Do you exchange money?

[wrtiii]

It has been very common this trip for vendors to quote me a price in USD and when I ask for the price in JMD they say an even 100x the amount. For example, they ask for $7. and when I ask "How much in Jamaican?" the answer is 700 JMD, which is about $5.28 USD. So yes, I convert money (actually, withdraw Jamaican money from an ATM).

I avoid using a credit card because of foreign transaction fees and because when I do use one in Jamaica, it seems to be fairly common for my card to be blocked due to security alerts. This doesn't cost me anything except annoyance as I have to wait for a replacement card to arrive in the mail. Maybe I've just had bad luck, as it has happened 2 out of the past 4 years.