A silly money question - US$ to JA$

[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