A silly money question - US$ to JA$

[Rob]

It is interesting to see how people tend to romanticize the past. Back in 1985 and subsequent visits I have seen some things change and some that stayed the same. But some things I dont miss from 1985:

Not reliable running water.
No reliable electricity.
No ice if the ice truck didnt come by.
No sewer system.
The cesspool trucks and their wonderful aroma.
Not being able to make a phone call.
The variable length of time to arrive from MoBay to Negril - if your plane arrived late, sometimes it could take two days on the old road along the coast.
No refrigeration.
Not having a clue about Hurricane Gilbert until the morning when it hit Kingston and was on its way to Negril.
Very limited goods in the stores.

No, I dont miss any of those things.

As for the us$ and Americanization, seeing that over 60% of all visitors to Jamaica each year are from the USA, their shear numbers will undoubtedly have some influence, especially on the menus. But this is done simply as a convenience for the largest single group of visitors to the island.

But what I see is Negril becoming more Jamaicanized. Spending a fair amount of time in Kingston, Negril is growing from a small sleepy fishing village and on its way to become an actual town. Although at present, it is still considered a village as the residential population is not large enough to be considered a town yet.

There are still places that have that small sleepy fishing village feel - Little Bay about 20 minutes down the south coast is a perfect example. Fishing boats line the bay, and you can still stay in rustic huts in a family yard. Although you wont have the hassles of no electricity, no phone, no ice, no refrigeration and no running water. That progress here to stay.

An while it was once the busiest port city in the entire North Americas, Port Royal in Kingston is another small sleepy fishing village. But once again you will have electricity, phone, ice, refrigeration and running water. Progress does have its benefits.

Now to the original poster's question, just last night at the Rockhouse concert with Johnny Osbourne, the prices were in both US$ and JA$ - a Red Stripe was ja$350 or us$3.50 - reflecting the 100 to 1 relationship. so I think you will be seeing the menu prices change to reflect the devaluation of the ja$.

And yes, the devaluation of the ja$ is hurting the economy as anything imported costs more in ja$. Gas is imported, and is used to transport all goods to all the stores. That alone will raise the costs of all products that the country needs to survive. We could go into a much more in-depth diatribe about the reasons and causes, but that is beyond the scope of this travel oriented website. But simply put, the devaluation of the ja$ is not helping the Jamaican economy.

[captaind]

It is interesting to see how people tend to romanticize the past. Back in 1985 and subsequent visits I have seen some things change and some that stayed the same. But some things I dont miss from 1985:

Not reliable running water.
No reliable electricity.
No ice if the ice truck didnt come by.
No sewer system.
The cesspool trucks and their wonderful aroma.
Not being able to make a phone call.
The variable length of time to arrive from MoBay to Negril - if your plane arrived late, sometimes it could take two days on the old road along the coast.
No refrigeration.
Not having a clue about Hurricane Gilbert until the morning when it hit Kingston and was on its way to Negril.
Very limited goods in the stores.

No, I dont miss any of those things.

Very true Rob.

I could not be rebuilding in Jamaica without the infrastructure that is now there.

No more carrying water in pails on the donkey. Contact with the US took 15 days if you were lucky. Two pay phones in Negril and one in Little London that only took 10 cent pieces and were overfilled. A kerosene refrigerator with parts that you had to go to Nassau for.

Not having to take a 6 - 8 trip to Town to buy anything that you couldn't get in Sav (which was most things)

I won't even go in to the conditions in the late 70s.

Yes Jamaica has changed but all in all the only thing I can say about that is "be here now"

[Accompong]

Yes Jamaica has changed but all in all the only thing I can say about that is "be here now"

It is hilarious to me that people think that being in Negril in the 70's, 80's etc. makes being in Negril more special than people who visit now for the first time. It is quite easy to romanticize about "the good old days" but you had to be somewhat of a person with a pioneering spirit to do what we now find so easy to get. Some people (there are a LOT of exceptions so no hate mail) know every bar from one end of town to the other and bars that no longer exist etc. and equate knowing them for a good number of years and trips as a foundation for knowing Jamaica.

You can visit for 150+ times and 30+ years and if you never get a chance to live in the rural areas of Jamaica along side Jamaicans you can hardly appreciate how hard it was in "the good old days" and even harder now to get by.

