JAMAICAN BUS RIDE

Taking a local bus in Jamaica is a unique experience. My friend N. and I needed to get to Port Antonio. We decided to take a local bus and embrace the experience.

Our first challenge was to find the bus stop. At our hostel we got clear directions, at least that's what we thought. When we asked people on the street, each pointed to a different direction. After 30 minutes, we figured out that the bus would stop at the parking lot around the corner. Great!

Our second challenge was to figure out the bus's arrival time. That was an easy one. Everyone had the same reply: "Soon. Just wait". Ok. We bought fruits at the bazaar nearby and patiently waited. The bus arrived after 1.5 hours… Yeah, very "soon"…

We got on and were ready to leave, but our hopes were too high. The departure time = Whenever the bus gets full. Meaning, the departure time was unknown 😀

We had more than enough time to go back to the bazaar to buy products and chill at the parking lot for another hour. Finally, after two hours, the bus was full and ready to depart. By "full" I mean "really really full". In a row for 3 people, 4 people were sitting 😀 The driver had to intervene to reshuffle passengers to make sure that everyone would fit.

Last challenge for the day was to get to our destination. We had an address, but it said nothing to the driver. But when we told him the name of the place (which wasn't a well-known name like Hilton or Marriott, but a basic "Brian's Beach House") he understood where we needed to go. It sounded weird, so just in case I tracked our location on MAPS.ME. After a few hours, we reached our destination. The bus stopped in the middle of nowhere and "Brian's house" was nowhere to be seen 😀 Without the offline map, we would have never guessed that we were at the right place.

A local bus ride is definitely worth experiencing in Jamaica! 😀

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