Today is Independence Day in Jamaica and it is the first day of the early 3pm curfew for Sundays and Public Holidays.
The party started at 8am at Wavz Beach and patrons were shuttled in from their respective resorts. When we first drove by at around noon heading to Boardwalk Shopping Village, everything seemed relatively calm and orderly.
Driving back through around 2:15 pm was a different story entirely.
It is now nearly 5pm and some folks probably haven't made it back home yet. So much for the 3pm curfew.
It took us 40 minutes to get to downtown, and we beat the bulk of the traffic that was beginning to back up. On the north end, we could see in the rear view mirror that traffic was already stuck beyond Boardwalk Shopping Village. On the south towards town, by 2:45 traffic was backed up to Travellers Beach Resort and growing by the minute.
The shuttle busses couldn't move, so party goers began milling around the vendors which may have been a good thing, but most carried little to no money on them as this is an all-inclusive party. It just added to the difficulties in trying to keep traffic moving.
