Climate The northeast trade winds and mountain breezes keep the temperature pleasant year round in Jamaica. Water temperature is approximately 78 degrees F (25 degrees C). Language Jamaicans speak English and speak it eloquently, but with their own musical lilt, unique sentence patterns, and some words that have survived from West African languages. When Jamaicans speak Patois, a blend of English and African, the discussion may be almost incomprehensible to the visitor at first, but in a little while you catch the rhythm and begin to pick up expressions. Proverbs and place names express the vitality of Jamaica talk: for "Mind your own business", there is "Cockroach no business inna fowl-yard"; for being corrupted by bad companions, "You lay down wid dawg, you get up wid fleas" -- and for the pretentious, "The higher monkey climb, the more him expose." Currency Jamaican dollar (called jay) 1JMD=4JPY Tipping Most hotels will include a 10 to 15% charge on your bill. These charges are not automatically included in restaurant bills, so tipping is suggested. Culture Reggae Reggae is a Jamaican musical style based on American soul music but with inverted rhythms and prominent bass lines. Rooted in Kingston's slums, reggae is the expression of Jamaica's heart. Many performers are rastafarians. The themes of reggae lyrics include Rastafarianism, political protest, and the "rudie" (hooligan hero). Bob Marley (1945-81) and his group, the Wailers, were largely responsible for the widespread popularity of reggae. The film The Harder They Come (1973) starring Jimmy Cliff brought the style to the United States. Reggae influenced a generation of white musicians - notably Paul Simon and Eric Clapton - and reggae modes can often be detected in 1980s and 1990s rock and rap music. After the death of Bob Marley, the style lost much of its energy, with the exception of a few bands such as Black Uhuru and Steel Pulse, and singer Linton Kwesi Johnson, a Jamaican poet living in England. The merging of rap and reggae into a style called dub or toasting, as well as the appearance of younger performers such as Ziggy Marley (Bob's son), revitalized reggae in the late 1980s and 1990s. Art Today Jamaica, and particularly Kingston, is a center of Caribbean art, its vital cultural energy having flourished tremendously since independence in 1962. Edna Manley, wife of Norman Manley, Jamaica's first prime minister, was instrumental in the unshackling of Jamaican art from European aesthetic prescriptions. From the 1920s until her death in 1987 Manley was a central figure in the Jamaican art world both for her sculpture, and for her vigorous promotion and encouragement of local artists, which included the island-themed primitives (labeled 'intuitives') and a more internationalist group of painters schooled abroad. No collective visual style defines Jamaican artworks, but many emphasize historical roots in their works. The international success of reggae music has had a profound effect on Jamaican visual arts. Rastafarians are common subjects, as are market higglers, animals, and religious symbols merged with the myths of Africa.