Jamaica Tours, Guides and Vacations

I have written about the hassle it was to get my Jamaican drivers license and for those of you who have actually gone on tour with me you have been told my opinions on driving a car in Jamaica but I thought I would put together some information for those interested in driving in Jamaica who are not familiar with what it is like to drive a car on the left side in such a dangerous country.

I get lots of questions about renting a car in Jamaica and my advice on driving yourself around on vacation and my first reaction is almost always to warn persons against doing so unless they have already driven on the left side and they have already been to Jamaica before. if you are considering renting a car on your first visit to Jamaica I will strongly advise you to reconsider because that is certainly a more dangerous and risky adventure. Trying to learn and understand a culture and drive around in a foreign country all at the same time as trying to enjoy the surrounding scenery and sights is simply to much for any person or group to manage. It’s a recipe for disaster in a country with so many beautiful scenes to stop and see.

Driving around Jamaica requires a prior knowledge of Jamaican customs, an understanding of the language and some familiarity with how to interact with Jamaicans because there are hardly any road signs in Jamaica and the even the Jamaican road maps are often useless enough that you are going to have to ask directions and know that you have been given good ones at that. Finding someone who knows where you are going and is willing to direct you there without misdirecting you is hard enough but finding someone who can properly explain how to get there and for you to actually understand it is actually far more difficult and even impossible on many occasions. Most Jamaicans do not drive and sadly many of them do not travel much outside of their parish or local area. A large percentage of Jamaicans have never traveled at all and are totally unfamiliar with how to get to places off the main road that circles the island. You will often find it harder to receive anything more than a hand gesture as the direction to travel and a grunt like “likkle more dat way” from people in rural areas or when dealing with those Jamaicans who are unfamiliar with tourists.

Jamaican road conditions are horrible and many of the roads on the interior are the original roads laid down in the 60′s and 70′s and they have never been maintained or repaired and they are littered with potholes or just plain washed out and difficult if not impossible to navigate without destroying a car or flattening a tire. You can’t imagine how many horror stories I have heard about folks getting flat tires in the worst places or a car stuck in a heavily damaged road conditions or even sliding off the side of ravines and into the gully. I have actually witnessed a car accident in the mountains where a tourist drove a car over the side of a mountain road and right into the top of a house that luckily was empty but still destroyed by the incoming car. Those people lived but they will never try driving in the mountains of Jamaica ever again and rightfully so, they had no idea where they were and they were heading down a hill in rainy conditions like some kind of suicidal maniacs trying to make it back to the hotel before before dark. They ended up almost killing themselves and ruining a perfectly good vacation and there was no reason to do so.

I started out driving in Negril Jamaica with an international drivers license I got from AAA which is enough if you want to rent a car and drive around on your vacation but I had to get the drivers license when I bought my own van. I drive around Jamaica very safe and cautiously and I always have because I can see how dangerous the roads are and I have seen many bad accidents and even more bad Jamaican drivers and I just knew you have to be a defensive driver and you cannot trust any other drivers skills or abilities. There is a dirty little secret in Jamaica that no one will speak much about but that certainly has caused a large number of deaths and accidents. Jamaica has around a 70% illiteracy rate and driving cars is one of the best jobs an average person can get so a large number of Jamaican drivers cannot read and they did not take a drivers tests.

They bought their drivers license from a crooked official for about $200US and next they rent a car from a local taxi cab service who rents a car to anyone with a valid license for about $40 US per day for vans and nicer cars to as low as $25 for certain route taxis. So for about $250 a Jamaican can buy a license and rent a car one and be on the road without ever passing a test. These guys are the hustlers you see speeding around Jamaican roads trying to make money to cover the expense of the car and maybe put some cash in their pockets and food in their families belly. You can’t blame a man for trying to take care of himself when you see the pressure these guys are under to make the ends meet but the idea they are risking not only their own lives but everyone else on the road is the scary part.

