[Lampwick]

Background

I was in Jamaica for the first time in December 2017 for a couple weeks and wanted to provide some information from my trip. There are a few other really good datasheets on Jamaica, and I recommend reading those as well.

Kingston

The City

New Kingston is the place where you'll want to be. The city is somewhat rundown, and not very aesthetically pleasing for the most part. They have a lot of strip malls, which are pretty well maintained, but there are lot of empty lots with rubble in them, barbed wire, stuff like that.

Mobile Phone Service

Digicel is basically the only game in town. They have a storefront in New Kingston and you can get a prepaid SIM for around 3000 JMD for a month's worth of data. Keep in mind almost all stores are closed on Sunday.

Transportation

Taxis are the best way to get around, but you should always call a taxi service, and not hail them off the street. The licensed taxis have red license plates, but these are in short supply, and are much more expensive. I exclusively used the unlicensed taxis, which have white license plates. Here is the service I mainly used:

https://www.facebook.com/876onthego/

You should keep a bunch of backup taxi service phone numbers just in case. Many times, the dispatcher won't answer, or won't have any cabs at that time, and you don't want to get stranded in the middle of the night. It's also a good idea to get the direct phone numbers of the drivers themselves.

The fare is negotiated in cash, no meter, just estimated by the service or the driver. The average trip across New Kingston cost me about 400-500 JMD. To get completely across town was about 1500 JMD. It's customary to sit in the front seat of the taxi by default. If you sit in the back, they'll run around to open the door for you, and that's always weird.

Drivers are crazy in Jamaica. Going around winding roads is particularly unnerving, as there is sometimes only one lane, and drivers just honk their horn to alert people that they're coming.

Water

Jamaica has clean water pretty much everywhere, so you can drink it from the tap, or "from the pipe" as they call it. It's pretty refreshing to be in a developing country where this isn't a concern.

Food

The street food was the best. Jerk chicken and rice, conch soup, chicken feet soup. Look for one of these guys:



I mainly saw them out weekend nights in front of clubs and parties. About 500 JMD for jerk chicken and rice, 200 JMD for a beer. Probably a bit cheaper if you negotiate more.

I recommend checking out Chateau 7 as well. It's a jerk shack that's way up in the hills, but the food is really good. The lady who runs the place gave me a bunch of free samples. None of the other restaurants I tried were really any good.

Nightlife

Basically nothing gets going until midnight, and the places I went closed at 4 AM. Dancehall is what's popular. Friday and Saturday by far have the most going on, but there are events every day of the week. I can't make heads or tails of Instagram, so I did some of my own research. This website has an event calendar that seems to be kept up-to-date:

https://www.dancehall.tours/

Using the info on this website, I went to an outdoor dance party near the Mountain View area, which is supposed to be dangerous. It felt pretty safe, and there were cops there. The cops are supposed to be corrupt, but it's probably less likely that something will happen if they're around. It was a bit awkward being the only white guy.

The outdoor dance party was not what I was expecting. All the guys were on one side, drinking and smoking weed, and were dressed in hip hop style clothes. All the girls were on the other side, dressed in nightclub dresses. I've never seen such a big gap, physically and psychologically, between men and women. They also had bottles and stands to set their drinks, and it had the vibe of a club with bottle service, only outside.

I went to a couple other clubs, Fiction Fantasy being the main one. It was also similar, with everyone standing on the sidelines, not dancing. If you have even a little bit of dance game, you could completely clean up in this city. To be honest, I can't dance well enough to start things out on a totally cold dance floor.

Overall, I think Kingston has a lot to offer as far as nightlife, but it takes a bit to get dialed into where to go. That website is a good start, and would've been helpful earlier in my trip. If you dress sharp for the clubs, but a bit more casual for the outdoor parties, and you have some dance game, you can do well.

Girls

The girls are my favorite so far: extremely sweet and feminine. Jamaicans tend to have a blank expression at most times. This doesn't mean they are unfriendly, it just takes a bit to warm up the conversation. Most girls are receptive, or at least polite.

