What can I say? Majestic? Quaint? Bourgeois? Legacy? Can these mere words surmiss the wonder that is Jamaica. I am one of the few Trinidadians who can proudly say that I have lived and flourished there on that island. Ever since I was young, I had a list of four countries that I dared to dream that I simply had to go to: Jamaica, France, Australia and Iceland.Ive since covered 75% of them and lost interest in the latterwhile adding a few more on my list as got older. These countries all captured my imagination in some way. I had wild perceptions in my five year old mind about them. Australia apparently smelt like Aussie shampoo ( my dad brought it home one day for use in the family bathroom and I loved loved the smell, Id think of Koala bears) and had talking kangaroos who could be used as taxis. Jamaicans' vocabulary didnt stray much from 'Yeah, no problem mon' (Yes we in the Caribbean have the same stereotypes of each other). Iceland was just plain cold with ice princesses and nymphs and elves and France ...I always loved all things French, living the language, loving the language, speaking the language and all of its implications.
One of the things that has struck me the most about living in Jamaica is that living there is quite different from how it is perceived or how it may be interpreted from a visit. The culture though seemingly fixated on Rastafarianism, is so diverse and chuck filled with complexities and different social nuances and contradictions.
I arrived Jamaica as a curious college student on the way to study Geology and left completely enamoured with it. So many things that made me fall in love, the audacity of the down town female..and male attitude and fashion though fashion in Ja is an attitude; the fact that for a financially struggling country, the people seem so proud here and while homeless people did exist,it never reached the level of prevalance that other countries who are far better off have; I miss the 'rasta pilgrimages' as I like to call them...going into the hills to Nine Mile for Bob Marley's Birthday celebrations or down in St Elizabeth to check out the annual Rebel Salute.
I will not be so presumptios to even attempt to try to cover all this into one essay. Instead, I will do a series of entries about the different aspects of Jamaican life and how they have struck me and how they have impressed my thoughts. Ill try to relate this to you guys as best as I can.
KW