I have been in two car accidents in Jamaica. I can say that both of them were not my fault but I did let my guard down and forgot where I was at the time and both situations were made much worse because of me. I wrote about the first accident and road rage incident back when it happened but only those of you have met me know that I was in a very bad car accident in Jamaica that nearly cost me my life. I was driving my Nissan Vannette on a dark road in Gutters heading up Spur Tree Hill on my way to a reggae concert with my friend Ras Slick when I stopped to turn. There were 4 adults in the van and we were having a conversation when someone barked out stop because I was about to miss the turn. I came to a full and complete stop in my lane but apparently I was too close to the line and a driver coming down the hill who swerved around a car making a turn on the same road smashed into the drivers side corner of my van where I was stuck behind the wheel after the van came to a stop down the side of the road. It all happened so fast that I could not react but it happened so slow I can play it back in my head like it was in slow motion.

I actually saw the other drivers face of shock as he hit me and I remember watching the Jamaican youth who was seated in the front with me as he was thrown out the window and onto the street when I looked away from the oncoming car. My first reaction was to look back at my wife and kids in the back seat to verify they were alright and I remember asking my wife if the kids were alive. All three had a nice big red spot on their foreheads where they slammed into the back of the seat behind me but everyone was doing well otherwise. I yelled out for everyone to get out of the van and this was the moment of greatest fear in my life. I realized that my I could not feel my legs and they were pinned by the crushed van and steering wheel which was firmly planted in my crotch. I was stuck in my bus and I could not move and that’s when my head started whirling thoughts of dying in a blazing fire as my kids sat listening to my screams.

Alfred Moya crashed his van in Jamaica and lived!!

It was the most horrifying thought I had ever had and I immediately yelled out for them to remove my children because all I felt was liquid pouring out from the motor and I thought it was fuel about to burst in flames. Thankfully the liquid was only hot water from the radiator that was scalding my legs and not gasoline. I blacked out for a minute or two but I awoke to a scene of beauty as a dozen or more Jamaicans had begun to rip my van to pieces as they attempted to extract me from the wreck. There were people all over and they were hurting themselves to free me. I was elated and in tears of joy at the sight of my fellow man risking his own harm and pain to save me from mine. Two guys were in the cab with me pulling up on the steering wheel and there was a woman rubbing my head telling me “It’s ok rasta we gonna help you”, “we gonna help you rasta man”. This went on for what seemed an eternity and these people were so protective of me that they actually assaulted my wife when she came back from removing my children because the people helping me did not know who she was but they wanted to save me from any harm.

They finally had to tie a rope around the front clip of my van and another rope to the back of my van and they actually pulled my van apart with two trucks before I was able to slip my very broken and distorted leg out of the car seat. My left leg was bad and I was forced to tie it to a piece of 2 x 4 lumber as a splint to keep it from flopping around. It was becoming more difficult to keep aware and guide the efforts to rescue me because of shock and no one was in control but me and I had to make sure they did not kill me on the way out. I was of little help physically and they had to lay me on a half sheet of plywood and carry me over to a waiting pickup truck which was the only ambulance available to take me down into Mandeville about 20 minutes away to the closest hospital.

Alfred Moya stands up for the first time in 90 days!!

I spent about 3 days in Mandeville before being transported by van to Cornwall Regional in Montego Bay because they were the only hospital that could provide the surgery I was supposed to need. I ended up spending almost 15 days in the Mobay hospital waiting on xrays and about 5 different doctors to check me before I got a visit from a Cuban doctor. I spoke to him in Spanish and told him of my Cuban grandparents and he confided in me that surgery was unnecessary and that all I really needed was to properly set a cast on my leg. It seems the lead Jamaican doctor caught wind of my situation and he was trying to get me to pay cash for a private specialist to fix me up. He refered me to an outside doctor who could take care of me sooner and this . I almost went for the deal before my Cuban doctor told me it was not truly necessary and that the surgeon wasn’t even sure he could do much more than than pin it together and that the break was such that a pin would not help much at all.

