About a year ago, I went to Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I always think about what a great place it is. One of the main things that makes the place interesting is it is a mixture of warm sunny weather, green mountains in the distance, and beautiful foliage everywhere, with poverty and very aggressive beggars that aren't afraid to let you know that they want money from you. This underlines one of the contrasts of this sweet yet troubled place. The spirit of not worrying and being mellow infuses the actions of the populace and is intrinsic to the behavior of everyone there. Everyone is very chilled out, and the American idea of a breakneck pace and ambition at all costs is just not known there. That concept would be totally alien to them. Yet their beggars are far, far more aggressive than American ones. I guess they are more mellow once they have harrassed and cajoled tourists out of their money. I forgive the country for this one lapse, and, if anything, it adds to the many colors and flavors of this wonderful place.
Locals sit outside their shacks and make their arts and crafts, carved wood statues and such, hoping tourists will buy them. Even in the non-touristy areas, there are two very prevalent things wherever you go: Red Stripe beer and Bob Marley. Either they genuinely like these things, or they realize this is what tourists like, or both, but they are everywhere in the form of ads and T-shirts.
I also love Reggae music. Mainly the golden age of the 70's. If you read one of my previous posts, you know how much I love music of the 70's, and Jamaica produced some of the most innovative, brilliant and compelling music of that decade. Just that classic Reggae beat conveys the warmth and mellowness of Jamaica that translates all over the world, even to the coldest climates. Perhaps that is what makes it so attractive: It shows the world a sunny, carefree side to life - not all of it, of course, much of reggae tells of the poverty and hardship they have to endure, and also the concept of being slaves brought there from Africa infuses the genre as well, but that's what makes it great. It is diverse, I don't know if people realize that. On that small Island, in the 70's alone we heard the toasting of Big Youth and I Roy, the consciousness of Burning Spear, the dub of Lee "Scratch" Perry, the harmony of the Heptones and Abyssinians, the "lovers rock" of Gregory Isaacs, and the international success of Desmond Dekker to name but a scant few. For all this great music to come from one small space in one time reminds one of the Renaissance. (Interestingly enough, Italy experienced a similar renaissance yet again in the 1970's with their progressive rock, maybe I will do a blog post about that someday.)
Jamaica represents escape. Escape from the rat race and relentless consumerism, competition and blind ambition to an island paradise of warmth and greenery where troubles don't exist. This is extremely attractive, maybe not entirely true, but, who cares? Just thinking about this wonderful place puts me in a different mood, one of relaxation to the best of my ability. The locals would choke on their jerk chicken laughing if they saw how intensely some Americans rush through life in some mad rush. Towards what?
To see the Jamaican schoolchildren in their all-brown uniforms, the hand-painted signs, the old architecture existing amongst smaller shacks and roadside stands for food and crafts searching for shade from the hot sun under big green trees, surrounded by colorful foliage, in the tourist areas, the jewelry stores and souvenir shops, and of course the beggars, you see the brilliance of this unassumingly great place that swears by the phrase "don't worry!"...However well or poorly I have conveyed the spirit of Jamaica, it isn't a description. Words have nothing to do with it. It is a FEELING. When you are there you sense the feeling. The feeling of a slowed down pace that comes from a troubled paradise. I would go back in a heartbeat! Long live this beautiful land.
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