I met up with one "browning" at Devon House, which is a great date spot. She was highly educated, and worked in the medical field. Kind of a posh career woman looking to date up. She was beautiful, but not really my type. The date was still extremely pleasant though.

As a side note, people seemed a little annoyed seeing us together. Maybe they have a thing with white guys dating brownings. Also, I paid for her ice cream, and she got really weird about it, and insisted on buying me something else. So if you're taking these types of girls out, you should let them pay their own way, so that they aren't perceived as whores, apparently.

Tinder works pretty well here, some good volume. Lots of girls in nearby Portsmore too. Pipelining is a good idea. Girls are much more upfront, with a lack of the usual hamstering. It's better to tell girls upfront what you're looking for and to be direct.

Safety

I walked all around New Kingston during the day, and took taxis at night, and didn't have any problems. Walking around at night isn't generally recommended. The bars and clubs seemed to all be safe. The outdoor parties can probably be more risky, especially if you go into rougher areas, but I also didn't have any problems there.

One thing to be prepared for is hustlers that are all over the place. They will always ask you a series of questions:

• Where are you from?
• Where are you staying? (always give them some other place besides where you're staying)
• How long are you staying? (always say a time longer than you're staying)
• Is this your first time in Jamaica? (always say you've been before)
• What do you do for a living?
  

If someone starts chatting you up and asking these questions, they're sizing you up to rob you. Just be polite, give them some misleading answers, and say no thanks to whatever they're offering. Make sure they don't follow you back to where you're staying.

Blue Mountains

This was the highlight of my trip. First, I went to the side of the mountains where you can hike to the peak. I stayed here:



https://www.whitfieldhall.com/

To get there, you go to Mavis Bank first. A good way to do that is to get a ride with a driver that is constantly driving up and down the mountain (more on this later). A ride to Mavis Bank is around 3000-4000 JMD. Then, you take a 4x4 the rest of the way, which is 6250 JMD one way. Whitfield Hall was 2500 JMD for the night, and 1000 JMD each for dinner and breakfast. There is a caretaker who makes the food, which is traditional Jamaican home cooking. Highly recommended. At 2 AM, a guide led me up the mountain. The guide was 5000 JMD, and there is a trail fee of 2500 JMD. You're supposed to pay the fee at the ranger station. The guide may try to scam you by asking for the fee himself.

The hike is around 3.5 hours each way, and was good exercise, but not super difficult. The peak is a little underwhelming since it tends to be foggy, but you still get some great views. Apparently there is a 10% chance of catching the peak on a clear day, and you can see the other islands surrounding Jamaica. Not good odds, but still worth the trip.

On the other side of the mountain, I stayed at the Mount Edge Guest House, as recommended by others on the forum. First, I took the 4x4 back to Mavis Bank. At this point, it would've been best to call the guest house, because they have a driver that is constantly going up and down the mountain, and would've given me the best price. I think it would've been less than 3000 JMD coming from Mavis Bank to the guest house.

If you want to clear your head, the Blue Mountains is the place to go. The guest house has awesome food and panoramic views. It's extremely peaceful and beautiful. I also hung out a bit with the owner Michael, just chatting and drinking rum, was a good time.



I also went to the Twyman's Coffee estate. I didn't have time for the full tour, but it was still cool meeting the Twymans and having coffee with them. The scenery is breathtaking, and they can tell you some of the history of the place. Blue Mountain coffee itself is very hyped up, and Jamaicans really hold it as a point of national pride (I heard "best coffee in the world!" many times). I found it good, but not amazing. It's a bit mild for my taste, and I think there are much better Latin American and African coffees. But, the atmosphere definitely makes up for it.

Lastly, there is also a really good cafe called Cafe Blue in nearby Irish Town. Again, great food/dessert with spectacular views. Overall, the Blue Mountains strikes a great balance between having tourist accommodations, while still being off the beaten path and not losing its character.