After being laid up in traction with weights pulling my leg straight for 45 days I was finally set in a full leg cast and released to my home where I sat up for another 5 or more months on total bedrest. All told I was stuck in a bed for over 6 months and it cost me $1,000′s in lost wages and property as well as the huge bill I have to the Jamaican government. Almost two years later and they still don’t have a final bill for me and at this point I may just have to payback Jamaica by some other means because they seem to have lost all record of ever even treating me.

I feel a huge debt of gratitude and dedication to Jamaica because of how quick Jamaicans were to help me and I have dedicated this website and the tour guide service that has grown from it to the people of this great nation. To this day I spend more money on this website and my adventures in Jamaica than I ever make back in money but nothing can compare to the wealth of love and friendship that this investment has offered as my dividends. Not only has Jamaica changed my life but this incident has become the single greatest reminder of how precious my life and the lives of my wife and children are too me and why it is important to savor every single moment of every single day. Live long and irie!!

Ok, we recently passed 2 years that we have been living in Negril Jamaica and although I have considered doing this post for quote some time I am just getting around to discussing the cost of food at the grocery stores in Negril and what your options are for value or how to extend your food budget while living in paradise.

I would guess that the primary reason I never got around to writing much about the cost of food in Negril is that it’s never been such an issue to save on my grocery bill as it has been this year. When we arrived in July of 2007 we had no idea what it would be like living here and we made a lot of mistakes with the currency exchange and with the cost of certain foods in the grocery stores in Negril. There are huge differences in shopping in Jamaica that I will not get very detailed with but suffice to say you will not have much of a selection of anything and those foods that are familiar to you from shelves in America will most likely cost you quite a bit more than they did back home.

Snack items like Doritos chips and Chips Ahoy cookies are just crazy and I have seen a regular size bag of Doritos marked at about $8 US in the Hi Lo grocery store. That’s just nuts if you ask me but we paid it once or twice even before noticing how much it was. Many of the stores in Jamaica do not place pricing labels on the items and it can be a serious sticker shock when you realize the cost of items like a box of imported cereal or a skinless chicken breast which can go up to as much as $960 JA per kilo or about $11 US. You can buy 2 whole frozen chickens for that kind of money if you know how to shop and you’re able to do a little bit of labor on your own.

In Jamaica the grocery stores do not provide the same level of services that you find in most American grocery stores. There are no deli cut meats other than some prepackaged and overpriced items shipped from overseas and those stores that do cut meat charge a fortune for the service. The current rate for chicken by the pound runs from between $170 to $190 JA per pound for Grade A whole birds from companies like Best Dressed Chicken and of course prices go up if you want just breast, legs or thighs. In Jamaica they eat the whole bird and you will find chicken backs and chicken feet are actually incredibly popular for use in soups and stews.

In Jamaica chicken soup will often be chicken foot soup which is a bit shocking for your first experience. I will not soon forget looking into that steamy cup of soup and seeing a foot with toes sticking up in the air as if someone dunked a chicken in there upside down. I controlled my gag reflex and moved past it but I did remove the offending appendage and not consume it.

I do not eat feet. It’s an odd rule maybe but one I stick to firmly. I don’t do pigs feet, cow foot or goat feet either. I am an equal opportunity hater. I will not be sucking the meat off a chickens toes now or any other day of my life. They peel the skin and wash them well but no amount of heat and spices can cover the fact that chickens spend their lives walking around in chicken shit an I am not sucking its toes!

