Houses of cards, seemingly on the brink of collapse, patched together with weathered wood, rusty sheet metal and assorted scraps like Pepsi billboards. Ubiquitous roadside shacks that dot the landscape are the 7-11s of Jamaica, from which rural peasants stock a meager inventory of beer, soda, cigarettes, and fruit. But mostly, they're hangouts for locals to pass idle time. More than a decade after his death, Bob Marley, the legendary reggae icon, is still revered like a god. Possessing the marketing power of a Michael Jordan, his likeness appears everywhere from giant wall murals to T-shirts to wood carvings.
Music is an integral part of Jamaican life and the people are forever singing to themselves.
Much of the country's music has political undertones urging Jamaicans to stand up for their rights and rise up against oppression. Reggae music is everywhere, evoking a pleasantly hypnotic ambience. Every night bands can be found performing at the area's many nightspots. Inside, a few dim bulbs dangled crudely casting eerie shadows, while the band seemed merely to serve as background muzak to the commerce. Nina would chide me.