Off to the Market! A New Experience

Loretta and Laurie with Ericka and Ness

We girls had a day out! Actually a day at the open air market in Castries which was a 20 minute bus ride away from the marina. Laurie, Ness and Ericka from Nexus and Loretta and I made the trek. I am sure I will see many and a great variety of these markets as we continue around the globe. The bus ride was only $2.50 EC each way, which is less than $1 USD.

Just put the goods on the ground!

There is obvious price fixing within the market so there is no real bargain hunting. This is not a problem since things are so inexpensive based on our US shopping. The market is colorful and lively. Pleasantly, the vendors do not hound you or try to negotiate. If you want to move on, you just say "thank you" and move on.

That piece on the left was our dinner!

We bought a large bunch of bananas for $1 EC. That is around $0.35 USD! We found a butcher with meat just laying there in the open. The first time, we passed by thinking: YUCK. Then Loretta reminded me that this market will probably look really good compared to what I am going to experience in the islands of the South Pacific! The next time we passed the butcher, we bought a nice hunk of beef. It was something like a roast so into the pressure cooker it went! Out came a wonderful pot roast dinner with potatoes, onions and carrots. Along with a nice bottle of Chianti, dinner was the beginning of a lovely evening!

Ness bargained with the fish monger and came out with a beautiful Mahi Mahi (also called dolphin fish - not the mammal). We bought three pieces from her and had that for dinner with some of the fresh vegetables. And of course, fruit for dessert.

He is preparing a coconut so I could drink the water in it.

Along the way, I was looking for coconuts. I had my first lesson in coconuts and of course, I always learn the hard way. The coconut I chose was yellow-green and filled with yummy coconut water. However, I was expecting the coconut meat,. Now I know that I need to find the brown husky ones and have them cracked open with a machete to get to the little brown coconut that I wanted!

And our fruits and bread.

We had a full morning of shopping, bought three bags of goodies and did not spend more than $50 USD. I saw so many different root vegetables that I have no idea about how to cook them or what they taste like. Since I have limited storage space, I decided not to bring any back to the boat. We will probably return to the market again before we leave for Panama on January 11.

The next task is washing all of the produce as soon as it gets aboard because we don't want to take any hitchhikers with us, i.e. bugs, spiders, snakes, etc. I am not looking forward to seeing any of those creatures on board with me, but I am sure I will have the experience at some point! ICK! In fact, I was lying awake in my berth looking out the porthole when it occurred to me that any dock critter could just jump on board and right in on me! OOOOOHH!

Their version of fast food!

On the way out of the market, the gals stopped for a snack at a little "fast food" joint. It did not appeal to me. I guess I am going to have to learn to be more flexible in my tastes and sanitary food requirements to survive this adventure.

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