in tourism.
During this period various economic reforms were introduced, such as deregulating the finance sector and floating the Jamaican dollar, as well as greater investment in infrastructure, whilst also retaining a strong social safety net. Political violence, so prevalent in the previous two decades, declined significantly.
Independence, however widely celebrated in Jamaica, has been questioned in the early 21st century. In 2011, a survey showed that approximately 60% of Jamaicans believe that the country would have been better off had it remained a British colony, with only 17% believing it would have been worse off, citing as problems years of social and fiscal mismanagement in the country.
GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENT
Mountains dominate the interior: the Don Figuerero, Santa Cruz, and May Day mountains in the west, the Dry Harbour Mountains in the centre, and the John Crow Mountains and Blue Mountains in the east, the latter containing Blue Mountain Peak, Jamaica’s tallest mountain at 2,256 m. They are surrounded by a narrow coastal plain. Jamaica only has two cities, Kingston, the capital city and centre of business, located on the south coast and the second being Montego Bay, one of the best known cities in the Caribbean for tourism, located on the north coast. Kingston Harbour is the seventh-largest natural harbour in the world, which contributed to the city being designated as the capital in 1872. Other towns of note include Portmore, Spanish Town, Savanna la Mar, Mandeville and the resort towns of Ocho Ríos, Port Antonio and Negril.
Tourist attractions include Dunn’s River Falls in St. Ann, YS Falls in St. Elizabeth, the Blue Lagoon in Portland, believed to be the crater of an extinct volcano, and Port Royal, site of a major earthquake in 1692 that helped form the island’s Palisadoes tombolo.
Among the variety of terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems are dry and wet limestone forests, rainforest, riparian woodland, wetlands, caves, rivers, seagrass beds and coral reefs. Among the island’s protected areas are the Cockpit Country, Hellshire Hills, and Litchfield forest reserves. In 1992, Jamaica’s first marine park, covering nearly 15 square kilometres (5.8 sq mi), was established in Montego Bay. Portland Bight Protected Area was designated in 1999. The following year Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park was created, covering roughly 300 square miles (780 km2) of a wilderness area which supports thousands of tree and fern species and rare animals.
There are several small islands off Jamaica’s coast, most notably those in Portland Bight such as Pigeon Island, Salt Island, Dolphin Island, Long Island, Great Goat Island and Little Goat Island, and also Lime Cay located further east. Much further out – some 50–80 km off the south coast – lie the very small Morant Cays and Pedro Cays.
Climate. The climate is tropical, with hot and humid weather, although higher inland regions are more temperate. Some regions on the south coast, such as the Liguanea Plain and the Pedro Plains, are relatively dry rain-shadow areas.
Jamaica lies in the hurricane belt of the Atlantic Ocean and because of this, the island sometimes suffers significant storm damage. Hurricanes Charlie and Gilbert hit Jamaica directly in 1951 and 1988, respectively, causing major damage and many deaths. In the 2000s (decade), hurricanes Ivan, Dean, and Gustav also brought severe weather to the island.
Flora and fauna. Its plant life has changed considerably over the centuries; when the Spanish arrived in 1494, except for small agricultural clearings, the country was deeply forested. The European settlers cut down the great timber trees for building and ships’ supplies, and cleared the plains, savannas, and mountain slopes for intense agricultural cultivation. Many new plants were introduced including sugarcane, bananas, and citrus trees.
Jamaica is home to about 3,000 species of native flowering plants. Areas of heavy rainfall contain stands of bamboo, ferns, ebony, mahogany, and rosewood. Cactus and similar dry-area plants are found along the south and southwest coastal area. Parts of the west and southwest consist of large grasslands, with scattered stands of trees. Jamaica is home to three terrestrial ecoregions, the Jamaican moist forests, Jamaican dry forests, and Greater Antilles mangroves. It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index ranked it 110th globally out of 172 countries.
Jamaica’s fauna includes bats of which at least three endemic species are found only in Cockpit Country. The only non-bat native mammal extant in Jamaica is the Jamaican hutia, locally known as the coney. Introduced mammals such as wild boar and the small Asian mongoose are also common. Jamaica is also home to about 50 species of reptiles, the largest of which is the American crocodile; however, it is only present within the Black River and a few other areas. Lizards such as anoles, iguanas and snakes such as racers and the Jamaican boa (the largest snake on the island), are common in areas such as the Cockpit Country. None of Jamaica’s eight species of native snakes is venomous.
Coral reef ecosystems are important because they provide people with a source of livelihood, food, recreation, and medicinal compounds and protect the land on which they live. Jamaica relies on the ocean and its ecosystem for its development. However, the marine life in Jamaica is also being affected. Jamaica’s geological origin, topographical features and seasonal high rainfall make it susceptible to storm surge, slope failures (landslides), earthquakes, floods and hurricanes. Coral reefs in the Negril Marine Park (NMP), Jamaica, have been increasingly impacted by nutrient pollution and macroalgal blooms following decades of intensive development as a major tourist destination. Another one of those factors could include tourism: being that Jamaica is a very touristy place, the island draws numerous people traveling here from all over the world. The Jamaican tourism industry accounts for 32% of total employment and 36% of the country’s GDP and is largely based on the sun, sea and sand, the last two of these attributes being dependent on healthy coral reef ecosystems.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Black or Black Mixed 92.1%, Mixed non-Black 6.1%, Asian .8%.
African or partially African descent trace their origins to the West African countries of Ghana and Nigeria. It is uncommon for Jamaicans to identify themselves by race as is prominent in other countries such as the United States, with most Jamaicans seeing Jamaican nationality as an identity in and of itself, identifying as simply being “Jamaican” regardless of ethnicity.
