The country of Jamaica.

@Lore2009 (7378)
United States
December 21, 2010 5:25pm CST
Is anyone from Jamaica or has anyone visited? I read a book about Jamaica and learned that their national bird is the streamer-tailed hummingbird a.k.a. doctor bird. They also have a lot of reefs and the island is frequently visited by hurricanes. Rastafarianism and Bob Marley are from here. The spoken language is Jamaican Creole which originated from African languages intonations and speech patterns spoken in English. Anyone have other interesting facts to share?
5 responses
@Renhard (3471)
• Jamaica
22 Dec 10
I'm from jamaica and i live there presently as well. something to contibute if you listen carefully you would observe that there are variation to the creole across the island. What i mean is not all jamaican speak creoles the same way but there are more similarities rather than differences in them. What i hate to hear is when foreign people say we live in hut. Just to clear up this, we live in proper houses some small while some as big as mansion. The genre of music i think which every young person is interested in is dancehall. I am wondering if i left out anything important.
@Lore2009 (7378)
• United States
23 Dec 10
Heyyy, nice to meet you! That's cool, and understandable that the creole differs in different areas. I didn't know people thought Jamaicans live in huts! Is dancehall more popular than reggae?
@Lore2009 (7378)
• United States
31 Dec 10
Interesting!! I guess it's like disco music for over here now?
@Renhard (3471)
• Jamaica
23 Dec 10
How can i put this. Since reggae is old you will find that mostly people over 30 listen to it while everybody under 30 listen to dancehall. you see because dancehall is sometimes explicit, alot of grown ups wont approve of it especially the old ones. while if you go around the country you will have an 80 percent chance of hearing dancehall. and 20 percent or even less of hearing reggae. Like right now i am in the town and i can hear about 4 places playing dancehall and none playing reggae. only on special occasion you might hear reggae.
• United States
22 Dec 10
Yeah they grow some amazing ganja!
@Lore2009 (7378)
• United States
23 Dec 10
It mentions that in the book too.
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
22 Dec 10
I haven't yet been to the beautiful island of Jamaica though it is the sort of place that I would love to go to. I adore tropical islands like that one with white sandy palm fringed beaches, cool waterfalls and friendly people. I love the sound of its coral reefs that I would like to snorkel. Kingston is its capital city it is thought of as the heartbeat of Jamaica. The place the most travelers love to visit is Negril which has reef and reggaes to enjoy. On the Black River travelers can go on a boat trip and see lots of crocodiles. The Blue Mountain Peak is meant to be really beautiful. The Bob Marley Museum interests travelers keen on music. December to April is the tourist season for Jamaica and the rains come during the time May to October. Jamaica is popular with Europeans escaping some of winter, Americans and Canadians.
@Lore2009 (7378)
• United States
23 Dec 10
Thanks for sharing the info! Do you plan to visit there?
@TeamCholent (2832)
• United States
21 Dec 10
A fact I learned recently was that a large percentage of Jamaicans trace their roots back to East Nigeria(they were brought over as slaves) and come from the Igbo tribe which today numbers roughly 40 million. The only natural resources the country has is Bauxite, gypsum and limestone. They use the Jamaican dollar. Its fampous for its Blue Mountain Coffee. The Jamaican flag has 3 colors, green, black and gold. Black stands for hardships overcome and to be faced; Gold, for natural wealth and beauty of sunlight; and Green stands for hope and agricultural resources
@Lore2009 (7378)
• United States
23 Dec 10
Interesting! Thanks for sharing the knowledge!
@rog0322 (2829)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
27 Dec 10
Hi Lore, Just got back from the holidays to the place of gay nights and sunny mornings. I am from the town of Villanueva, way down South of the Philippines, in Northern Mindanao. It was a sleepy place once but it is a small industrial town now and we are doing our best to preserve the natural beauty of the place. If you can come to this part of the world, try to stop by. We are very friendly here in our own special way, especially nice people from faraway places.