I headed to Montego Bay next on the Knutsford Express bus. The bus is only like 2000-3000 JMD each trip and goes all over Jamaica: Kingston, Montego Bay, Negril, etc. Use their website to book your trip ahead of time. The seats fill up fast the day before and the day of.

Montego Bay

It's really a mystery why anyone would take a vacation here. The beaches are manmade, hustlers are everywhere, and it's also really dangerous if you go outside the resorts.

I pipelined a girl here from Tinder while I was in the Blue Mountains. I used the Scotian method of being direct, and saying I'm not looking for anything serious, just some fun for a few days, let's go to Negril, I'll pay for hotel, food, etc. After talking with her for a while, I decided to just meet up with her in Montego Bay, and stay with her at an all-inclusive for a couple days. This was awkward, since she had to get a wristband under my name at the front desk, and I hadn't met her before. I probably would've done this differently in hindsight, but it worked out.

We had dinner, then went out to Pier 1 for some drinks. Good venue, lots of hot tourists and locals as well. They had a twerking contest, which both white and black girls competed in, really entertaining. Went back to the hotel with her, and got a little bit of LMR. She had texted me earlier, "What do you expect?" I thought this was a shit test, so I gave a vague answer. In reality, the ambiguity made her uncomfortable. If I had been direct, and said, "I expect sex", this would have put her more at ease. Kind of counterintuitive.

The sex was conservative like others have pointed out, but she did give me head, which was a nice surprise. Nothing freakier than that though. Overall good sex.

We ventured out to downtown Montego Bay a couple times. The first time, this older guy warned us about going down side streets, and this was in broad daylight. Second time was at night to catch a route taxi. I didn't expect that we would stop in the middle of downtown at night, and it definitely had a bad vibe. Nothing happened, but it's not a place for tourists. Shortly after I left, a state of emergency was declared in Montego Bay due to the violence.

Montego Bay is good if you want to pipeline locals, or go after tourists. Pier 1 and Margaritaville were both very lively, with a lot of people dancing. Tons of hot girls, but watch out for the pros.

Negril

I decided to head to Negril alone. This is where things got crazy. First, as soon as you step off the bus, you absolutely get mobbed by guys trying to give you cab rides. These encounters are pretty much constant wherever you go.

I stayed at Coco La Palm the first night, which is a really nice place. Went to the beach bar, and Dennis the Menace served me a bunch of Appleton rum and cokes. First night was pretty uneventful.

Second night I stayed at a different place. Went out, had some more drinks, this time bought some weed from one of the guys on the beach. Jamaica decriminalized weed in 2015, and you can get a lot for 10 USD or so. I'm no stranger to weed, but this shit hit me really hard for some reason. Seemed like pure indica, incredibly smooth high, but powerful.

I seriously misjudged how fucked up I was, and kept walking around as the sun went down. Ran into another guy on the beach, who kept trying to sell me the stuff Tony Montana likes. I said no, but he kept walking with me to a bunch of different spots on the beach. More booze and weed, and I eventually gave in.

What followed was a bender, where I went with him to several different bars, continuing to get blasted, and meeting shady characters. Hit a pipe that I thought was weed, but was definitely not. Just total insanity.

Next thing I know, I wake up about 24 hours later in some house in Jamaica, with my pockets completely empty. I get up and walk into the living room and there are five dudes watching a movie, none of whom I recognize. I turn around and see another guy, who I barely remember as the guy I met on the beach. He's rolling me a joint. I accept it and tell him that it's been fun, but I'd really like to head back to my hotel now. After a while, he begrudgingly agrees, and we all pile into the car.

His friend is driving pretty crazy, and starts to raise his voice. I can't understand since his accent is so thick, but the guy I know says that there is a riot up ahead. I think it's some bullshit excuse, but we get there, and shit is on fire in the middle of the street. The guy I know jumps out and tries to move some of it, but burns his hands. The road is blocked, so we drive back to the house.

