It's Coming To An End
Barbecuing during summer is holy to most Swedes. Abiding by agreed upon rules is however just as sacred. For that reason we are moving towards increasingly interesting times as there is currently a fire restriction set on the entire nation. My guess is that the barbecue smoke from revolutionary grill vikings will mix with the weed smoke from the growing rasta community to create a dramatic smog through which waves of conservative elderly will push through with their wheel chairs and cains only to find its all a mirage of smoke and mirrors over a lake. You know.
When I first went to Jamaica I had a question in my mind. "What's the hustle?". Everyone told me I would get scammed going as a lone white man to a country like this to do business. So I wondered how they would get me. In retrospect I'd say it's everywhere. It's the cab driver charging you twice the amount. It's the young guy who grabs your phone and run off into the crowded market. It's the corner shop guy over charging you for the beer. It's the friendly neighbour who kindly offers to do your laundry and afterwards tries to demand three times what you paid at that other place. It's the infinite strangers demanding to have a word only to open (or at the very least end) the interaction with money requests. It's the old lady who's renting out a room that "forgets" to mention that utilities are not included in the price until after you've arrived. It's the lawyers taking advantage of a foreigners lack of knowledge in the Jamaican justice system. It's woven into the fabric that is contemporary Jamaican culture. It's a huge reason why my joy for this project is slowly being drained.
So what's up?? That's what the kids say. What's up? This is what's up. Trump just had a tour of Europe. He insulted the nato people, the queef of England and Germany. He proceeded to Helsinki were he proclaimed that he couldn't see a reason why the Russians would interfere in the us elections. Later he corrected himself to say that he meant "wouldn't ". So... The opposite.
In other news Sweden is burning up but are receiving help from a bunch of EU countries and Norway which is cool. France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Poland cool stuff. When it's done I hope we can offer them a proper "kräftskiva" (traditional Swedish drinking game involving excessive use of shell fish, vodka, hats and singing).
Anyway. My Jamaican adventure might be coming to an end. Recently my lawyer informed me that the vendor of the property wants to back out of the deal. Something that should not be possible at this stage. I have been having a bad feeling for a while though. Felt like something wasn't right. An extremely vaguely formulated clause (which I asked about but didn't bother to change before signing the contract) gives them the right to back out. A former client of mine from my days as a personal trainer (who is an attorney) had a look at the contract for me and she tells me it's possibly within their right to back out of the deal at this point. The contract might however not be in accordance with Jamaican real estate law but that's another issue. Her best advice was to get a better lawyer and also to let her read through the agreement before I sign next time.
The reason they are backing out is because the tax authorities have valued the property at a higher price than the sale price and now the vendor wants to almost double the price to the amount it was valued at. The initial amount agreed on was 750.000 jmd now she is asking for 1.400.000 jmd.
I don't have the budget to make that happen. Several people have offered to take part in the project financially. But I don't want it to happen like this. The reason I went for this piece of land is that it's cheap. If I suddenly had twice the budget maybe something by the ocean would be doable. Also if the seller isn't comfortable with the price I have no will to try and force her because the contract was "supposed to be" binding.
So what happened? Do or die, war on banks, peace on earth and all that? Well. I guess I'll have to think of something else. All I know is that life is supposed to be fun and it's not. This project is no longer making me happy. There comes a time to break up. Whether it's a girl, a job, a city, a country or a self proclaimed world saving dream. I think I've reached that point.
I have no idea what's next. I hope these shady ass lawyers will make sure to get me my money back. Because yes, I've written cheques and paid (the full, agreed upon amount) to the vendors attorney. You know back when I was in the old "you make a deal, shake on it and fulfill that deal" state of mind. Let's hope I'll be a little less naive in the future.
So this has been one hell of a ride. After leaving Cuba I went to the states to look up this guy Cha Hecha. A really fascinating figure. We got along great and he seemed really positive to part take in the project. His knowledge in survival, nature, construction and herbal medicine to name a few would surely have come in handy. I also met a lovely photographer lady at a festival and stayed for weeks in Kentucky in the house of another fresh made valuable connection and friend. I really appreciate the hospitality. Not to mention being driven all the way to Washington and back because I accidently burned my passport. Then another guy takes me from Kentucky to Miami to catch my flight. Amazing people, thank you!
Before leaving Jamaica last I also spent a couple of weeks at the lovely eco village of Jamadda in treasure beach. Such a beautiful place and amazing people. It's too bad it seems I won't be on site to further the relationship and part take in the network of eco farmers I was welcomed to.
I don't know what will be next on the agenda.
Maybe I'll have to go work somewhere. But I've really gotten a taste of doing my own thing so if it would come to that I really hope I wouldn't stay trapped for too long... Perhaps I'll just learn to sail and sail the oceans. Trade pearls for food. Time will tell. For now I'm really getting my facebook fingers flickering. I'm commenting all over the place. That shit is more addictive than cocaine. Anyway, hoping to find a place where I play music as loud as I want whenever I want. Where its considered normal to have paint on your clothes and maybe some kittens.
I could just go all in with my ass jazz band Madratz or join forces with like minded spirits elsewhere. For instance I was generously invited to be part of the OG foundation, right here in the comment section of my blog. I already get their crypto tokens coming in one a day as a passive income. Maybe its time I get more involved. It just sucks that shit is taking so long, the world was supposed to be fine by now. New system update and all. But nah now we have to keep living this stupid apocalypse just cause Murphys law is strong with this one.
The downside of creating a business model around an air castle of dreams, like I did this time, is that it can fall apart faster than you can say "swebuschka". On the other hand the upside is that all the knowledge and experience from this project is safely stored for future reference.
Thank you for being with me on this trip. Hope you'll have a nice rest of the day. If I've inspired at least one person to take a major leap of faith (risk something!) to pursue a dream; at least I achieved something. Now go eat an ice cream and drink a beer.
Ps
Been working on a new standardised lingo for the segments of the day. Let me know if it looks right:
05.00-08.00 Sweet times
08.00-10.00 Sloppy seconds
10.00-17.00 Groggy noonish
17.00-19.00 Risky twitch trick time
19.00-05.00 No holding back
PS. 2 this is my last interaction with my lawyer:
PS. 3 clearing out the camp.
Edit: Also many thanks to the great people of Virginia Beach who took great care of me during my time of need <3 and for the ayahuasca ceremonies in Kentucky!