murky kingston

my first impression of kingston was murky. i don’t mean my impression was murky, but the place was murky, as in not well lit.

the entire norman manley international airport felt low-wattage, as if it's in a brownout. outside, people and vehicles loitered on the edge of darkness, silhouetted by passing headlights. the ride to the hotel through kingston shanties was equally a shadowy blur, punctuated by occasional street lamps where locals hung out to check out passing traffic.

but music was everywhere. my driver had a station on that had ike and tina’s “merry Christmas, baby” sandwiched between commercials and news about last night’s shootings. at one street corner, i spotted several old men in tatty tank tops and shorts drinking and laughing as junior murvin’s classic “police and thieves” pumped out of huge bass cabinet that doubled as a dominos table. and even before i walked into the hotel lobby, i heard the strain of james brown’s “santa claus, go straight to the ghetto.”

a holiday party was just getting started. a well-dressed, family-type crowd gathered around a large plastic tree with sprayed-on snow. the mc told corny jokes about xmas in the caribbean that were mostly drowned out by the rumble of clipped dancehall beats from a concert in the park across the street. it took me a while to fall asleep that night with all the racket.

over a breakfast of salt fish, papaya and fried dumplings (basically fried dough) next morning, i met my host, a big man quick to laugh who spoke leisurely with a slight british accent.

“yes, crime is bad here, but not any worse than new orleans where i did my internship,” he said somewhat defensively. “plus i have a nice house at the foot of the blue mountain and a nice car to drive.”

i wasn’t sure if who he was trying to convince. i’ve made up my mind the night before when the meeting planners told me i shouldn’t go anywhere on foot, not even during the day.

Posted by cellpharmer at December 28, 2007 07:25 PM