We take $100 US into Jamaica and get about $10,000 Jamaican Dollars in return. We will spend that in about a day and a hotel worker will work 2-3 weeks for the same money.

As CaptD says "be there now" and start your history of visits from now forward so someday you can reminisce about "the good old days" too.

Peace and Guidance

[Flipadelphia26]

It is interesting to see how people tend to romanticize the past. Back in 1985 and subsequent visits I have seen some things change and some that stayed the same. But some things I dont miss from 1985:

Not reliable running water.
No reliable electricity.
No ice if the ice truck didnt come by.
No sewer system.
The cesspool trucks and their wonderful aroma.
Not being able to make a phone call.
The variable length of time to arrive from MoBay to Negril - if your plane arrived late, sometimes it could take two days on the old road along the coast.
No refrigeration.
Not having a clue about Hurricane Gilbert until the morning when it hit Kingston and was on its way to Negril.
Very limited goods in the stores.

No, I dont miss any of those things.

Oh rob, where is you sense of adventure!

[Hussyband]

It is interesting to see how people tend to romanticize the past. Back in 1985 and subsequent visits I have seen some things change and some that stayed the same. But some things I dont miss from 1985:

Not reliable running water.
No reliable electricity.
No ice if the ice truck didnt come by.
No sewer system.
The cesspool trucks and their wonderful aroma.
Not being able to make a phone call.
The variable length of time to arrive from MoBay to Negril - if your plane arrived late, sometimes it could take two days on the old road along the coast.
No refrigeration.
Not having a clue about Hurricane Gilbert until the morning when it hit Kingston and was on its way to Negril.
Very limited goods in the stores.

No, I dont miss any of those things.

As for the us$ and Americanization, seeing that over 60% of all visitors to Jamaica each year are from the USA, their shear numbers will undoubtedly have some influence, especially on the menus. But this is done simply as a convenience for the largest single group of visitors to the island.

But what I see is Negril becoming more Jamaicanized. Spending a fair amount of time in Kingston, Negril is growing from a small sleepy fishing village and on its way to become an actual town. Although at present, it is still considered a village as the residential population is not large enough to be considered a town yet.

There are still places that have that small sleepy fishing village feel - Little Bay about 20 minutes down the south coast is a perfect example. Fishing boats line the bay, and you can still stay in rustic huts in a family yard. Although you wont have the hassles of no electricity, no phone, no ice, no refrigeration and no running water. That progress here to stay.

An while it was once the busiest port city in the entire North Americas, Port Royal in Kingston is another small sleepy fishing village. But once again you will have electricity, phone, ice, refrigeration and running water. Progress does have its benefits.

Now to the original poster's question, just last night at the Rockhouse concert with Johnny Osbourne, the prices were in both US$ and JA$ - a Red Stripe was ja$350 or us$3.50 - reflecting the 100 to 1 relationship. so I think you will be seeing the menu prices change to reflect the devaluation of the ja$.

And yes, the devaluation of the ja$ is hurting the economy as anything imported costs more in ja$. Gas is imported, and is used to transport all goods to all the stores. That alone will raise the costs of all products that the country needs to survive. We could go into a much more in-depth diatribe about the reasons and causes, but that is beyond the scope of this travel oriented website. But simply put, the devaluation of the ja$ is not helping the Jamaican economy.

Totally off topic... I was not even out of high school in 1985 . Why do we have to have ancient history classes on a travel website?

[Flipadelphia26]

Totally off topic... I was not even out of high school in 1985 . Why do we have to have ancient history classes on a travel website?

I was born in 1984.

[Hussyband]

I was born in 1984.

Damn, now I feel old . I was trying to yank robs chain a bit, and you had to go and do that to me. Not nice, flip, not nice

[Al Drake]

Totally off topic... I was not even out of high school in 1985 . Why do we have to have ancient history classes on a travel website?

So when we get to travel into the past we will have a guide to go by.

[captaind]

So all in all it's best to change your currency to Jamaican dollars.

At 100 to 1 it's easy to know what you paid for stuff.

That was the original question wasn't it?

cap

[goldilocks]

Why do we have to have ancient history classes on a travel website?

"Don't forget your history;
Know your destiny:
In the abundance of water,
The fool is thirsty."
from Rat Race Bob Marley