Evening at Half Way Tree

(from last week, when my roommate and I walked down to Half Way Tree to look for clothing to go out dancing in - I've been feeling severely underdressed these days)

The sun is setting by 7 but even as it grew dark people were everywhere when we approached Half Way Tree (site of the only walk/don't walk sign I've seen in Kingston so far). Most shops were closed except for hair salons (somewhat segregated by gender, I think), where I could see people getting gussied up for later tonight.

As we walked down Half Way Tree road towards the clock tower, the sidewalk on one side was lined with vendors although they seemed to be multiplying as the night goes on – some were only beginning to set out their stuff at 8pm, unrolling big plastic tarps or laying out garbage bags flat and layering clothing -mostly women's clothing – brightly colored tops especially, and occasionally piles or bunches of underwear. Coming up on the main corner, we passed a woman sitting on a stool or something I couldn't see, with a huge bag of 3-stacked boxer shorts in front of her. All the clothes for sale (and stacks of washcloths –very useful for wiping sweat off in the clubs) looked pretty new and clean.

There were also a few drum chicken vendors, across the street from the clothing vendors, although I don't hear the whistle of the nut roasting machines. On both sides of the street a few folks had set up small tables with drinks and candy, and there is a guy with a fruitstand, rows of mangoes and a small pile of breadfruit visible in the dark. As we walked into Clock Tower Plaza, most of the shops were closed but a van parked in the middle of the parking lot had an entire fruit and vegetable market crammed inside of it – I could see piles of onions, plantain, tomatoes, other foods.. a scale hangs from the back of the van. At the back of the parking lot a rasta guy in his 30s stands by a table piled high with sugar cane.

All the women's clothing and shoe shops were still open when we arrived at around 7:30, and we begin our exploration by wedging ourselves into a series of tiny places with as much clothing as possible stuffed into racks and women pushing through and around them and each other.

The first three stores we visited were in the half way tree mall (a c-shaped structure around a parking lot – two levels small shops ranged around the center). These were buzzing with activity, mostly women in their 20s I think, with women the same age or slightly older working behind the counter. IN all the small places, it's only women's clothing, hanging on long lines across the window or hanging from the metal grates over the windows, and hanging from the ceiling.

There is hardly room to turn around, although most places have a fitting room (everyone I go into is piled with shoe boxes and a mirror leaning in the back). Lots of stuff was cute – mostly looked like stuff I would see at home in the cheap stores like Tellos, the step below H&M – mostly synthetic fabrics, microfiber and thin cotton, or some of the club-clothing stores where everything is microfiber, draped and pinned with shiny hardware. But it's not really so cheap here. I see a really cute sundress but it's 3800 jamaican dollars – about 45 bucks. Everything is made in china, and the sizes are demoralizing. I'm an 8-10 in the US and when they have larges (which is rare) I don't fit into most of them. Even when I do, many of the cheap fabrics are too see-through or stretch unflatteringly. O well.. We walked past at piles of denim jeans, bedecked with sequins and crystals and embroidery. Many women wear tight jeans all day here – I can't imagine it myself, in the heat.

The shops farther back from the street, or not in that mall are quieter, and staff more likely to be male. Most of them are larger shops, and have a men's section on one side and women's clothing on the other. Several of the men running some of the larger and quieter shops appear to be middle eastern, although one or two other shops are staffed by black Jamaican men.

All of the shops play music, mostly dancehall and R&B. I can't tell if it's a radio or a player of some kind – I don't see the source and I can't remember any djs talking.

Outside, in the cool of the evening the scene is pretty jovial. People are clearly preparing for evenings on the town, gathering in groups on streetcorners. There are mostly groups of women or groups of men, segregated by age and gender. We walk back up the street, to get to the supermarket before it closes. As we leave the supermarket, we walk towards a fruitstand where Christina gets a coconut to drink from. Just past it there is another vendor with a drum of chicken, a table piled with snacks and a TV plugged in (somewhere?) with the news on. People sit or lean nearby, catching up on local news.