I take the route taxis and pay the same as anyone else. If I tip, I let them know that I do know the proper fare. Yes, we who travel are financially better off than many Jamaicans BUT let us not perpetuate the myth of the RICH FOREIGNER who deserves to be ripped off or fleeced. We do not do them any favor when we carry ourselves like royalty blessing the poor peons with our presence and presents. In doing so, we deny them the opportunity to get to know us as people and to truly share culturally. The attitude of looking at them as poor souls who need to be saved from poverty is demeaning. Plus creating or encouraging a welfare attitude never helps anyone. And from the other side of the same coin, it irks me when a man (local) who I know has a few dollars in his pocket or has the ability to meet his basic needs, puts on the hang dog look and tries to beg money from me just because he perceives me as a "foreigner" and therefore as rich. Is he looking at me as a person? NO. But where did that come from in the first place? The fact that this behavior has become accepted culturally is sad and cripples the DEVELOPMENT of people in developing nations. (btw Third World Nation is not PC anymore)

ALSO, like Irieworld, I do not have a pocket full of cash to throw around. I love my time in Jamaica and have been fortunate enough to make some friends but I have to WORK HARD for my money and make certain sacrafices in order to make my trips.