See Jamaica on our own?

[cukoobananas]

My girlfriend is a bit odd....ok she's a lot odd. On our cruise to Jamaica she wants to visit some of the poorer sections of Ocho Rios with her two teenage daughters. She wants to experience how other people live. Has anyone done such a thing before? Do you think it is safe? Any advice for us? Like don't do it! Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!:o

[Chan_T]

Contact several of the private tour guides recommended on this board and get some feedback. I would strongly suggest that your girlfriend and her two teenage daughters NOT venture to unknown places/areas without a local guide that they can trust. Just as there are unsafe places in the US, there are unsafe places in Jamaica.

[leavnofingerprints]

My girlfriend is a bit odd....ok she's a lot odd. On our cruise to Jamaica she wants to visit some of the poorer sections of Ocho Rios with her two teenage daughters. She wants to experience how other people live. Has anyone done such a thing before? Do you think it is safe? Any advice for us? Like don't do it! Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!:o

 

A few years ago we took two tween granddaughters on a cruise. These girls are fairly induldged and have no idea how the rest of the world lives. For our Ocho Rios excursion, I booked with Peat Taylor for river tubing but in our email conversations, I asked if we could possibly be taken to the slum areas. Not to get out of the van, but just to drive through. I wanted the girls to see what everyday life is like in a poor country. You should have seen them, these girls with all the designer clothes on. Their eyes went real wide and they got very quiet. The younger one who was about 8 at the time asked me why the dog was running loose and why it was so skinny. And again while river tubing, there was an elderly man naked in the river. He was bathing and turned his back to us to try to shield himself from curious little eyes. Our tour guide had directed us and their attention to the opposite bank but the youngest saw him, later asking me why he was doing that. She couldn't comprehend that he lived in that make-shift dwelling nor that he didn't have a bathroom in it. As it turned out, this was the best gift her grandfather and I could ever give them - an unbiased view of the way other people try to survive in the world and was a truly humbling experience for them.

 

Don't be too quick to pooh pooh the idea. Just take the proper precautions and it can be a true learning experience.

 

LNF

[RHefley228]

Do it with a Jamaican guide, if you decide to do this. Do not do it on your own.