Jamaica - Miscellaneous

If you have a cellphone which is unlocked (which means you can put any SIM card in it and it will accept it), and you are planning to stay more than a week, it can be a good idea to buy a SIM card in Jamaica. You can find one from J$500 to J$1,500. Then you can buy a calling card which costs around J$100 for half an hour. On contrary to the US, your credit is not used when you are being called, but only when you are calling. This could be very helpful if you have to call to make reservations, or meet a friend.

Anyway, if you don't want to do this, you'll have to buy a calling card to call from a public phone, but public phones can be very hard to find in some places, and some don't work. And if you don't have a cellphone, you cannot be called.

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Weather

http://www.weather.com/weather/detail/JMXX0004

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Guesthouses in Kingston

In fact, most guesthouses in Kingston run two businesses in the same place. During the day, usually until 7pm, you can rent a room for a small amount of time to have sex with a prostitute in it. You can also rent a room for the night, to sleep, but it doesn't seem to be their main business. That's why you'll see several prices for the same room: full time, part time... So in order to avoid uncomfortable situations, noisy neighbours and get cheaper prices, come in after 7pm and leave before 9am.

You must be aware that you probably won't be able to find a guesthouse willing to rent a single bedroom for two guys, even if there are two single beds in it. Even the Jamaican guide that was with us didn't manage to convince them, telling them that we were students and thus sharing a room to lower the cost, and that we were Europeans, ie two guys sleeping in the same room doesn't surprise us, and doesn't necessarily means the same things than in Jamaica.

Anyway, both of these things only seem to be specific to Kingston. Anywhere else, hosting people was the only business of all the guesthouses we checked. As for the other problem, we've been sleeping in guesthouses all over the country, even in small towns where they don't see a lot of tourists, and they never had a problem with three guys sleeping in the same bedroom, and even two in the same bed and one on the floor, in order to share the price of a single room. So in Kingston, be prepared to pay for a single bedroom for each guy.

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Homosexuality

Oddly enough, if they really don't tolerate gays, they really like lesbians.
At the airport, I've been touched by a female security agent at the gate, which is usually not the case in other countries (where a man searches men, and a woman searches women).

Homosexual sex is illegal.

Jus is case farin people are reading and don’t understan wi culture. Mek mi tell yuh, in JA a man woulda probably get arrested and beaten fasta fi sleeping wid a nex man dan if im tief fram de Bank of Jamaica itself.

Violence against men who have sex with men, ranging from verbal harassment to beatings, armed attacks, and murder, is pervasive in Jamaica. Physical attacks against gay men and men perceived to engage in homosexual conduct are often accompanied by expressions of intent to kill the victim, such as “Battyman fi dead”

In Jamaica it is not safe to ‘come out of de closet’. It’s more like hiding in de bomb proof bunker dat yuh are in and keeping yuh mouth shut. It is almost sad sometimes to see such a lack of acceptance in sexual diversity in a country that professes ‘ One Love’. In fact de safest ting fi a gay man in our country fi do is ‘turn your lights down low’ because dere is ‘so much trouble in the world’ and if dey don’t dere could be ‘burning and a looting tonight’.

http://www.jamaicans.com/articles/primearticles/AIDSHIVJA.shtml

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Violence

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Cellphone

According to a local, it is possible to get a SIM card from J$500 to J$1,500. In the article from The Star, it says you can get a Digicel SIM card for J$400 in the streets, in downtown Kingston, but you should be able to get one from other cities too.

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Newspapers

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Meeting the Jamaicans

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/jamaica/0093028294.html

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Local flights

Air Jamaica: There are several flights everyday from Kingston (KIN) to Montego Bay (MBJ). The flight lasts 40min and costs $60.96 including taxes.

http://www.airjamaica.com