So, my quest of exploring Kingston and its surroundings is going quite well: I have visited several beaches in the area, I've walked (and jogged) in the hills, I've visited the surrounding cities and we've also taken a boat to go to a little island just off the port of Kingston. The landscape is extremely beautiful everywhere as soon as you leave the city - to whichever direction. I was quite surprised at first when I saw that the hills seem to be made out mainly of limestone when I had rather expected volcanic rocks. So Wikipedia tells me that the volcanic rocks are overlayered by limestone when the island was still under water. So this is why on a volcanic island you still see lots of caves and valley washed out by the water and sharp rock formations. Still, in some places you can also see the volcanic rocks, so that is interesting. There is a cave right outside Kingston where I go hike in the hills a lot. I believe it's probably a shelter for homeless people but I didn't check. In general there is a lot of homeless people around, many of them just sleep right on the street, some sleep in shelters like by bridges or something. But besides that there are also a lot of people that have a very poor home but that is more because they decided to live next to the capitalist system and they grow their own food and basically dumpster dive for furniture and other stuff. In the hills you see lots of banana palms and other fruit trees, many of them are used by those people. They live more on the edges of the city.

So I go bird watching a lot in that area and I've already seen quite a few of the Jamaican endemics which makes me very happy because it means they are rather abundant and not facing extinction which is rare for animals that are endemic to a very small island. They are also very beautiful and just cool of course. You can imagine that bird watching in those forests is not the easiest thing to do though. Of course none of the forest is native as apparently all of the vegetation of Jamaica (with exception of the top of the Blue Mountain which is over 2000m) has been cut down to grow sugar cane (initially) and other cash crops (coffee, bananas - after the demand for cane sugar declined in response to growing beet sugar production in Europe). The cane sugar is of course also used to produce Jamaica's famous rum. Sugar cane is also sold here as food on the street. I think it will take me a while to get used to that because it is literally like eating (or drinking rather) pure sugar which I would not normally call my favorite lunch. The bauxite industry plays an important part in keeping Jamaica's economy stable but it also does not help to preserve the natural landscape. Now, for mammals, here's the story: I've been here for more than 3 weeks now and apart from bats (there's lots of those!) I have not seen a mammal (that is - apart from feral cats, dogs and goats and some pigs roaming around). When I went running this morning I saw two - or rather: the sorry remains of two, flattened by numerous car tires and unidentifiable - but I thought they were two different species. So I checked Wikipedia for a list of mammals of Jamaica and see: according to Wikipedia (which is not quite as reliable on this side of the world) there are only two flightless terrestrial species of mammals. Have I seen them both today? Then I would only have like 30 species of bats and about as many whales and dolphins to tick for a complete mammals list. For my herpetologist friends: I have no clue: I have seen lizards but very few. That's it. No frogs, no snakes, There are supposed to be crocodiles but I am still waiting to see one. Sorry...

Now, talking about marine animals: This week I finally managed to both go to a beach AND bring my snorkel and diving mask both on one day (which is quite helpful). And I went snorkeling just from the beach. It was amazing. I know those of you who go diving would find it boring but I found it amazing. I saw soo many fish of all colours. And I saw my first ever stingray. It was small and scared but it was really cool too! All of it was just really cool! Last week we went to that island: Lime Cay. I forgot my snorkel then but I definitely have to go again and bring it. But the island is fabulous just like that. Sandy beaches, mangroves, some few upland trees and nobody but us. There was also a whole of two birds on the island (one warbler and a kingfisher) which was a little disappointing but if I bring my snorkel next time instead of binoculars it'll be fine I am sure. Oh and I shouldn't forget: Binoculars or not, the shores of the island are governed mainly by frigate birds. You always see some but often you see groups of like ten or more (see also one of my pics in the album). They come really close and after I've seen so many I still think they are one of the coolest creatures on this lovely planet.

Now another word about Kingston, now that I've seen most of it. It is just like most cities in not-so-rich countries: there's some areas that are reserved for rich people. The houses are really expensive and highly protected. Large parts of it are what you would probably call middle class and then there are some really poor areas - where I would never go after dark and if I go there during the day I would not take anything of any value with me. There are also two more cities that kind of belong to Kingston but don't. One is Spanish Town, the other one is Portmore. Both are poorer than Kingston - basically like Kingston but lacking the rich part. They are also more tight-knit communities and more life on the street. More like real life and not so much of the rich influences with fancy supermarkets and malls and where you have to walk forever before you find someone on the street who'd sell you a drink or food. I think I didn't say where I live yet. I live rather uptown (like in-between the middle class and the rich places), in a gated community (which of course I would never have done had I had any say in that). Right outside the gates is a big road that is really hard to cross (unless it is really early in the morning when there's not a lot of traffic yet or it is between 5.30 and 6 when literally the whole road is blocked so you can just cross between the waiting cars). The good thing about it is that it is close to the hills and on one of the major bus routes. Also Kingston isn't Miami luckily so if you are ready to walk some kilometers you can still get to most places walking. I think I would prefer living in Spanish Town. It's more the type of community that I could see myself enjoy - or rather: it is a community, not like Kingston which is just a lot of people thrown together. They are still nice not like in other cities but there is no community feeling to it.

As for food: It is not easy but possible to survive as a vegetarian in Kingston. A lot of people think of vegetarian as: only eats fish. But once you've got that part out of the way, there usually is one thing that you can eat at most places. It's usually edible but not what you would wish for. There are some vegetarian restaurants and I am still in the process of picking out the ones that cook actual vegetarian food - i.e. use vegetables and other stuff - and do not just replace the meat part of every meal with tofu - which is done a lot and it's not bad, as I said, but I do like to see some green stuff in my meals too… That is also the reason why I rather eat at home - together with the fact that it is just too hot for me to eat much at all - even though it is more expensive usually. When you go shopping you can usually see from the price of a product if it's imported or locally produced: cheap is local, expensive is imported (from the US mainly - the supermarket have mainly the same things as they do in Miami, which is scary - this even goes that far that it is hard here too to get yoghurt with fat!). I prefer this to the Austrian version: cheap is from Germany and local products are more expensive, but it has some downsides to it, as Jamaicans do not produce a whole lot of food that I would call edible (they mainly live on meat and rice and very sugary stuff). Also milk and yoghurt are very expensive. I wish the government would subsidize them as most countries do but then I guess Jamaicans do not use a lot of milk so it doesn't make sense for them. Probably some of the goats that run around here a lot also get milked but not the majority for sure as most of them have their young with them and they just roam around. Also for fast food restaurants (where there is a lot, as I mentioned before selling food on the street is not so common but Jamaicans eat out a lot, so that's just their version of eating on the street) there is Burger King and KFC, but there is a wide range of Jamaican chains too. I think Jamaicans just really like their food (which I find quite boring but there must be something good about it - mind you I've not tried any of it because obviously it's all with meat), so the fast food chains offer that rather than the American fast food. A very popular snack here are Patties. They are basically the same thing as empanadas. I am only just starting to appreciate them - as I said it takes a while to figure out which of them are vegetarian and still good…

As for the project I am here to work on: it is slowly but surely moving forward, so next time I hope I can write a lot about it.