February 3, 2024 - Week 2
This was an exciting week. The final week of orientation culminated in a practical day of learning the different transit options and a cultural day of sightseeing and learning about the history of Jamaica.
Where I once complained that Sydney buses only come every 30 minutes on the weekend or goodness forbid every one hour and the track works with Ontario's TTC; the JUTC buses (Jamaica Urban Transit Company) have no schedule and come (or "may" come) every one or two hours on weekdays. Needless to say, I quickly understood why everyone caught route or chartered taxis. Route taxis are shared taxis that go on fixed routes and cost around the same as buses - but be prepared to squeeze four in the back (I even sat on a plank for a 7 seater turned 9 seater).
The history of Xaymaca "Land of wood and water", as named by the original inhabitants the Arawaks (aka Tainos), was marked by the Spanish (1494) and English (1655) invasions resulting in the slave trade to work on sugar plantations. This period was also made colorful by the buccaneers at Port Royal e.g. Henry Morgan (cue Pirates of the Carribean). By 1808 the Abolition Bill was passed and by 1962 Jamaica was independent from England. Jump a few decades, destabilisation maneuvres and borrowing money led to IMF's strict program to guide their economy back on track.
Per the World bank the debt to GDP ratio was 110% (FY2020/2021) and 79.7% (FY2022/2023). Additionally, Jamaica is a country with tourism and remittances as their main source of GDP, cue fluctuations such as the US/Canadian travel advisory negatively impacting travel here. Along with these strict measures e.g. tax reforms, food instability (e.g. due to the Russian/Ukraine war) has meant food inflation is at 8.75% (2023) averaging 10% from 2008 to 2023 vs Canada's 5% (2023) averaging 4% from 1951 to 2023 (per Trading Economics).
With all that said, I turned on some reggae with Bob singing, "Don’t worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright.” with a Red Stripe in hand to welcome the next week.
