Living in Bequia -- buying food.

Well, as noted there are no "real supermarkets" on Bequia and lordy, lordy -- No Whole Foods. What to do?

Well, the travel books suggest that you shop at either Knight's or Doris's. The good new is that Doris's is the closest thing to Whole Food that you can get, and Knight's is mostly just a big (small) grocery store. You can get most things by shopping at both stores - not unlike what Alicia does at home.

Knight's does not have any fresh produce, while Doris's has some. Neither have any fresh fish, but Doris's has frozen beef, pork and a few other things. You can get chicken at either place.

Inside at Doris's --- notice the  hanging spices, and on the right Starbuck's coffee on the shelf. The Coffee is double or more than in the States  You can get most all you need for a price at Doris's  -- even Dom Perignon - it is obvious that Doris sells mostly to the non-islanders.

Doris is an Indian woman who speaks fluent German, and is very aware of what sells to the arriving tourists and boat-people. Smart businesswoman!

 Doris's ... and Alicia checking to see if she has enough money!

Knight's

If you want fish, you have to go into town, look around and see if anyone has any fish that they are selling. Sometimes there is fish at the fish pier, but you can't tell when or if it is open. Or, you can create a list of fishermen and call around to see who has what and set up a meeting to make a purchase. Syl might have some, or Flex or.... buying fish can be a hit or miss proposition. You can also go over to the same place as the lobsterman at 11:30 to buy fish, but we haven't tried that yet.

We were in town to get some money and there was a guy outside who had a bag full of about 12-15 red snapper. "Do you want any?"  - "sure"  - "Will you filet it for us" - "sure - meet me back here at the pier in about an hour" _ So we did. And got a ton of fresh red snapper for not a lot of money.  He was a local who seeks to make a few bucks selling his catch of the day. You might not see him again for a week. His final comment. "How about an extra $5 for fileting the fish and I can get a beer" (that $2 US ... we happily obliged).

We will try for fish pictures later.. but it feel a lot like buying a nickel bag. Want any fish?

You can also buy fresh meat, but only on Saturday mornings - from a guy who comes over from St.Vincent. He has fresh mutton (goat), beef and pork. He sells direct from the street. People here are a mix of Scottish and African - who both came to the islands many years ago. This guy's red beard and hat is a Scottish give away.

Here we are buying a leg of goat. Soon to be a Caribbean Curried Goat.  The young lady in pink is Alyssa.