Jamaica Day 1

An aerial shot of Kingston, Jamaica

I have just have arrived in Kingston, the capital city of Jamaica. As I left the airport and headed downtown,  I could see the beautiful landscape throughout the city such as the beautiful, vast beaches, the unique structures and even the Blue Mountains out in the distance. Fortunately, one of my friends from National Geographic lived in Kingston, so he offered to show me around the landmarks of the city. First, he showed me the expansive beaches assorted with finely sorted, smooth yellow sand that were right next to the beautiful, blue Caribbean Sea. The landscape was one of the prettiest I had ever seen that seemed almost untouched by humans. Also near the beaches were the harbors, which my friend told me allowed for Kingston to become such a prominent city because it allowed for exports and imports to easily arrive and depart the city.

Beautiful beaches like this are very common on Jamaica's coastlne

The next stop we made was at the downtown area. In this area, there were many parks, shops, and business buildings scattered around. Also, almost all of the population I noticed on the street were black people of African heritage whose ancestors were most likely slaves that worked under the British colonists. My friend and I soon became hungry, so we stopped to eat at one of his favorite local restaurants. My friend recommended me the most famous Jamaican meals which consisted of jerk chicken, a type of chicken that is marinated in spices and then grilled; fried plantains, which are a type of banana that is fried and cut up into pieces; rice, and peas. As I started to eat, I noticed the different and unique flavors and spices as well as the tropical style that the food had. My friend and I soon finished our meals and waited to pay for our meals. I soon noticed that many people next to us were speaking Jamaican Creole, a language I had come upon in my research that was based off of English. There were also many people I noticed like our waiter who also spoke English. I soon asked my friend about these languages, and he replied that both were influenced to the African slaves by the British plantation owners allowing for the Africans to pick up on the English language and make it their own by creating Jamaican Creole. However, soon the waiter came, and we paid for our meals and left. My friend took me back to his apartment where we talked more about British influence on Jamaica until we fell asleep.

Downtown Jamaica