Jamaica Tours, Guides and Vacations

As an online travel writer or blogger, as we are now known, I spend about as much time typing as I do traveling. One of the main reasons that I have not been writing much for this blog has to do with the fact that I type so much my wrists hurt almost all the time.

I decided to take a look at the speech recognition software that has been built into Microsoft Windows Vista to see if it can help me with the amount of typing that I have to do. In less than 24 hours I have been able to setup and train my computer to understand voice commands which allow me to operate my computer hands free.

It was a rather simple actually. I actually tried speech recognition software once before some years ago. I used a product called dragon naturally speaking that was a speech to text converter which allowed me to communicate with my computer using the microphone which then translated my audio input to text. The software built into windows is far more intuitive and easier to setup them the last software I tried to use. I have found that it makes very few mistakes and has a very diverse vocabulary with no words such as webmaster or carpal tunnel syndrome. My last experience with speech recognition software was horrible and I had a very difficult time training the software to understand my voice. Thus far I have had no issues with the software available in Windows Vista and I’m very impressed with how fast and easy it has been to get up to speed.

Hopefully this new software will make working in Jamaica easier for me and allow me to create more blog posts and share more information with you my friends from around the world. With the built in translation services that this website offers I can now speak too people all over the world in their natural language. All I need now is a Jamaican patois version which understands wa gwan. Apparently the software can be trained to learn new words based on my voice input. As an example I had to teach the software the word Wordpress which was not in its vocabulary. In the training process the computer recorded my voice and saves that data for later use. In the past 2 hours I have written a few 1000 words on three different websites and created hyperlinks inside those articles without using the mouse or keyboard for any function.

This does not have much to do with Jamaica and but a lot to do with the way I will be managing this blog from this point forward. From now on the text you read here we’ll be written by machine from speech to text conversion using the software built into my laptop and Microsoft Windows Vista. If you do a lot are writing online or you’re looking for a way to save time on the computer am going to suggest to take a look at speech recognition software. Roddy

Here is one of the videos I was able to shoot at the Usain Bolt Tribute at Club Quad Party in Kingston Jamaica back on October 5, 2008. It took me awhile to get this video posted with all the power outages and delays I have had but here it is. It was a great party and I felt honored to have been personally invited by Bolt himself. He was a VERY busy man and I was not able to spend more than 5 minutes with him in private but the party was worth the efforts with free drinks all night long and LOTS of beautiful people to see.

This video is Bolt speaking after receiving a lifetime pass to Club Quad and numerous other gifts from local businesses. I’m working on uploading the full video with him receiving the gifts now. It may take awhile for me to post it but soon come mon.

Jamaicans love their patty shops and Juici Patty is an islandwide favorite serving fresh hot Jamaican patty and coco bread meals to like half the country each and every day. I have seen the lines in a patty shop fill the entire store from 11am until 2pm each afternoon as Jamaicans file through in semi orderly fashion and place orders for a patty and a coke or boxed orange juice for lunch.

Patty shops usually offer spicy beef patties as their main choice but they also offer beef and cheese patties or curry chicken patties as well. Beef and chicken are the most popular patty but many shops also offer lobster, shrimp and soy patties as well.

Some patty shops offer more than just patties and Juici Beef is one of those. You can find a great selection of breakfast items including green banana porridge or maybe a peanut porridge either of which goes well with a cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee or an Orange Juice. Juici Patty also offers fried chicken and sometimes a soup of the day if things are busy.

If you travel to Jamaica and want to experience real Jamaican food then you have to stop in a patty shop and try a Jamaican patty or you’ll be missing out on the most popular meal in the country. Ackee and saltfish may be the official food of Jamaica but the patty man feeds the country.

I have written about the fact you cannot find a decent pharmacy in negril and it remains true. There are actually two pharmacies in Negril but both of them are very small and stock only a limited number of items. The selection in both pharmacies combined is not as nice as the range of health and beauth products available at Fontana Pharmacy in Sav La Mar.

Sav as it is know to most locals is actually Savannah La Mar and the capital of Westmoreland Parish. Here you will find much better shopping chioces than those in Negril. Food and medicine prices at any of the grocers in Negril are substantially higher than what you find at any of the stores in Sav and the true is same for basic medical care.

I have used Fontana Pharmacy for everything from aspirin and Tylenol to filling prescriptions for paid medications and antibiotics as well. They a have a great selection of wound care products such as bandages, tape and ointments for just about everything. They have never not had anything I needed and I usually end up grabbing something extra from the extra items they stock including stationary, toys candy and more.

If you need a pharmacy in Negril for something simple you should try Negril Pharmacy in the Town Center but if you need something more than take a trip to Sav and you’ll find just about anything you need.

If you are in Negril and searching for a great deal on some souvenirs to take back home then look no further than the City Center by the roundabout and Coral Seas Shopping plaza which is located across the street from Burger King in the center of Negril. There on the ground floor beneath the Digicell center you will find Sona Duty Free Shopping Center which offers great prices on everything from tshirts and trinkets to a selection of fine jewelry, liquors and cigars at discount prices and duty free.

Shop keeper Rocky has been in the same location for 15 years providing visitors to Negril a wild selection of Jamaica t-shirts and other clothing items so you can carry your Irie feelings back home with you. Lots of first time Jamaica vacationers find a taste for some of the islands special treats such as fine Blue Mountain Coffee and Jamaica’s Appleton Rum they can’t fill at home so Rocky has a selection of the most popular liquors in the right sizes for international transport so you can just breeze through the airport with your new favorite drink in hand.

For those of you that enjoy a good smoke you can also pick from some of the best cigars in the world with both Jamaican and Cuban cigars for sale. Cuban cigars are of course not legal for sale in the US but they are offered here in Jamaica and they seem to be very popular with many of our guests. You can buy the cuban cigars for smoking here in Jamaica but you CANNOT buy Cuban cigars to take back with you. Save that for the high quality Jamaican cigars which are said to offer the same flavor and smoking experience as the cigars from Cuba.

Whatever you’re looking for Sona is an excellent choice for Jamaican souvenirs and gift shop items located in the center of Negril. Stop by and say hello to Rocky while you do some shopping in Negril.