Negril, Jamaica - home of Hedonism II (Negril)

Member Name: wtwildcats

Product:	Negril
Date:	06/11/02 (2580 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: temperature, Sun, Sea, Sand

Disadvantages: Hassle, Aggro

Not that I went there whilst I was in Jamaica. However I was a fair few miles away, near the West Cliffs of Negril, home of amazing sunsets.

About 5 minutes after getting past customs at Mo'Bay airport, I was greeted by a friendly porter in full uniform who quickly pulled out a pack of ganga (cannabis) and asked me if I wanted to buy some. Not being a stranger to the Carribean, I expected some people to offer me drugs whilst I stayed there.

I did not go all inclusive. I don't do so - cos the temptation would be to not leave the resort, and then you'd miss on the most interesting part of the holiday - seeing how the locals live.

Some people on here have said that they have heard Negril is unsafe when alone, well, yes and no, but more of that later.

If you want consistantly good weather, don't go during rainy season (Sep - Nov) 'cos you may end up facing hurricanes, which is an experience on its own, believe me. You get to know all the others in your hotel quite well, when you cant leave it!!!

But I did manage to get out, and sit on the fantastic white beaches, and swim in the warm, inviting sea, and drink lots of their lovely locally brewed beer - Red Stripe.

However, wherever I went, people kept stopping me and tried to sell me stuff - mainly ganga, but also little wooden trinkets. Some even wanted money for just talking to me or walking with me!! And they got quite insistant and were fairly annoyed and abusive when I refused.

I was called all sorts of names. Wherever you walked in the tourist resort of Negril, you heard car horns - they were taxis touting for your business. In the end (after about 30 mins there) I got wise to this and just waved the people on cos I'd got so fed up of turning round and saying no.

Every 2 minutes you were stopped and hassled to buy drugs, wood carvings or just part with your money.

I met few genuinely nice people out there. One w
as a guy who sold fresh fruit and ran a bike hire shop near to my appartment block. He was a good guy. One was one of my tour guides, and the last one was an elderly gentleman I met whilst waiting for a supermarket to open in the town centre. He used to live near to where I grew up, and he was a pleasure to meet.

But I was there a lot longer than just a few minutes, which means that everyone else I met just hassled me.

There is also another seedy side to Negril - prostitution is rife, and the prostitutes are more open in trying to attract business. I won't say how they tried to grab my... attention, but I found it horrible.

Then I went into inland Jamaica. (Well, a group of us did). We were the only tourists there. No-one really talked to us, but no-one minded that we were there and we got no hassle at all. It was good to see natives at play, but a bit scary too. I went to a dance hall, about 20 miles inland. (Their nightclubs). To show their appreciation to the DJ they dont clap their hands or cheer - no, they pull out an aerosol and cigarette lighter, and set fire to the spray and use it as a flame thrower. Scary!!!

Negril - I never felt frightened or worried for my safety, but I'm a man, and all people ever wanted from me was money, but eventually people took no as an answer and went away.

Anyway, here is some info about accomodation, food and sights to see whilst there.

ACCOMODATION

I stayed in room only accomodation, near the West Cliffs area of Negril, and only a few minutes walk away from the main shopping area of Negril. It was ideally located. Very close to the main residential area of Negril too - a place called Red Square. My accomodation was basic, but it had all I needed - a bed, a toilet, a shower and somewhere to put my clothes. I went to Jamaica with Airtours and the price of accomodation was in with the price of the flight, so I don't know how much it was, but I would guess a
t cheap.

Air con was an optional extra, which came in useful because of the temperatures there.

However, there is a range of accomodation in Negril to suit all travellers, and all budgets - ranging from all inclusive 4* hotels, to a field for camping in. The all inclusives tended to be on the beach, which was a good 20 mins walk away from where I was. But the hotels were a few miles further on - the beach is 7 miles long, and the all inclusives tend to be towards the other end of town.

FOOD

There is a wide range of food available, mainly consisting of chicken, pork or fish. Lobster is a wonderful dish, but really should only be available at specific times of the year, because there is a ban on lobster fishing for a few months each year (their mating and spawning season) as the government is trying their best to conserve the lobster population. Lobster is quite rightly a dish to try there, though it is on the expensive side.

The national breakfast dish is ackee and saltfish. Ackee is a fruit which is grown all over the island, and it is cooked along with the fish. The end result has the consistency of scrambled eggs, but the taste is quite a lot better :)

Often food is spiced, but where I ate a lot of the food wasn't too hot. Jerk Pork, Chicken and Fish can be found on most menus and that is a spiced dish, but I never found anywhere that had really spicy food, and I thought that most of the food I ate was mild to medium hot.

Almost anywhere sells you food and beer. The price difference in the tourist areas compared to 15 minutes walking into the heart of Red Ground was amazing. If you went off the beaten track, and deeper into the residential areas (and no-one on the holiday at the same time as me actually did) then the food is good quality and cheap.

If you eat in the tourist areas, then the food is again of good quality but prices are comparable eating out over here.

If you ask for
chicken in, for example a curry, then expect bones - nothing is fillited in Jamaica.

SIGHTS

Must see's are the beach. This is self explanatory. 7 Miles of lovely sand, wonderful water, and hopefully sun, combine. The view is wonderful, the water is crystal clear and the land itself curves round, so you get a very good view of Negril beach wherever you are on it.

West Cliffs. This is one of the westernmost points of the island. the popular place to go is a place called Rick's Cafe, but it is overpriced and over rated. The pub next door - the LTU bar - is of good quality (food and drinks) and cheaper. If you are lucky when you vsit the West Cliffs, not only do you get some nice scenery you will see amazing sunsets. I never did though, but the scenery was amazing. After sunset, it gets dark quickly, and you will see quite a few bats flying around.

Craft Market. This is for the brave, but here if you go early in the morning before any stalls are open you can buy fresh fish, and someone will cook it for you. Yummy. That is cheap, but often they will try and ask you to buy them some fish too. Go later, and everyone will shout at you to go into their stalls to look at exactly the same wooden carvings etc that was in the last stall, even though they promise you that its all different stock.

Would I go back? No, never. Was it an experience that I'll never forget. DEFINATELY !!!

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