So what do we do? Well as a family of four we have the ability to consume a whole bird rather effectively and we no longer purchase parts unless we want to really save. At the Value Master which is located in the shopping center located adjacent to the Negril Round About or Town Square they have daily chicken specials with chicken parts usually running at around $150JA per pound or about $1.80 US which is actually the cheapest I have ever seen chicken sell for anywhere in Negril. You get a mixed bag of parts with no choice in how it is delivered but it’s a good deal when you are on a budget or strapped for cash. A kilo or just over 2 pounds serves us well for dinner and we have been having fun trying new ways to cook it including brown stew, curry and I have even come up with my own jerk chicken that is much more moist and flavorful than most of the pan chicken you can buy in the area.

A quarter serving of jerk chicken with a slice of bread goes for about $300 to $350 JA from most pan or jerk chicken shacks everywhere in Negril. I can buy a kilo of chicken which I wrap in aluminum foil to retain the juices and marinate in a basic jerk seasoning before tossing them on the fire outside. It’s much better and not as dried out as much of the jerk chicken is around here. We eat more than just chicken and in fact we have been eating a lot more fish than we ever did.

A standard size can of jack mackerel in tomato sauce costs about $160JA if you chose either the Lasco or Grace brands when you serve it over a nice big plate of black beans and rice with maybe a side vegetable it’s another great family meal for less than $5 US. A can of tuna from Brunswick can cost as little as $75JA and as much as $180JA for premium brands. Frozen seafood is pretty standard in most places with the Rainforest Brands of packaged fish being the more popular. They import lots of fish I never heard of before I came here including bangamary and others that are available at around $240JA per pound and they do stock Caribbean varieties such as kingfish in slices which run about $250JA per pound or maybe you prefer a whole red snapper which goes for about $350 per pound. Fresh fish is available regularly from a number of places including the small fishermans beach near MiYard but the fish most locals eat are unacceptable to me and I generally find myself buying imported frozen cuts from the local markets.

I was raised in South Florida and we never ate things like parrot fish, jack crevalle, goggle eyes, pufferfish, blue tangs, blue head wrasse or even sting rays and I see those on the menu every day around here. I was also shocked to see the size of most of the fish eaten are less than the length of your hand and some are as small as the length of your finger. It made no sense to me until I realized that the nearshore waters are completely overfished and devoid of anything but these less desirable fish. You rarely see things like nice size yellowtail, grey or mangrove snapper except for one or two places around here it seems. I rarely see nice cuts of salmon or other common fish and most of what you find comes from the Caribbean with the exception of codfish whihc is so popular here for ackee and saltfish breakfast. Some of the fish locals eat are a downright crime and someone should stop them. As an example my 4 year old barked out to a local fisherman passing by in his canoe to “gimme a fish mon” and the rasta tossed a baby grouper to him that was no longer then the length of my hand and more likely to be found in a fish tank in American than on someones dinner plate. So long as they continue to eat these baby fish there will be no future for the fishing in the area and sadly I think its only going to get worse before it ever gets any better.

You can find fresh fish on the seaside near the bottom corner of West End Road just past First Choice Grocery or “China Mans” as it is commonly referred or directly across from the SeaView Corner Bar where there are some shade trees with benches lined up on the seaside of the road where you will often find a salesman with a load of nice big fish he sells for some of the larger boats that travel to deeper waters. He often has a couple larger fish but he always wants too much money for them and I have trouble with the fact I have seen him out there peddle the same fish all day and on occasion for two days. It’s like 90+ degrees outside and he has about a cup of ice in a bucket full of fish some days that wreak to high heaven. Be careful.

Lobster, crab and octopus are also popular seafoods here but none of them are on my list as I simply do not care for them. I especially do not like the lobster nor do I understand the popularity of such a tough meat. I don’t mind a lobster tail in butter with garlic but it has to be more than a bite size piece to tempt me and I cannot see the sense in paying so much for so little. I don’t think I have ever seen a stone crab or blue crabs in Jamaica and most of what they eat are what we called toilet crabs or swamp crabs that lived in the mangroves back in the Florida Keys. There is a large hole in an empty lot thats usually full of goats and every summer a bunch of these crabs come out into the streets and neighborhood in search of food or water I suppose and Jamaicans snatch them up and have a feist on them.

