The Port and Market (1/14/15) - Megan

Talk about a packed day! Today was the day that we traveled to the Port of Falmouth, as well as the Falmouth Market. For those who don't know about the port, it was built in 2011 to make Falmouth an entrance spot for cruise ships in the Caribbean. In building the port, they built on reclaimed land, and put up a fence in between the city of Falmouth and the port. This port is what really gives people the impression of Falmouth as a whole when they visit through the cruise line. However, the port, as we experienced today, is the sanitized, incorrect version of what the city of Falmouth is like. The port is filled with dancers, a Margaritaville with a water slide, expensive jewelry shops, and much more that isn't involved in a Jamaican's daily life. In the city, the people are mostly poor, living with trash on the streets, un-fixed dogs, and market sellers who are trying to make ends meet. For my project during the trip, I am focusing on the ports impact on the city, and happened to interview some of the tourists in the port today. Many of them said that they were scared to go out to the town because of the harassment from the city people, as well as the artificial danger that lurks the streets. While our group doesn't see much danger in the city, we saw a little of the more shadier parts of town by going to the market, which is on the outskirts of the town of Falmouth. The market was filled with tarp covered stalls, hanging clothes lining the aisles, and stall owners shouting out to us all at once. However, since the market-sellers are used to being more aggressive with their customers than the sellers at the port, the market sellers were a little more aggressive with us, pushing us to buy their products. It was amazing seeing the living conditions and seeing what their version of a "mall" (the market) was versus something in the developed world like the Galleria, in Houston, and seeing how much of a lower living standard they survived on. I think it really made all of us appreciate what we have and how grateful we are to have what we have.