Money being tight for most these days, What do you buy for a most useful souvenir?,,Coffee, rum, a grinder, a case of rizzla?. Im interested in everyones tastes..and ideas on whats most useful. puff puff.
Printable View
Money being tight for most these days, What do you buy for a most useful souvenir?,,Coffee, rum, a grinder, a case of rizzla?. Im interested in everyones tastes..and ideas on whats most useful. puff puff.
We bought a big metal laddle from L&M. Beth wanted it for when we make shrimp boils in the summer. Right now it looks nice hanging from the pot rack.
Attachment 9905
coffee, JA sugar, spices, jewelry, shells found on beach, dominos, homemade CDs with latest music, Coco butter lotion,
I like rasta necklaces. You can bargain down to about two dollars each if you buy a few at a time or more .... Also, Lion Pride papers are only 50j -- less than half price compared to USA (and bigger papers too).
I'd go with the puff-puff.........oh if ya could only take it home lol.
I like to buy Bob Marley t-shirts....clothes are useful and everyone loves a Bob T - especially when they can say it was purchased in JA!
Food items are always a big hit and inexpensive - we are bringing back 15 pounds of coffee this year (usually 30, but it was overkill as we found out) so some of that goes out as gifts - REAL nutmeg in the shell with the mace accompanied by a nutmeg grater - Pimento Berries (aka Allspice) - not the packaged kind, the kind we buy from the guy "in the street" - and of course sauces that cannot be bought easily in California such as Pick-A-Peppa's Mango and Ginger Sauces. This year when traveling on the North Coast I picked up a couple of "cocoa balls" - unsweetened Jamaican chocolate compressed into medium sized balls, perfect for grating and using in baking AND savory cooking.
I collect sea glass and sea shells and spend a few weeks making jewelry and wall hangings as gifts as well - and of course some of those special photos that hub makes - we frame those and give those as gifts as well.
I get jewelry from certain vendors for their uniqueness and give those as gifts as well (I bought a pair of really cool conch shell earrings for my housesitter - the goddess of the home and cats for months and months...)
Spices, coffee, wood carvings, sea shells from vendors walking the beach. I agree food is a big hit, pipes for toker friends. I did Christmas shopping last time and I intend to keep my eyes open again this reach.
I used to bring home grace's ketchup, but the carry it in the states now, but I think this next trip I am gonna grab a bottle, ja ketchup it's sweeter. The stuff up here in the states is made in canada, not the same. I always bring home two boxes of lion pride papers. I also used always bring home glass pipes. I used to get nice pipes for under 10 bucks us, that would sell in a head shop here for 30. But now my local gas stations gets same kinda of pipes for around the same price now. I always bring home new creative items people make. Like the bird feeders made out of a coconut. Rasta bowls and cups. carved usefull things, if I find anything cool in the sea like shells. I also bring home sugar, raw stuff. I have brought KFC and patties home before in the past. KFC on a plane, tuff, but the chicken tastes so much different, my grand father couldn't make it ja, so I brought him some patties and KFC. FYI, burger king and KFC taste different in Jamaica because they use ja products. Some times I bring home tru juice, like sour sop juice.
Jewelry, carvings, ketchup, spices, coffee, and rum cream.
mi favorite thing to get is artwork from the artisans themselves.........like from Ras Humos.......
mi purchased the pontil painting on the far right with da orange sky two weeks ago....
http://negril.com/forum/attachment.p...7&d=1329588634
mi have bought paintings from many other artisans over the years........
a lot from on da beach........and mi will treasure dem for years to come........
Cool Runnings, Marko
Nice Marko!! Really like those. Not to mess up da thread but where do I find these??
Back to your question Tattoo...I use to bring home the typical items yet after years of shopping, I now mainly bring cooking items that I can't get in our small area. You know what I mean since you are in the same state....spices, curry powder, masala from the Indian store, cock soup mix to use as base for many soups, powdered coconut milk...cheap and easy to transport, fresh nutmeg and the list goes on. I still peruse the jewelery of course for those unique items. And cool sarongs are also nice to have, not only to wear but nice to use decoratively around the house.
On our first trip I met a man who walked on the beach singing Three Little Birds, and selling little carved birds. I bought one, decided to make it a quest for next few trips. I finally found the third last winter. Hmm, what will be my quest now? Rastagirl, did you find sea glass in Negrl? I love to find it, haven't had any luck in Negril,
I go to the Just Natural Restaurant and pick up some of Kristina's home-made sauce that she bottles up .... is wonderful sauce, the type that makes your nose run:)
I always come home with coffee beans. Also a few packets of dry Grace Fish Tea & dry Mannish Water. Usually pick up some Walkerswood seasoning because I can't find it easily in the States when I need it. In the past I've picked up small bottles of some that fine tonic water that's supposed to enhance the bamboo ..... different brand names bring laughter across the room..... But I'm particularly fond of: "Put it een Wine" :)
We do the large bagged spices, coffee, unsweetened Chocolate sticks & Busha Brown & Walkerwood jerk spices. I grate the chocolate sticks and add it to my Mate Yerba. We can get Busha Brown and Walkerwood at home but it is twice as expensive. Great tip on the all spice berries and nutmeg....will have to remember that next time. No one has mentioned tea bags. I buy a bunch of boxes of sorrel tea bags at High Low to hold me over for the winter.
Regards,
Bob
Spices, Coffee..Love the concentrated vanilla...Now I'm looking for a Wife..