We do eat three meals a day and it’s not always a big dinner. For breakfast we have taken things back to the old days I suppose. My kids love pancakes and Aunt Jemima was like a real family member to us in a lot of ways. Her face has graced the packages of our breakfast meals for many years now but it was easier than I thought to walk away from her and that we have done. We used to eat a box of pancake mix per week and of course wash it down with a bottle of Aunt Jemima Pancake Syrup which is little more than flavored corn syrup and not as healthy as you may think. What are your options? Well we now purchase the raw ingredients and mix our own whole wheat pancake mix and we prefer Jamaican organic honey over corn syrup products. A one pound bag of whole wheat flour is like $80JA or about $1US and we can make a lot of pancakes with that and a liter bottle of honey runs about $500JA and lasts at least two weeks where a bottle of syrup is $350 and lasts less than one week,

We get creative with the pancakes as well and mix up everything from bananas and plantains to fresh mango and even strawberry jam or orange marmalade if we don’t go with the usual honey over wheat cakes. Not much for blueberry or blackberry here in Jamaica and you can even forget about finding fresh strawberries for most of the year. Be careful when you do find them as you will be shocked at what they cost. I paid almost $15US for one small basket of not so fresh strawberries t Hi Lo when we first arrived because I did not price check them and we had eaten the entire basket before we even walked out of the store. It’s hits like that that kill the grocery budget. We also eat more oatmeal, green banana and peanut porridge and even my oldest son and most picky eater AJ will sit down to a bowl of oatmeal and peanut porridge with a drizzle of honey over the top. The peanut porridge is a favorite of mine and has been since I had my first hot cup full many years back. It’s always better when you buy fresh made from a cook shop or maybe rasta road side stand but we eat a prepackaged porridge from Creation Foods thats almost as good if prepared properly. Creation Foods makes a number of organic products that we are now eating and I’m happy that it not only lowered the cost of groceries but has improved our diet as well. You can’t beat that can you?

Shopping in Negril is expenisve and most of us that live here now shop in Sav La Mar which is about 30 minutes away by taxi or bus or about $300JA if you take the route taxis. There are a number of shops in Sav La Mar and D&Y is a popular spot down towards the end of Great Georges Road where there is also the open farmers market but I prefer the new Shoppers Fair which is adjacent to the roundabout and offers a nice new store with better inventory. D&Y is good for buying cheap meats and vegetables but Shoppers Fair has a much nicer selection of items and the prices are very competitive. I usually stop in at the patty shop out front before going shopping now because it saves me on munchies and snack items that I inevitably reach for as I cruise the grocery store.

You may ask about the price of other meats and I would not be the person to ask as I don’t eat much more than chicken or fish. I see lots of pork here and it seems reasonable priced but you do not see much beef here and I do understand what cuts you do find are low grade and very expensive. My good friend Rick tells me they eat mostly bull meat and they do not neuter the cattle here but I cannot confirm that. Checking in at the local Hi Lo I see they offer pork chops for about $350JA per pound, pork leg for under $300JA and pork spare ribs are about $500JA per pound. There was not much beef in the shop when I checked but they did have the chuck steaks pictured here for about $400JA per pound and oxtail for about the same price.

Jamaica is blessed with bountiful farm lands and an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables that you can find in many places across the island. Here in Jamaica we often get home delivery of fresh vegetables from local farmers who stop by once a week in their farm trucks. Find one that comes to your area and start a relationship with them for the best deals. We eat lots of farm fresh vegetables that we used in soups or steamed most often. We make a large pot of vegetable soup at least once a week with large pieces of irish potato, sweet potato, onions, peppers, corn, scallions and Jamaican pumpkin. When we buy a whole chicken we often take the chicken back, neck and wings and add them into a chicken soup that I may spruce up with an extra package of chicken backs you can get for about $200JA.

