1. The heat can be unbearable.
Not when you live at 3,500’ feet above sea level with pretty much a constant cool breeze.
2. The bugs. Oh, the bugs!
I lived in South Florida and get bitten more here than at my home in Jamaica. Sand fleas?? Not in the mountains. A few mosquitoes but that is what repellent and screens are used for. Cockroaches? We just call them Palmetto bugs and that doesn’t sound so icky! Ants? Well, they just give me a chance to play Army General where I use my “shock and awe” power to contain and destroy them!
Tarantulas. They are everywhere! Well, perhaps if you live in Roatan, Honduras but I have never even seen a tarantula in Jamaica. And, I have no reason to go there to see them either!
3. The infrastructure may be lacking.
Not “may be” but “Is”. Nothing to obsess over but a constant irritant.
4. Island life is like small-town living. Everyone knows everyone and everything.
Yeah, a real negative that is, right? When I got sick last year and 10 neighbors came to dress me and carry me down to a waiting car for a ride to Black River Hospital, I only had to reflect on living in a big city and screaming “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” for a month before anyone noticed.
5. Acquiring things can be difficult on an island.
“Things” are sometimes not so important. I just wait until someone comes from affaren and brings it or I go back for a visit to get them. Things you really need to survive are available. You do learn to live without some “things” and go on living a happy life.
If you want to complain about the length of time between sending a letter and the person in Jamaica receiving it then don’t send it in the first place. That is what phones are for and if it has to be sent as a document, send it UPS, FED-EX etc. and then it will get there. Costly but promptly. Don’t be a cheapskate!
6. There are stray dogs and cats everywhere.
Well, this is a problem where I live. The same two dogs seem to be constantly engaged and producing 6-8 puppies at a time. Sorry to say that at some point people get tired of the barking and fighting at night and then a rat block does the trick. Cats? Well, they take care of the problem around the house by taking the cats into a ganga field to manage the rat problem. Typical. They use a problem to solve a problem and then create a bigger problem (like the mongoose!)
7. Tourists. Tourists everywhere!
Get out on the island and they are not so plentiful. I happen to live in a “touristy-type” town so we do get 3-5 a week average but like a case of indigestion, it will go away in a few hours.
8. Storms happen, and they can be gravely serious.
****ttttt happens! When not in Jamaica, I am in South Florida and since 2004 I have experienced Jeanne, Dennis, Wilma and a touch of Charley so hurricanes are survivable if you live in a concrete structure like they build in Jamaica. They even fill the cement blocks with cement!
9. Island life can be isolating.
Duh. And that is a problem? I have my Kool 97 fm, my two channels on the TV CVM and TVJ and can get a Gleaner or Star without too much difficulty. Do I care what is going on around the world? Not too much. After 90 days in Jamaica, the world looks about a screwed up as when I left it in the first place.
If you've read all these reasons and think that island life sounds horrible, you most certainly should not move to the Caribbean. Take a vacation and then go back.
- No problem here mon!~ Thanks LISA
Originally Posted by noproblem
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