Jamaica Tours, Guides and Vacations

Come on and smile, we’re in Jamaica. Smile Jamaica Africa Unite is the theme for this years Smile Jamaica concert to be held in Oracabessa at James Bond Beach where we just went to the Jamaica Fat Tyre Festival and Bicycle Bash about a week ago. Its a really beautiful part of the island with more natural beauty around you at all times. The East Coast of Jamaica is what is left of the Real Jamaica in many ways. Look for that article coming up soon as I get back from this show. I have never seen Jr Gong perform and it will be a real pleasure to be able to see him and his brothers on stage performing at a concert their father started back in 1976. Damian seems to be the favored brother here in Jamaica and no matter what part of the island I go to someone has his music blasting almost as often as you here his fathers music. I think Ziggy plays better to white America with his happy cheerful melody makers than he does here in Jamaica where the Tuff beats of Jr Gong better reflect life in Kingston. Damian seems to me to to have been influenced by his fathers more militant side (or was that Peter Tosh?) and maybe Ziggy is the hippy kid who thinks we can save the world with one good spliff.

It should be awesome to see them both perform in front of their fellow countrymen so I can see how the crowd feels about them at a show. I know that I sometimes get people calling me Jr Gong when I go to Kingston because apparently I look more like him than I do Ziggy to the average Jamaican on the street. I get very strong reactions from older Jamaicans and especially older Rastas for my resemblance to the Marley clan and I have had it happen over and over that they think I look like Damian more than Ziggy or Bob himself. I don’t think I look like any of them but I guess i can see the confusion for some Jamaicans who rarely see a brown skinned Taliban looking dread like me. I also want to see how the boys handle the commercialization of their fathers image and his being packaged more as a product than a person here in Jamaica. I sure hope not to see his image used like it is all over the island. Bob Marley is used to sell Jamaica more like Colonel Sanders sells chicken or like Ronald sells McDonalds most often and I personally am disgusted by how “The Legend” is treated by most Jamaicans. Bob Marley has become a cash cow for almost the entire country and he’s rolled over in that mausoleum in St Anns a few thousand times I bet. I sure hope his sons maintain the high level of respect for him at this commercial show that I have seen in their commercial music and they don’t disrespect the King of Reggae during Reggae Month in Jamaica.

Go-Local Jamaica

Kingston, Jamaica:– Oraccabessa St. Mary will come alive on Saturday February 23 when the Marley Legacy is unleashed at the James Bond Beach. Bob Marley foundation and Ghetto Youths in association with The Rita Marley Foundation presents ‘Smile Jamaica – Africa Unite’ in tribute to the work of the late Nesta Robert Marley. The event follows an initiative of the Marley family to unite Africa and Members of the African Diaspora through Music and to perpetuate the message of Love, Strength and Hope that was the hallmark of Bob Marley’s career.

This is the second staging of the ‘Smile Jamaica’ concert since its rebirth in 2007. The first concert was held in December 1976, at which the legend himself, Bob Marley, headlined the show at the National Heroes Park in Kingston. Despite being attacked the night before, he bravely and defiantly stepped out and said he would only do one song, but ended up working the stage for ninety minutes. This year’s staging of the event represents an intersection, where The Africa Unite concert staged in Ethiopia and Ghana previously merge to create an experience that transcends culture, language, race and economic barriers.

The show features for the first time in Jamaica, on one stage, the Marley Brothers, Stephen, Ziggy, Damian, Julian, Kimani displaying their unique talents. Having amassed their own career wealth Grammy winners Stephen Damian and Ziggy are eager to display their unique magic on stage. Stephen is touted to take the stage with a new accolade as he is nominated for the coveted Grammy Award for his debut solo album ‘Mind Control’ the Awards will be staged on Sunday, February 10.

Other acts booked to appear are Rihanna, Javaughn,Elephant Man, Sizzla, Queen Ifrica, Capleton, Richie Spice, Lutan Fyah, Spragg Benz and Tarrus Riley and is touted to be the most colourful climax imaginable to the Month now Dubbed Reggae Month.

Smile Jamaica – Africa Unite takes place on Saturday February 23 at the James Bond Beach. Patrons will join in this historic event for $1500.00 and are guaranteed a wonderful demonstration of The Jamaican Motto ‘Out of Many, One people’.

Related posts

• No related posts.

So of course we are moving to Jamaica and I decided that on our return flight after the holidays I was going to bring back as much stuff as I could possibly carry on the plane. We had a whole house full of stuff back in storage in Florida and it made little sense to me to buy all new stuff here in Jamaica when shipping a barrel seems so easy and the cost was pretty cheap actually.

I carried over 8 checked bags for the 4 of us at a max weight of 50 lbs each for a total of just under 400lbs of stuff we had loaded on the plane plus each of us had a carry on piece with personal effects and two days clothing in case our luggage was lost. It seems like this would be enough for any family but I decided that I would bring even more stuff and load a 55 gallon steel drum with the really heavy stuff. I ended up stuffing it full with all sorts of housewares and in the end it weighed over 260 lbs.

We were driving to Fort Lauderdale Florida from Ocala with a rental vehicle so I got some pricing information on barrel shipping online and actually came up with a great deal via Spirit Airlines and their shipping partner at Finlays Shipping. I paid a total of $70 US to have them ship a barrel from Lauderdale to Kingston. In 8 to 10 days I could pick up my barrel in Kingston and not have the hassle of dealing with customs at the airport but on my own time and schedule at a later point.

It took me a little while to find the shipping terminal in North Miami but once I did it took less than 15 minutes to fill out forms and process our shipping order. The entire process of shipping a barrel to Jamaica consisted of me loading it on their ramp, filing one simple form and sealing the can for delivery. Finlays provided me with the wire to lock up my barrel and we wrote the shipping address on the barrel in permanent marker. It is suggest you lock you barrel but I only wired mine and everyting arrived here in Negril with no trouble mon.

Upon arrival here in Jamaica I had to pay an additional charge of $2,000 JA or about $30 for handling fees and of course my import duties. My estimated value for the barrel was $24,000 JA and my duties were $3500 or about $50. I’ll include more details on dealing with Jamaica customs in the follow up post “Dealing with Jamaican Customs at the Kingston Wharves”.

Related posts

• Dealing with Jamaica Customs at the Kingston Wharves (0)