I am a bit freaked out at this point, but have to sleep there another night. I get my wallet back, cards were there, but no cash, and my phone is gone. I chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

The next morning, after I finally annoy this guy enough, he agrees to take me back to the hotel. We are on the cliff side of Negril, and the only road is blocked because of the riot. Apparently what happened is that some power lines fell and killed some people. To protest the power company's negligence, people from the town burned a bunch of stuff in the middle of the road. We take a taxi to the blockade, get out and walk through, then take another taxi back to the beach side of town.

Once there, I agree to meet up with him later that night. Instead, as soon as I get back to the hotel, I clear my stuff out and get the hell out of town. I'm not in the vacation mindset anymore.

So, moral of the story, don't be a idiot like me, watch your ass when you're on the beach in Negril. It's fun, but it's definitely a seedy, desperate, debaucherous place.

Conclusion

Jamaica grows on you. Despite the trouble I ran into in Negril, I still have a great affinity for the country. It's an extremely social culture, the people are friendly and funny, and the women are sweet and feminine. Jamaicans are generally proud of their country, and many are upset that people are afraid of them. One guy even bought me some chicken feet soup because he was happy I was at the street party. While there is danger, it seems like it's been exaggerated in New Kingston specifically. I'll definitely be back.

[pitt]

haha great datasheet. I haven't been to Jamaica yet but I am sure I will love that place, I have been to Barbados for crop over and that place was wild. I have been told Jamaica is even more fun.

Street food seems to be way cheaper than the street food in Barbados. On average in Barbados you pay 15 USD for street food, that place is super expensive.

Jamaican girls in England (British born) are probably the easiest chicks to slay, I was told in Jamaica they are even easier. That place must be a fuck fest.

Thanks for the data sheet, truly appreciate it.

[jamaicabound]

(06-03-2018 03:14 AM)Lampwick Wrote:  

Background

I was in Jamaica for the first time in December 2017 for a couple weeks and wanted to provide some information from my trip. There are a few other really good datasheets on Jamaica, and I recommend reading those as well.

Kingston

The City

New Kingston is the place where you'll want to be. The city is somewhat rundown, and not very aesthetically pleasing for the most part. They have a lot of strip malls, which are pretty well maintained, but there are lot of empty lots with rubble in them, barbed wire, stuff like that.

Mobile Phone Service

Digicel is basically the only game in town. They have a storefront in New Kingston and you can get a prepaid SIM for around 3000 JMD for a month's worth of data. Keep in mind almost all stores are closed on Sunday.

Transportation

Taxis are the best way to get around, but you should always call a taxi service, and not hail them off the street. The licensed taxis have red license plates, but these are in short supply, and are much more expensive. I exclusively used the unlicensed taxis, which have white license plates. Here is the service I mainly used:

https://www.facebook.com/876onthego/

You should keep a bunch of backup taxi service phone numbers just in case. Many times, the dispatcher won't answer, or won't have any cabs at that time, and you don't want to get stranded in the middle of the night. It's also a good idea to get the direct phone numbers of the drivers themselves.

The fare is negotiated in cash, no meter, just estimated by the service or the driver. The average trip across New Kingston cost me about 400-500 JMD. To get completely across town was about 1500 JMD. It's customary to sit in the front seat of the taxi by default. If you sit in the back, they'll run around to open the door for you, and that's always weird.

Drivers are crazy in Jamaica. Going around winding roads is particularly unnerving, as there is sometimes only one lane, and drivers just honk their horn to alert people that they're coming.

Water

Jamaica has clean water pretty much everywhere, so you can drink it from the tap, or "from the pipe" as they call it. It's pretty refreshing to be in a developing country where this isn't a concern.

Food

The street food was the best. Jerk chicken and rice, conch soup, chicken feet soup. Look for one of these guys:



I mainly saw them out weekend nights in front of clubs and parties. About 500 JMD for jerk chicken and rice, 200 JMD for a beer. Probably a bit cheaper if you negotiate more.

I recommend checking out Chateau 7 as well. It's a jerk shack that's way up in the hills, but the food is really good. The lady who runs the place gave me a bunch of free samples. None of the other restaurants I tried were really any good.

