Jamaica could change your mind
Phil Cobb
I really hadn’t planned to write about our trip to Jamaica, even though I have set a precedent of writing about our travels in the past.
Chaundee and I have always agreed that we needed to do something special for our 25th wedding anniversary (not actually until May 16), but I didn’t really see it as necessary to share that type of a trip with our readers.
This just seemed different for some reason.
But as soon as we arrived in Montego Bay, this column started writing itself in my head (actually, I think I could write about 10 columns about the experience).
You just can’t realize how caught up in the rat race — how stressed out — how bad your attitude has become — until you completely remove yourself from your everyday life.
It’s the best therapy I’ve found.
Fortunately, we have employees, family members, and other loved ones who were willing and able to hold things together in order to make this rare getaway for two possible.
Before you can really grasp the Jamaican lifestyle, you must learn to speak the language.
I’m pretty sure it’s the easiest language to learn.
We arrived at our resort around 3 p.m. and had the language down pat by the end of the first day.
Wait … you might be saying, “Jamaicans speak English” … and you’d be right.
But there are three phrases you must embrace before you can truly understand Jamaican-style English:
“Yah, mon.”
“No problem.”
“No worries.”
That’s it … now you know Jamaican.
Not just the language, but the entire way of life.
They mean it, too — they literally have no worries.
Stress level < zero.
And it’s contagious.
Example: The Thai restaurant we ate at is reservation only. You have to take a boat to the restaurant, which is situated on an island about 150 yards from our resort. Once we arrived, we were asked for our reservation slip, which I had left in our room. “No worries, Mr. Cobb … right this way.”
I know Chaundee would agree … we were different people when we were in Jamaica.
Or better said, we were able to be our true selves.
And it was not because the resort was world class, or that the food was perfect everywhere we went, or that the beach was about six feet from our room, or that the weather was amazing (upper 80s with low humidity every day), or that I got to play two unbelievable golf courses that touched the ocean and literally climbed up and down mountains, or that Chaundee got to see and experience a whole slew of flora she had never seen – some we had never even heard of — before.
All those things, by far, exceeded our expectations.
But the thing I’ll always remember most about Jamaica is the people.
We can and should learn so much from the Jamaican people.
If the Jamaican people have a fault, it’s their pride.
You don’t have to stray far from the resort to see that the people there don’t have much.
But what they do have, they take pride in — not just material possessions, but knowledge.
It’s clear they cherish whatever education they are able to obtain.
Most homes are made of cement due to the threat of hurricanes, so they are basically cement boxes with holes framed out for window openings.
But almost every home we saw was adorned with elaborately detailed, and usually brightly painted cement columns, usually arranged in a circular pattern with a domed top, basically a gazebo, serving as the entryway.
Most interesting was that almost every home had exposed steal rebar sticking up from the top floor.
The reason for that is most homes are multigenerational.
Maybe the grandparents built the first story, then the parents added on the second story, leaving the rebar for when the children save up enough to add on at a future date.
We saw a few four-story homes.
We found it to be common for grandparents to raise their grandchildren, while the parents of those children are out trying to earn an income … which, by the way, ain’t much.
From what we could gather, the typical employee at our resort earned about $6,710 per week. That’s in Jamaican dollars.
By the way, the Jamaican dollar is worth about three quarters of a U.S. cent.
So, yeah … they’re making the equivalent of about $52 per week.
Oh, and a typical work week is six days, 48 hours.
No wonder the employees outnumbered the guests by what seemed like 3 to 1.
But I’ve never met people who are happier or more content.
Very few Jamaicans own their own vehicle.
Tracey, who was one of the first employees to greet us when we arrived and who took us under her wing for our entire stay, takes four taxis each day, six days a week, to travel the hour and a half each way between her home and her job.
Warren, one of the resort’s entertainment staff, who can dance like Michael Jackson and has the personality of Salvador Perez, stays at the resort most nights because his home is three hours from the resort. It takes about a third of his weekly pay for the cab ride back home.
His mother raises his four-year-old son.
It helps to put things in perspective … and now that we’re back, we’ve both commented on how the little things that stressed us out at work, now seem like no big deal.
No worries.
The most important part is that the roller coaster that is our lives paused just enough, allowing me to realize that I am with the person I have loved more and more each year for more than 25 years.
Yah, mon!
Phil Cobb is the owner and publisher of the Maryville Daily Forum and The Post.