You can also get lots of fresh vegetables and fish at the open market in Sav La Mar which is usually best if you want to buy something in bulk. As an example you can buy large bushels of sweet potato, breadfruit, casava, oranges and other common Jamaican vegetables at discount prices. In Negril you can find a vegetable market in the alley alongside the Juici Patty shopping center just past the roundabout on the road to Sheffield where you can find fresh veggies and fruits like pineapple for $150JA or bags of oranges for $250JA and some delicious honey banana for $25JA each or 5 for $100JA and you are supporting a Jamaican farmer rather than the national grocers chain.

I’m proud to say we have kicked the soda habit and now drink less than one per month as a treat on occasion for the kids. If it were my choice we would never do that but I suppose they enjoy them still. All of us drink a lot of water because it can get hot like fire here especially in the summer and sticky sodas just don’t quench the thirst. I was able to explain this to the kids and they now request water or fruit juices with every meal and we don’t even drink the local Jamaican carbonated drinks which we had switched to from brands like Coca Cola and Pepsi which are less healthy and more expensive in most cases. Ting is made from Jamaican grapefruits and seems to be a little better for you than soda. I had the kids drinking those for quite some time as a soda replacement but these days we drink quite a lot more fruit juices. Tru Juice brands are the best and most natural juices available at about $500JA for a gallon of fresh Jamaican orange juice which we all love or any number of other juices available here including pineapple, banana, mango and the many mixes.

Here are some tips for anyone shopping in Jamaica. Be aware of the price you pay for any item before you reach the counter or have paid for it. Unlabeled items may carry high price tags and those of course are subject to change based on where you might be from and how much you might be able to afford. Also be careful to keep an eye on the bag boys. I know it sounds messed up but I have no doubt that they have stolen items from us before. It’s impossible for an item to get rung up and paid for but not make it home in the bags of groceries unless the bag boys has been taking things. We have had many different items come up missing and its usually some type of treat or candy that will not go unnoticed for long. Plan on shortages of staple items like milk and cheese like sour and cream which can disappear for as long as a week or more. If you have a craving for something special and you do find it in Jamaica then grab as much as you can because you never know how long it will be before you see it again.

My best advice for grocery shopping in Negril on a budget is to shop around at all the stores and start price checking things to make certain you get the best deal. If you plan to spend more than $100US per week than take the trip to Sav La Mar and save more money on your total grocery bill.

I answered some questions about medical care here in Jamaica and did a web search for help finding a listing of medical facilities in Jamaica and I came up with two great resources that I had to share here with everyone else.

The question I answered in the Jamaica forums was about having a baby in Jamaica but if you seek any kind of public or private medical facility in Jamaica you’ll want to take a look at these two websites.

JMMB :: JMMB Insurance Brokers

Jamaica Medical Directory

Blue Cross of Jamaica – Find a provider

Listing of medical facilities in Jamaica by parish

If you are planning on moving to Jamaica with medical conditions that require care you are going to want to make arrangements before you arrive. Jamaica has a number of holistic healing and wellness centers that offer a variety of natural healing treatments. For more details contact Sunset Heal

Technorati Tags: jamaica, jamaica medical, jamaica hospitals, wellness vacations, jamaica wellness

This story is two months old now but I decided it was too funny not to post. It was a long summer. The kids and I had lunch at Jennys restaurant in Negril one afternoon. I drove down the cliffs from our home here on West End and ended up parked directly in front of the restaurant on the wrong side of the street.

While pulling away from the restaurant I had to leave with a large truck in the road in front of me. I saw a van coming down the hill and he saw me coming out. The idiot decided he could squeeze between me and the wall and ended up bumping my front bumper. I stopped instantly and barely had even moved. I was only traveling like 3MPH at the time of the accident.