Nightlife

Basically nothing gets going until midnight, and the places I went closed at 4 AM. Dancehall is what's popular. Friday and Saturday by far have the most going on, but there are events every day of the week. I can't make heads or tails of Instagram, so I did some of my own research. This website has an event calendar that seems to be kept up-to-date:

https://www.dancehall.tours/

Using the info on this website, I went to an outdoor dance party near the Mountain View area, which is supposed to be dangerous. It felt pretty safe, and there were cops there. The cops are supposed to be corrupt, but it's probably less likely that something will happen if they're around. It was a bit awkward being the only white guy.

The outdoor dance party was not what I was expecting. All the guys were on one side, drinking and smoking weed, and were dressed in hip hop style clothes. All the girls were on the other side, dressed in nightclub dresses. I've never seen such a big gap, physically and psychologically, between men and women. They also had bottles and stands to set their drinks, and it had the vibe of a club with bottle service, only outside.

I went to a couple other clubs, Fiction Fantasy being the main one. It was also similar, with everyone standing on the sidelines, not dancing. If you have even a little bit of dance game, you could completely clean up in this city. To be honest, I can't dance well enough to start things out on a totally cold dance floor.

Overall, I think Kingston has a lot to offer as far as nightlife, but it takes a bit to get dialed into where to go. That website is a good start, and would've been helpful earlier in my trip. If you dress sharp for the clubs, but a bit more casual for the outdoor parties, and you have some dance game, you can do well.

Girls

The girls are my favorite so far: extremely sweet and feminine. Jamaicans tend to have a blank expression at most times. This doesn't mean they are unfriendly, it just takes a bit to warm up the conversation. Most girls are receptive, or at least polite.

I met up with one "browning" at Devon House, which is a great date spot. She was highly educated, and worked in the medical field. Kind of a posh career woman looking to date up. She was beautiful, but not really my type. The date was still extremely pleasant though.

As a side note, people seemed a little annoyed seeing us together. Maybe they have a thing with white guys dating brownings. Also, I paid for her ice cream, and she got really weird about it, and insisted on buying me something else. So if you're taking these types of girls out, you should let them pay their own way, so that they aren't perceived as whores, apparently.

Tinder works pretty well here, some good volume. Lots of girls in nearby Portsmore too. Pipelining is a good idea. Girls are much more upfront, with a lack of the usual hamstering. It's better to tell girls upfront what you're looking for and to be direct.

Safety

I walked all around New Kingston during the day, and took taxis at night, and didn't have any problems. Walking around at night isn't generally recommended. The bars and clubs seemed to all be safe. The outdoor parties can probably be more risky, especially if you go into rougher areas, but I also didn't have any problems there.

One thing to be prepared for is hustlers that are all over the place. They will always ask you a series of questions:

• Where are you from?
• Where are you staying? (always give them some other place besides where you're staying)
• How long are you staying? (always say a time longer than you're staying)
• Is this your first time in Jamaica? (always say you've been before)
• What do you do for a living?
  

If someone starts chatting you up and asking these questions, they're sizing you up to rob you. Just be polite, give them some misleading answers, and say no thanks to whatever they're offering. Make sure they don't follow you back to where you're staying.

Blue Mountains

This was the highlight of my trip. First, I went to the side of the mountains where you can hike to the peak. I stayed here:



https://www.whitfieldhall.com/

To get there, you go to Mavis Bank first. A good way to do that is to get a ride with a driver that is constantly driving up and down the mountain (more on this later). A ride to Mavis Bank is around 3000-4000 JMD. Then, you take a 4x4 the rest of the way, which is 6250 JMD one way. Whitfield Hall was 2500 JMD for the night, and 1000 JMD each for dinner and breakfast. There is a caretaker who makes the food, which is traditional Jamaican home cooking. Highly recommended. At 2 AM, a guide led me up the mountain. The guide was 5000 JMD, and there is a trail fee of 2500 JMD. You're supposed to pay the fee at the ranger station. The guide may try to scam you by asking for the fee himself.