The Jamaican Maroons of Accompong and other settlements are the descendants of African slaves who fled the plantations for the interior where they set up their own autonomous communities. Many Maroons continue to have their own traditions and speak their own language, known locally as Kromanti.
Asians form the second-largest group and include Indo-Jamaicans and Chinese Jamaicans. Most are descended from indentured workers brought by the British colonial government to fill labour shortages following the abolition of slavery in 1838.
There are about 20,000 Jamaicans who have Lebanese and Syrian ancestry. Most were Christian immigrants who fled the Ottoman occupation of Lebanon in the early 19th century. Eventually their descendants became very successful politicians and businessmen.
In 1835, Charles Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford gave 500 acres of his 10,000 acre estate in Westmoreland for the Seaford Town German settlement. Today most of the town’s descendants are of full or partial German descent.
The first wave of English immigrants arrived to the island 1655 after conquering the Spanish. Jamaica has more people using the Campbell surnames than the population of Scotland itself, and it also has the highest percentage of Scottish surnames outside of Scotland. Scottish surnames account to about 60% of the surnames in the Jamaican phone books.
Languages. Jamaica is regarded as a bilingual country, with two major languages in use by the population. The official language is English, which is “used in all domains of public life”, including the government, the legal system, the media, and education. However, the primary spoken language is an English-based creole called Jamaican Patois (or Patwa). “Pure” Patois, though sometimes seen as merely a particularly aberrant dialect of English, is essentially mutually unintelligible with standard English and is best thought of a separate language.
Emigration. Many Jamaicans have emigrated to other countries, especially to the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. In 2004 that up to 2.5 million Jamaicans and Jamaican descendants live abroad.
Jamaicans in the United Kingdom number an estimated 800,000 making them by far the country’s largest African-Caribbean group. Large-scale migration from Jamaica to the UK occurred primarily in the 1950s and 1960s when the country was still under British rule. Jamaican communities exist in most large UK cities. Concentrations of expatriate Jamaicans are quite considerable in numerous cities in the United States, including New York City, Buffalo, the Miami metro area, Atlanta, Chicago, Orlando, Tampa, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Hartford, Providence and Los Angeles. In Canada, the Jamaican population is centred in Toronto, with smaller communities in cities such as Hamilton, Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Ottawa. Jamaican Canadians comprise about 30% of the entire Black Canadian population.
A notable though much smaller group of emigrants are Jamaicans in Ethiopia. These are mostly Rastafarians, in whose theological worldview Africa is the promised land, or “Zion”, or more specifically Ethiopia, due to reverence in which former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie is held. Most live in the small town of Shashamane about 150 miles (240 km) south of the capital Addis Ababa.
Crime. When Jamaica gained independence in 1962, the murder rate was 3.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the lowest in the world. By 2009, the rate was 62 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the world. Gang violence became a serious problem, with organised crime being centred around Jamaican posses or “Yardies”. Jamaica has had one of the highest murder rates in the world for many years, according to UN estimates. Some areas of Jamaica, particularly poor areas in Kingston, Montego Bay and elsewhere experience high levels of crime and violence.
After 2011 the murder rate continued to fall, following the downward trend in 2010, after a strategic programme was launched. In 2012, the Ministry of National Security reported a 30 percent decrease in murders. Nevertheless, in 2017 murders rose by 22% over the previous year.
Many Jamaicans are hostile towards LGBT and intersex people, and mob attacks against gay people have been reported. Numerous high-profile dancehall and ragga artists have produced songs featuring explicitly homophobic lyrics. Male homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment.
Religion. Christianity is the largest religion practised in Jamaica. About 70% are Protestants; Roman Catholics are just 2% of the population.
The Rastafari movement has 29,026 adherents. The faith originated in Jamaica in the 1930s and though rooted in Christianity it is heavily Afrocentric in its focus, revering figures such as the Jamaican black nationalist Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie, the former Emperor of Ethiopia. Rastafari has since spread across the globe, especially to areas with large black or African diasporas.
CULTURE
Though a small nation, Jamaican culture has a strong global presence. The musical genres reggae, ska, mento, rocksteady, dub, and, more recently, dancehall and ragga all originated in the island’s vibrant, popular urban recording industry. These have themselves gone on to influence numerous other genres, such as punk rock (through reggae and ska), dub poetry, New Wave, two-tone, lovers rock, reggaeton, jungle, drum and bass, dubstep, grime and American rap music.
Bob Marley is probably the best known Jamaican musician; with his band The Wailers he had a string of hits in 1960s–70s, popularising reggae internationally and going on to sell millions of records.
Ian Fleming (1908 – 1964), who had a home in Jamaica where he spent considerable time, repeatedly used the island as a setting in his James Bond novels, including Live and Let Die, Doctor No, “For Your Eyes Only”, The Man with the Golden Gun, and Octopussy and The Living Daylights.[210] In addition, James Bond uses a Jamaica-based cover in Casino Royale. So far, the only James Bond film adaptation to have been set in Jamaica is Doctor No.
Cuisine. The island is famous for its Jamaican jerk spice, curries, and rice and peas, which is integral to Jamaican cuisine. Jamaica is also home of Red Stripe beer and Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.
Sport. Sport is an integral part of national life in Jamaica and the island’s athletes tend to perform to a standard well above what might ordinarily be expected of such a small country. While the most popular local sport is cricket, on the international stage Jamaicans have tended to do particularly well at track and field athletics. Over the past six decades Jamaica has produced dozens of world class sprinters including Olympic and World Champions.