The Other Side of the Brochure in Jamaica
There’s a hardcover, glossy-paged and full colour book called Destination Jamaica in my hotel room. It’s the “official visitor magazine of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association”, and its pages are jammed with photos of mostly white people having the time of their lives. Between advertising for designer watches, jewellery, restaurants and resorts, there’s plenty of tourist recommendations for honeymooners and cruise shippers, families and weekend get-me-awayers. Most of the action centres on the north coast of the island - the resorts around Negril, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios - with a healthy section reserved for the capital of Kingston. I’ve spent a week in Jamaica, surrounded by the warm blue waters of the Caribbean, and as I turn the pages of this book, it feels like I’ve visited another country altogether. Reflecting on Rasta villages in the Blue Mountains, dancehall parties in the streets, or the community that embraced me outside Mandeville, I am trying to force the genuine circle of my experience into the airbrushed square of this promo book. Everybody comes to Jamaica, but it appears there’s more to Jamaica than what everybody sees.
“Eve-rie-bo-die is in the ceme-te-ry, mon, we say eve-rie-won,” declares Noah, his grey dreadlocks framing his face, creased with smiling. Well, everyone, it seems, knows of Jamaica, population 2.7 million, as an island resort holiday destination. Blessed with tropical beaches and hallowed natural beauty, Columbus discovered it in 1494 and famously said, “Yeah Mon!” Actually, he said something about this being the most beautiful land he’d seen, but I’m going to steer clear of traditional tourist propaganda. “Yeah mon,” has entered my vocabulary, and I doubt it will ever truly leave. It can be said enthusiastically, and it can whispered sadly. Would you like another tasty chicken patty? - Yeah Mon! Were the Spanish responsible for the murder of every single last indigenous islander, the people known as the Arawaks? - Yeah mon. Did Jamaica win gold medals at the Olympics for the world’s fastest men and women in the 100m sprint? - Yeah Mon! Did centuries of English and Spanish slaving burn tragedy into this island, scarring its descendants with the hard lashes of history? - Yeah mon. Nevertheless, for a small country forever at war with its unfortunate origins, the people of Jamaica have created their own distinct culture - language, food and music that have spread around the world. So we think Jamaica and we think Bob Marley, a prophet of peace and a musical genius. We think of Jerk, the sweet, spicy marinade that has become a staple of Caribbean cuisine. We think of words like “irie”, or “a little sumthin sumthin”. Jamaican patois may be a colourful and creative stew of English, Spanish, slang and street, but the laugh that follows almost every sentence can be universally understood.
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