The hike is around 3.5 hours each way, and was good exercise, but not super difficult. The peak is a little underwhelming since it tends to be foggy, but you still get some great views. Apparently there is a 10% chance of catching the peak on a clear day, and you can see the other islands surrounding Jamaica. Not good odds, but still worth the trip.

On the other side of the mountain, I stayed at the Mount Edge Guest House, as recommended by others on the forum. First, I took the 4x4 back to Mavis Bank. At this point, it would've been best to call the guest house, because they have a driver that is constantly going up and down the mountain, and would've given me the best price. I think it would've been less than 3000 JMD coming from Mavis Bank to the guest house.

If you want to clear your head, the Blue Mountains is the place to go. The guest house has awesome food and panoramic views. It's extremely peaceful and beautiful. I also hung out a bit with the owner Michael, just chatting and drinking rum, was a good time.



I also went to the Twyman's Coffee estate. I didn't have time for the full tour, but it was still cool meeting the Twymans and having coffee with them. The scenery is breathtaking, and they can tell you some of the history of the place. Blue Mountain coffee itself is very hyped up, and Jamaicans really hold it as a point of national pride (I heard "best coffee in the world!" many times). I found it good, but not amazing. It's a bit mild for my taste, and I think there are much better Latin American and African coffees. But, the atmosphere definitely makes up for it.

Lastly, there is also a really good cafe called Cafe Blue in nearby Irish Town. Again, great food/dessert with spectacular views. Overall, the Blue Mountains strikes a great balance between having tourist accommodations, while still being off the beaten path and not losing its character.

I headed to Montego Bay next on the Knutsford Express bus. The bus is only like 2000-3000 JMD each trip and goes all over Jamaica: Kingston, Montego Bay, Negril, etc. Use their website to book your trip ahead of time. The seats fill up fast the day before and the day of.

Montego Bay

It's really a mystery why anyone would take a vacation here. The beaches are manmade, hustlers are everywhere, and it's also really dangerous if you go outside the resorts.

I pipelined a girl here from Tinder while I was in the Blue Mountains. I used the Scotian method of being direct, and saying I'm not looking for anything serious, just some fun for a few days, let's go to Negril, I'll pay for hotel, food, etc. After talking with her for a while, I decided to just meet up with her in Montego Bay, and stay with her at an all-inclusive for a couple days. This was awkward, since she had to get a wristband under my name at the front desk, and I hadn't met her before. I probably would've done this differently in hindsight, but it worked out.

We had dinner, then went out to Pier 1 for some drinks. Good venue, lots of hot tourists and locals as well. They had a twerking contest, which both white and black girls competed in, really entertaining. Went back to the hotel with her, and got a little bit of LMR. She had texted me earlier, "What do you expect?" I thought this was a shit test, so I gave a vague answer. In reality, the ambiguity made her uncomfortable. If I had been direct, and said, "I expect sex", this would have put her more at ease. Kind of counterintuitive.

The sex was conservative like others have pointed out, but she did give me head, which was a nice surprise. Nothing freakier than that though. Overall good sex.

We ventured out to downtown Montego Bay a couple times. The first time, this older guy warned us about going down side streets, and this was in broad daylight. Second time was at night to catch a route taxi. I didn't expect that we would stop in the middle of downtown at night, and it definitely had a bad vibe. Nothing happened, but it's not a place for tourists. Shortly after I left, a state of emergency was declared in Montego Bay due to the violence.

Montego Bay is good if you want to pipeline locals, or go after tourists. Pier 1 and Margaritaville were both very lively, with a lot of people dancing. Tons of hot girls, but watch out for the pros.

Negril

I decided to head to Negril alone. This is where things got crazy. First, as soon as you step off the bus, you absolutely get mobbed by guys trying to give you cab rides. These encounters are pretty much constant wherever you go.

I stayed at Coco La Palm the first night, which is a really nice place. Went to the beach bar, and Dennis the Menace served me a bunch of Appleton rum and cokes. First night was pretty uneventful.

