My New Life as a Millionaire
Money, and spending it, is crazy here. A lot of people have asked me if it’s cheaper or more expensive here in Jamaica, and I’ve told them that it’s both, depending on what you’re buying. Then, when they ask what things are cheaper, I was never able to name anything. But I’ve finally figured it out.
First some background: The conversion rate right now is about 105 Jamaican dollars (or “J”) to one American dollar, but I just use a straight 100:1 to keep it straight in my head (and still I keep putting the decimal point in the wrong place). It’s still a predominantly cash-based society here, so to avoid tons of international banking fees, I find myself often taking out $20,000 to $30,000J at at time (yeah, I feel like a millionaire) and trying to make it last as long as possible. Which is very hard.
Things are expensive here: food, rent, cars and the parts that go in them, and household items. About the only two things you can rely on being consistently cheap are Red Stripe beer and jerk chicken. (And thank God for that!)
But as much as I am adjusting to my higher cost of living, I can’t complain — at least I’m making my same old American wages. This week Jamaica just raised the minimum wage from $5,000J to $5,600J for a 40-hour work week. In case you didn’t catch my handy-dandy currency conversion above, that’s equivalent to about fifty-six US dollars. There are people in the country living on fifty-six dollars a week!
Last week, I had a flat tire and our company driver, Cliffy, took me someplace to get it fixed. Turns out the tire was fine and I had a cracked wheel. Thinking I was going to go bankrupt having to replace it, Cliffy and the guy working on a tire pooh-poohed the idea, saying it could cost me as much as $20,000J ($200US) to replace, but they knew a guy who could weld it back together, good as new, for $1,500J.
That’s when it hit me: things in Jamaica are expensive, but unfortunately, people are cheap. I have a housekeeper who comes in once a week, scrubs down my apartment and does my laundry, for 25 US dollars. I get a six-dollar (US) car wash that as good as any 80-dollar detailing job you can get in the States. I get really great manicure and pedicure for 15 US dollars — and the woman comes to me! And yet, there are tons of people here that are working for less than what I spend to go out for a nice dinner and drinks with friends.
I’m not trying to be preachy — the world is what it is. But, while I’ve glimpsed things like this briefly while on vacations around the world, living in such disparity is so much more startling. It makes me feel grateful for all that I’ve been afforded throughout my life, and maybe even a little guilty.
Originally published in 2013 at www.jocelynstone.com.
