Back to the idea of “Soon Come”.
As I said in the last post about Negril, time moves slower in Jamaica. Particularly as it relates to the movement of Jamaicans. They just don’t understand how we live.
An example…
On my first trip to Jamaica my wife and I stayed at a resort in Montego Bay. Our second day there we went to the tour desk at the resort to book a day trip to Negril. After paying, I was informed that the bus would leave at “Ten T’irty” (imagine an island lilt to the voice). I then asked a question which seemed logical to me;
“What time do we need to be at the bus?”
The Jamaican girls working at the tour desk looked at each other in puzzlement before one turned to me and said, simply;
“Before Ten T’irty.”
I looked at my wife, who was looking at me.
Duh.
That is a perfect example of the Jamaican viewpoint.
No “be here 15 minutes early to check in”, no “be sure and check your itinerary and fill out these forms”, just a simple instruction to be there before the bus leaves.
In preparing for a trip I was discussing the difference between going to a resort in Cancun and one in Negril. After unsuccessfully trying to describe the Jamaican attitude in a way that was descriptive yet not derogatory I finally came up with a good analogy.
Picture a garden.
Now step into that garden.
Kick the top of an anthill in the garden.
See all the furious action? That’s a resort in Cancun, with the Mexican waiters scurrying to make sure your every need is met.
Now see that snail?
That snail may want to get you a drink as well, but it can only go at the speed it was made to travel. That’s the Jamaican.
I have never seen a Jamaican scurry, even crossing the road.
But that’s not a bad thing.
After you’ve been there a couple of days their attitude rubs off and you find yourself slowing down to island time.
I read on a travel website that one traveler’s favorite thing to do at a Jamaican resort was to sit in the lobby sipping a drink and watch the new tourists have a conniption fit at the front desk when nobody moved fast enough to suit them.
They need to learn to take a deep breath, sip a rum punch, and enjoy another day in paradise.