Second night I stayed at a different place. Went out, had some more drinks, this time bought some weed from one of the guys on the beach. Jamaica decriminalized weed in 2015, and you can get a lot for 10 USD or so. I'm no stranger to weed, but this shit hit me really hard for some reason. Seemed like pure indica, incredibly smooth high, but powerful.

I seriously misjudged how fucked up I was, and kept walking around as the sun went down. Ran into another guy on the beach, who kept trying to sell me the stuff Tony Montana likes. I said no, but he kept walking with me to a bunch of different spots on the beach. More booze and weed, and I eventually gave in.

What followed was a bender, where I went with him to several different bars, continuing to get blasted, and meeting shady characters. Hit a pipe that I thought was weed, but was definitely not. Just total insanity.

Next thing I know, I wake up about 24 hours later in some house in Jamaica, with my pockets completely empty. I get up and walk into the living room and there are five dudes watching a movie, none of whom I recognize. I turn around and see another guy, who I barely remember as the guy I met on the beach. He's rolling me a joint. I accept it and tell him that it's been fun, but I'd really like to head back to my hotel now. After a while, he begrudgingly agrees, and we all pile into the car.

His friend is driving pretty crazy, and starts to raise his voice. I can't understand since his accent is so thick, but the guy I know says that there is a riot up ahead. I think it's some bullshit excuse, but we get there, and shit is on fire in the middle of the street. The guy I know jumps out and tries to move some of it, but burns his hands. The road is blocked, so we drive back to the house.

I am a bit freaked out at this point, but have to sleep there another night. I get my wallet back, cards were there, but no cash, and my phone is gone. I chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

The next morning, after I finally annoy this guy enough, he agrees to take me back to the hotel. We are on the cliff side of Negril, and the only road is blocked because of the riot. Apparently what happened is that some power lines fell and killed some people. To protest the power company's negligence, people from the town burned a bunch of stuff in the middle of the road. We take a taxi to the blockade, get out and walk through, then take another taxi back to the beach side of town.

Once there, I agree to meet up with him later that night. Instead, as soon as I get back to the hotel, I clear my stuff out and get the hell out of town. I'm not in the vacation mindset anymore.

So, moral of the story, don't be a idiot like me, watch your ass when you're on the beach in Negril. It's fun, but it's definitely a seedy, desperate, debaucherous place.

Conclusion

Jamaica grows on you. Despite the trouble I ran into in Negril, I still have a great affinity for the country. It's an extremely social culture, the people are friendly and funny, and the women are sweet and feminine. Jamaicans are generally proud of their country, and many are upset that people are afraid of them. One guy even bought me some chicken feet soup because he was happy I was at the street party. While there is danger, it seems like it's been exaggerated in New Kingston specifically. I'll definitely be back.

I love Negril and CoCo La Palm is actually a spot I love to stay at, reasonable cost and fairly nice. I'm not really an AI or 5 star kinda guy to begin with but in Jamaica I feel especially no reason to spend the money since things are much more laid back and customer service and all that jazz isn't what it is in Mexico or Dominican or other places.

Is Dennis the Menace working at CoCo La Palm now? He used to work at Sun Beach Bar in front of what used to be For Real Resort which I think now is Sandy Haven a newer resort. A while back he setup a jerk stand and bar by cousins cove but maybe it didn't last?

Jamaica does sketch me out a bit. Partly people are just naturally pretty aggressive. One day I was walking the beach and against my better judgement stepped into some guys shop to smoke a joint with him. I was thinking we were gonna shoot the shit and maybe play some dominoes but as is often the case its just about money. He leads me back to his house, again things were pretty chill, there was an American women from Chicago a tourist who was there so I was like okay maybe this is safe. The guy tries to sell me weed. I already have weed so I don't need any. I also have no cash or a couple bucks at most. I'm also wearing swim trunks and he's trying to give me a fucking stalk off a plant that I can't just walk with down the beach. When I turn down buying weed he starts getting aggressive about I come andsmoke his weed for free this that and the other. I start slowly backing out of the ally balling up my fists incase I'm gonna have to fight with him and this big bald dude, wound up backing out and running back to my hotel lol.

