The Culps of the Caribbean

But I had no idea what it was.   Now I do. From Wikipedia: The language of Saint Kitts and Nevis is English . However if you have never visited the Caribbean before you may have difficulty understanding the patois, or more correctly the Creole language, spoken by the locals which is based on the English language but to the untrained ear sounds nothing like it. For example "a-come" means coming "a-knock" means knocking. Most notable is the simplification of use of pronouns as in "I and I" which replaces all other pronouns like she/he, we/my, yours, hers/his and ours. The Caribbean patois has its roots not only in African languages (west, central and Nigerian), standard English, Scottish and Spanish but also Perso-Arabic and Sanskrit. Unusually the end result is not just a language but also a philosophical statement which emphasises the group relationship rather than the personal.

The landlord bought several coconuts from some guys standing on the corner.  He had them trim and cut the tops off using a machete in our yard.   He gave me one.  I drank it.  This is St. Kitts fast food.

As I mentioned before, Black Rocks is a couple of miles down the road from our apartment.  When the cruise ships are in-port there are lots of vendors at Black Rocks.  That makes for an excellent opportunity to go grab the St. Kitts version of fast food.     Lots to choose from: BBQ Chicken, Pork Chops, or fried fish.  Sides are beans and rice and corn on the cob.  I got the chicken.  It was delicious.       Headed home I am always taken aback by the view of my workplace and it's proximity to the ocean.

On Saturday morning I headed off to the market.  As I approached the port area I could see the cruise ship Azura .  This ship is on a 3-week trans-Atlantic cruise from England.  3,500 passengers and 1,200 crew. Inside the tourist area, four Segways await to be ridden.  Truly, the people who ride these look like complete dorks . Further away from the tourist area and but just down the street the local food vendors are there to serve the public.  There are 4 western fast food resturants on the island (KFC, Chruch's, Subway and Dominos),  but the local cuisine is far superior. There was a flash mob of activity.  As I peered inside the circle, there was much haggling over the fresh fish. Many fresh fruit and vegetable vendors line the streets leading up to the public market. This blue building is the public market. The market is located right across the street from the fishing port, where the nights ...

I am dually legit today.  Got my officially work permit stamped passport so that I am not an illegal alien and also got my St. Kitts Social Security Card.  Who knew?  I guess that means I could retire here.

    So in order to get here, one must fly through the Bermuda Triangle.  That certainly explains the difficulty in getting a steady stream of supplies here from the States.  

Today the sky was very clear and there were few clouds hovering atop Mount Liamuiga. My apartment is on the middle level. I discovered the Saturday fresh market downtown by the port today.  It was very full of vendors.  I did not take this picture 'cause I didn't take my camera [so I stole this one off of the internets].   This will definitely be a weekly stop.