The other driver came out with his arms swinging in the air and he was already cursing me. He walked over to my window and yelled to me that he was calling the police. I looked him in the eyes and said, “Go ahead call the cops. I have insurance”. He turned away from me and went back to his van where he reached in the window and came out with a machete. It was a nice long one and he proceeded to slap the windshield and side of my van with it. He was unaware the kids were in the van but he stuck the knife inside the rear window where the kids were and shook it around inside my van.

I did not even think about it. I started my van and drive off. I took back streets and ended up on the road to Sav. I decided to take the kids to the grocery store and we made an afternoon trip out of town. I made it back home at around 5pm and apparently just in time to meet with the lunatic cab driver who had somehow tracked me down to my apartment. This nut met me here at my home with a metal pole he found poolside.

This was a little too much for me and I took his road rage and added a double dose of my anger management to the situation, thats one dose per kid he endangered. I was glad to fight any ass who threatened me and my kids and then had the balls to bring it to my home. We battled in the yard for a minute or two. I took a whack with the pole over the head and shoulders that was hard enough to knock me on my knees but I was able to tackle him on the concrete and remove his weapon in the same motion. I did loose an inch of flesh on both knees as I landed on the sidewalk and he proceeded to drag me around a bit.

This guy was nuts and the only way I could get rid of him was to hurt him which I did not want to do. I ended up holding him locked on the ground until we agreed to go our separate ways. They called the cops who I was actually glad to see until they decided to try to blame me for the whole thing. They took me down to the Negril police department and tried to say I was going to be arrested for fleeing the scene of an accident. I told them I was forced to do so by a man with a machete. It got kinda heated after I told them I had expected this to be turned against me. I explained to them that in America its always the black mans fault and in Jamaica its the white guy. I am considered a white man by most people here and the cops normally try to blame me for things.

I told the lead cop there was no chance I would be treated fairly and he should just go ahead and do what he had too. I told him this was the second time I had been sat down in the same room with the handcuff chains hanging on the chair in front of me and for the second time I sat in the station as a victim while the criminal walked free. I asked him how a man could attack me with a knife and I should be arrested for running away.

After quite a bit of loud talk and explanation on my part I was released with no arrest. They decided to drop everything and leave well enough alone. I think it was the blood running down my leg and all over the floor that set them straight but I’m not sure still. They may have simply been tired of my mouth as most Jamaicans will after awhile.

Look for some pics and more as I heal my wounds with a natural antibiotic in the next blog post.

I love driving my van around Jamaica. It’s been about 10 months now I’ve had it and we have covered many many 1000′s of kilometers and nearly the entire country thus far. We have actually circled the island and spent time in most major cities. I can drive around Mobay, Ocho Rios, Negril and Kingston with no problem mon.

We have driven the South Coast route from Negril to Kingston a few dozen times now and I feel super comfortable taking this route. We have stopped at all the major attractions as well as most of the smaller ones in the last year and visited much of the South Coast Jamaica. I especially love the Bluefields and Treasure Beach areas. Mandeville seems like a nice place to chill with some of the coolest weather on the island.

The van has been a great asset and well worth the investment. I have had to put a few bucks into it to keep it running but besides my van insurance its been pretty cheap. The van insurance policy we started with was weak and basically it covers the legal crap we need. I’m looking for some new van insurance quotes online using a new service that I found at QuoteZone.com but I will most likely be forced to stick with the crap policy I have. I say its crap because it does not cover anything more than the other person and it costs a fortune.

I’ve been lost in the van at least once on every trip we take and to be honest I’m glad it happens. Most often we end up in some rather unique and interesting situations that could only be found by getting lost in Jamaica. From 100 head of goats taking up the road or an impromptu street festival that erupts around a sound system in the town square I have been in some places and seen some things that only only me and Jah seem to truly appreciate.

I love Jamaica and my van has been a great part of the experience. If you plan on spending any more than 6 days in Jamaica bring enough money to buy a car and just sell it before you leave. You’ll appreciate having one while you’re here and it may just change your life.