I used to go to Negril about twice a year. I then took a few years off and was going to go back a year or two ago but there was some shootings going on in Negril, riots, at one point there was a streak of people getting assaulted on their hotel property, one lady woke up with a guy holding a machete over her, alot of room robberies.

I don't mind traveling to sketchy locations but I would at least hope I'm safe in my own room. After hearing too many of those stories I wound up cancelling my trip and me and my gf picked a different destination.

[Lampwick]

(06-05-2018 12:57 PM)jamaicabound Wrote:  

Is Dennis the Menace working at CoCo La Palm now? He used to work at Sun Beach Bar in front of what used to be For Real Resort which I think now is Sandy Haven a newer resort. A while back he setup a jerk stand and bar by cousins cove but maybe it didn't last?

Jamaica does sketch me out a bit. Partly people are just naturally pretty aggressive. One day I was walking the beach and against my better judgement stepped into some guys shop to smoke a joint with him. I was thinking we were gonna shoot the shit and maybe play some dominoes but as is often the case its just about money. He leads me back to his house, again things were pretty chill, there was an American women from Chicago a tourist who was there so I was like okay maybe this is safe. The guy tries to sell me weed. I already have weed so I don't need any. I also have no cash or a couple bucks at most. I'm also wearing swim trunks and he's trying to give me a fucking stalk off a plant that I can't just walk with down the beach. When I turn down buying weed he starts getting aggressive about I come andsmoke his weed for free this that and the other. I start slowly backing out of the ally balling up my fists incase I'm gonna have to fight with him and this big bald dude, wound up backing out and running back to my hotel lol.

I used to go to Negril about twice a year. I then took a few years off and was going to go back a year or two ago but there was some shootings going on in Negril, riots, at one point there was a streak of people getting assaulted on their hotel property, one lady woke up with a guy holding a machete over her, alot of room robberies.

I don't mind traveling to sketchy locations but I would at least hope I'm safe in my own room. After hearing too many of those stories I wound up cancelling my trip and me and my gf picked a different destination.

I believe he works at Coco La Palm, since I walked to a beach bar right behind it. But the bars kind of blend together, so it's possible it was a different place, but it would be very close to Coco La Palm if that's the case.

One thing that I realize now is that pretty much 100% of the economy in Montego Bay and Negril is tourism. A tiny handful of people are making the real money with the resorts and the average man has to sell shit on the beach to make a living. The only real way to make decent money is to rob tourists, sell hard drugs, and pimp hos. And the girls that they were trying to sell me were basically plain janes who were visibly reluctant. Normal girls being turned out. It's just a really fucked up place.

Any place whose economy is completely based on tourism will probably have these problems. And keep in mind the global economy is doing really well right now and flights are the cheapest they've been in years. If things go in the opposite direction, these beach resort destinations might get even uglier.

Kingston, in contrast, felt safer because there is at least some industry besides tourism. People encounter fewer foreigners there, and there isn't as much of a weird power dynamic, so the interactions tend to be better. I'm sure it can be dangerous too though, especially if you go outside of the New Kingston bubble.

[rishboy77]

Great write up....I have been to Jamaica 8 times including renting a Air BNB in Montego Bay once time....Awesome place

[scotian]

Awesome data sheet Lampwick, +1 from me!

These are the data sheets that I love the most because you did similar things that I like doing: getting fucked up, going on random adventures, getting in trouble, getting laid, getting more fucked up, hiking, hanging with locals, etc. Too many guys just seem to stay in their hotels all day swiping on Tinder instead of getting out and seeing the cities and especially the country side. Not many guys go to Kingston and the Blue Mountains but to me they are the best of what the country has to offer, you guys are right, Negril/Mo Bay attract a lot of riff raff whose lives depend on scamming tourists, its much different in Kingston but that city is pretty rough, the yardies don't fuck around!

I haven't been down there in several years but I'd love to hop on a plane to drink good rum/coffee, smoke ganja and whine with some local gyals.