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Published: March 10th 2023
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Flying in
Jamaica looks real green from the sky, but it’s not all Ganja Ahhh. This feels nice. After all the unexpected delays and hassles, we were finally arriving in Jamaica. 24 hours late. Looking out the window at all that green, I was thinking, "could that really all be weed?" Not really. That's a dad joke. What I was really thinking about was the sun, the heat, the ocean, and the comfortable bed that was waiting for us somewhere down there.
Of course, it couldn't be that easy. The bed was still really far away and there would be some... hurdles. More on that later.
The first thing we saw in the airport was this cool mural about Kingston, so I snapped a photo of it. That was about 2 minutes before we discovered our next travel hassle.
The line at the rental car office wasn't very long, but things were moving slowly, and everyone seemed pissed off. Folks were turning around and complaining to us, asking us what we would choose to do, and we got the sense of what was happening well before we got our turn. The inventory of cars was low, apparently people were extending their trips and not enough cars had been returned to fulfill all
the new reservations that were coming in that morning. Because of this, they were upgrading people to better cars. Better cars meant hefty deposits. They were charing some people as much as $2000 deposit to rent a car, when they'd reserved something from the company's website that was maybe $30 a day.
We got our turn and we got the same treatment. No cars in stock. You're getting an upgrade. You need to pay a deposit. So I walked around to all the other car rental offices to see what their deal was. Long story short, no one else had any cars and we were stuck with Budget. My second bad experience with Budget in 3 months. We sucked it up, paid the deposit, and headed out to get our car.
Exiting the airport, we saw these wild papier mache figures of Jamaica's 7 National Heroes. I only took pictures of 5 of them. There are two of them whom I did not photograph because I already know about their history with the political parties. These are the men who caused the incessant political street warfare that Jamaica has suffered from for decades, along with other atrocities against
the Rastafari community and the Jamaican people in general. I don't think they're worthy of being called "heroes" and I know plenty of Jamaicans agree with me, so I will not mention their names or promote them here.
The honorable ones whom I chose to photograph were:
- The Right Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey, pan-African leader, publisher, author, speaker, organizer, and entrepreneur of the early 20th century
- The Right Excellent Paul Bogle, leader of the Morant Bay Rebellion advocating for the equal rights of emancipated people
- The Right Excellent George William Gordon, an attorney and member of government who was executed for his participation in the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865
- The Right Excellent Samuel Sharpe, abolitionist leader of the Christmas Rebellion of 1831
- The Right Excellent Nanny of the Maroons, 18th century military leader of the Maroon community, a group of Africans who had escaped from slavery and resisted the British
It's funny, when I was taking these pictures and I chose to skip the two in the middle of the row, I must have said something aloud about it to Chelly, because one of the Jamaican gentlemen
who was working there piped up in agreement with me. We had a quick back and forth and burned out those politician vampires. It was nice. Solidarity.
"Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning." - 1 John 3:7-8 KJV
Then we emerged into the blessed midday heat of Jamaica. It felt great. I mean, that's what we're really up to on this trip. We're escaping from the Washington winter weather. We checked out our car--a button-operated little thing with a computer screen in it from a Suzuki sub-brand I'd never heard of--and got out on the road, immediately learning the reason for those large deposits on the rental cars. Driving in Jamaica is not like driving at home.
First of all, the roads are very narrow. Secondly, people drive pretty aggressively. Third, there are a lot of rough bits of road where you'll need to swerve around holes or slow down for bumps. It was a bit hectic, but I always talk about how much fun I have driving in places like Thailand and Kenya and Mexico, so I was up to the task. Spoiler alert, we had no automobile damage or accidents on this trip and we got our deposit back.
Next stop: Bob Marley's house in Kingston.
This was a must-see item on Chelly's wishlist.
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