Expat Community > Jamaica

gustavo
Joined 2008
Posts: 1

Living in Jamaica - Consider this First!!!!

16 years ago

Unfortunately there was not a lot of information about jamaica before I moved here. So I thought it would be nice to give a view from a guy who was born and raised in a developing country.

Basically the majority of Jamaicas are extremly rude an agressive towards foreigners. I feel really bad for my wife because she is white, so her suffering is even bigger. Jamaica people have nothing to do with reggae which is a very happy and relaxing music. Lately the government has been extremely strict about work permits for foreigners. Little they know that the majority of services (including the best ones which are quite few indeed) are foreign capital. In sum, everbody is against you here.

I thought I could have a good time going to the beautiful beaches here and relaxing, but this has not happened. Locals will gather around you like a zoo, and they will be very annoying. They will not respect your wife or girlfriend. If Jamaica did not have major private resort areas, it would not be a big nor even average tourist destination, because the contact with the locals is unbearable.

So my resolution here has been the following, though completely against my principles:
- Be aggressive; don't be shy to honk, curse and push people around, they will treat you like a local (amazing).
- Feel comfortable to make up stories and lie when you deal with services, forge documents and signatures, it will make your life much easier
- And finally be patient, even the above resolution may not work.

I feel bad for writing this because I have good jamaican friends, they are very nice, I'm sorry guys. And also, my country (Brazil) is not doing much better than this, but had I read a similar report before deciding to come here I would think twice.

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