I have quite a few of the hand made wooden Mario Palomino boxes upstairs, back in the day anybody could find find a way to bring a Cuban (real or counterfeit) home to friends but friends at home could not find a Jamaican Mario Palomino at home, hence a good gift.Originally Posted by Homebrewer
The story I heard was that Mario escaped Cuba with his seeds ahead of Castro and relocated to Jamaica, his next generation of decendants did not want to dedicate the time and hard work it took to keep the brand going, the brand migrated to Dominica for a short period.. That said I have heard that there is now a trademarked Nicauraga Mario Palomino.
I will light a fire here. I agree ATM is the best 0 to J conversion, I drive so I am out of car into ATM and back on road in a flash, I like to run through in Lucy at Scotia or the one up by the airport Shell station, secure, but I have sat in front of the China Man's store and watched people hit the ATM and walk off down the road and wondered at the security of the street. I do keep quite a few Benjamen's in the safe that I convert during the week and I do use the exchangers in the parking lot, reason is it is quick and I do not mind giving up a 100j tax on a 100 U.S. exchange to avoid the hassle of getting out of the car and standing in a line at a Cambio. That said I have been to Negril over 40 times and have very specific guys I deal with that I have known for years, I do not do more than 1 or 200 at a time and follow a very consistent standard of exchange. I would not recommend this for all, agree to the rate ahead of time, exchange in $100.00 U.S. increments, keep your money in your pocket, watch him count, take the J and recount (newbies might get double folded bills spread the bills like a card hand then pat back together for count - most guys use the same rules that I do when I'm running a lot of cash in the states - all bills are faced the same way), hand him the U.S. ------- Me – wappen’, Him – how much mon, Me-$100 U.S. what’s the rate, Him - 84, Me – hell I might as well go to the cambio 85?, Him – Yah Mon 85 (he counts out 8.5 grand) Me – (I recount 8500) respect mon (hand him my $100.00 U.S.) later dawg,,,,,,,, I do it 5 or 6 times a week, before cambio's open after they close on my time schedule. Once again that is me and I am not reccomending this practice to anyone.