Hands down, pimento wood ~
Ras Humos walks the beach after lunch and can be found at like Sunbeach and at like SeaSplash or most anywhere mid beach........
Kark Ricketts walks the beach too but him starts around Sunset on da Beach and walks a good part of the beach most afternoons.........
dem usually paint in the morning when it's a likkle cooler and also to fill customer orders/requests.......
Cool Runnings, Marko
I've bought lots of art from Karl over the years and yes, it makes a great gift - but it also makes great art for me to hang in my house in JA so some of it stays down there...Karl is an incredibly talented artist.
Thanks Marko!! I am familiar with Karl but not with Ras Humos! Really intrigued with his work.....hopefully pon next reach, I can hook up with him and check out his portfolio. Guess I'll have to drag miself from the cliffs for a day or so. Last trip, I couldn't believe that we were there over 3 weeks and I think I only made it to the beach 2 times!! Gotta get mi ole backside up and go. Respect!
I agree about he Grace Ketchup. I forgot to get some last reach, damn. Haven't found it in STL yet. And I get patties to eat on the plane. It always amazes me when someone who's just spent at least a week in Jamaica ask "What is that you're eating? It smells good."
My very cool handcarved walking stick I used just yesterday.....
Hey Brian! I'm in the "head shop" business, just so you know the $10 gas station pipes are straight from China and contain high levels of lead! I do not recommend there use!!
Back to the topic ;)
Coffee, Spices, packs of cookies & plantain chips for kids, shells & sea glass, a hand made Jamaica Doll for my daughter (she has a nice collection!) 1 painting every year and a wood carving for my son (he tells me ahead of time what to look for!). Oh and Castile Cocoa Butter Soap! (although my friend has now found me some in Toronto!)
"Hey Brian! I'm in the "head shop" business, just so you know the $10 gas station pipes are straight from China and contain high levels of lead! I do not recommend there use!!"
Thank you for the heads up Katho! Those pipes in JA are 1/3 of the price that they are in Cali and probably just for that reason.
I like to bring back shot glasses for friends.. There are all different types, and many of them are a buck a piece.. Coffee is also ALWAYS a big hit as are key chains.. Just depends on what you want to spend...
Great Thread guys! very interesting....
Yup, Irieworld ...... you found the best hot sauce in the world!!!!
Something else I like to pick up in Jamaica and bring back, is a newspaper .... not necessarily the Gleaner or Observer .... but even one of the smaller ones from the various Parishes (like: The Mirror). I like the sensational headlines, and it's always interesting to my friends/family at home to read the police reports, the incidents of people being "chopped". Or the letters to the editor, imploring people to 'Stop Peeing in Public', or the OpEd pieces: like the Diary of a Ghetto Priest entitled 'Ganja: We will regret it". Lot of times, I'll scan these articles as jpegs and used them as jewel covers for CDs that I make for friends, etc.
Jerk chicken spices from roadside restaurants. When home, i put them in sealed "tea" glass containers and they keep for the whole year. It's not a retail item, so you have to talk to the chef and negotiate to obtain some of these Jerk chicken spices, there are lot in the premix, probably over 30 spices. I then try to cook the jerk chicken the same way as in Jamaica, and of course fail miserably, even with the pimento wood i bought, and then i have to go back to Jamaica to taste the real thing. Circle of frustration.
My most cherished and usable souvenir has to be my red yellow and green Hammock from sea star, Its shows no signs of ever wearing out. And I love it!,Its worth every penny,, one of the better kept secretsand finds in negril. i guess the words out now for all the newbies....
Years ago on Long Bay we came upon this artist,he was way up,by himself. We bought a picture of the beach,palm trees etc....It was all made from actual tree bark,bamboo,leaves....Hangs in my bathroom.It is signed W.M or D.M.
I've never really even seen it at the bars, but at the Hi-Lo they sell a Pimento Allspice Liquer. Made by Berry Hill, a division of Wrey and Nephew, it is wonderful! Great as a shot or a coffee mixer, and I have never seen it anywhere else in the world. Very unique taste, but very good.
I was talking about the cheap gas station/convenience store pipes in the US and Canada but personally I wouldn't buy one in Negril either. I'm very careful about glass. I know that some of the souvenirs are imports from China/India etc. and from what I've seen so far at the souvenir shops & market, they are imports. I spoke with a store owner in the HiLo plaza last year who admitted they were imports after I told him I was in the business. Buy a hand carved peice instead! ;)
Thanks! I wasn't sure if you were talking about a packaged product or if you just scavenged it.
Thanks again!
Easy spices, soup mixes, Grace ketchup, coffee, pre-packaged snacks and cookies (that we cant get at home: ovaltine & coconut cookies, Big Foot cheesy snacks) mosquito coils, Rum Bar rum, Castille soap, and the last trip we brought home saltfish. All food stuffs. Although, last trip, I did splurge and bit and buy a few pieces of handmade jewelry which I never did before.
I have an interest in weaponry so I collect machetes. I have everything from a cuban to a modda thomas, from "war" machetes to cane knife- I got a couple of those as they are my favorite.
Also make sure to replenish whatever jerk sauce I am low on, either Bigga's or Bourbon Beach's or Ossie's. I used to make my own but now just buy giant gatorade bottles. Also pickle from Miss Sonia.
And honey. I love the honey from JA. And green coffee as I like to roast it myself.
A few things I bring down, which you still can not get. Real ketchup, and soppresatta.
I keep meaning to bring back some cocoa but always manage to forget.