Left: Claudia Prevot shows off her handy calabash make-up kit, which is only one of many novelty items she sells to visitors.
Right: Uncle Charles (fast asleep at right) and his friends shoot the breeze while enjoying a game of dominos. - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE MOMENT I told her I was from Jamaica, things started to get weird. She curled her lips into something of a crooked pout and started to wink at me seductively. Her eyebrows went up slowly and she put her hands on her hips, gently stroking the fabric of her skirt. She smiled at me and whispered, "So tell me about Jamaica." An innocent request to be sure, but somehow when she said it, it sounded dirty.
This was my first encounter with Claudia Prevot, a vendor in Anse La Raye, St. Lucia. Not a bad reception, I say.
Ms. Claudia, as she is called, is one of the most popular and indeed most highly respected vendors in all of St. Lucia. She has been selling craft items and food to visitors for more than 25 years. You see, Ms. Claudia's tiny table of goodies is at a prime spot. From where she sells, high in the hills, you can look out far across the sea and also get a good glimpse of the beautiful mountains of the small island.
We met her one afternoon, as she was getting ready to go home for the day.
"So what you telling me man? You fellows are from Jamaica? He Hey!" Come sit and have a chat," the weighty woman said, signaling for me to come and sit beside her. She was perched on a wooden chair and there was a stool beside her with a cushion on it. She tapped the cushion and a cloud of dust rose to the air. She signalled me over. I stood my ground.
"I just love talking with Jamaicans. They must be the nicest people in the Caribbean. I would want to live in Jamaica so I could be around Jamaicans all the time," she chuckled as she spoke excitedly.
I asked the friendly woman to tell me a bit about a vendor's life in St. Lucia. She was more than willing to talk, and talk.
"Wel,l it really is a lot like Jamaica. I have friends who have told me this. Times are really hard and you have to work really hard. Sometimes you are here for the entire day without making a sale. But the good thing is that many tourists visit this spot because the view is so beautiful," she said with a smile.
As the woman said these words, we got a chance to see her in action. A small multi-coloured bus pulled up, giving rise to a cloud of dust. A few people of the Caucasian persuasion hopped out and started looking around.
"Oh my God honey! Would you just look at that view? Isn't it just amazing?" said one excited woman grabbing hold of her less than enthused husband's arm. "Yes dear," said he, drearily.
Miss Claudia grabbed a few items from her stall and ran in the direction of the tourists. "Hello madam. May I offer you this lovely calabash make-up holder?" The eyes of the woman to whom she was speaking widened. "Oh my God! That is so beautiful, did you make that yourself?" said she, lifting a pair of sunglasses from her eyes.
The group spent a few more minutes at the spot, before the driver of the bus, a stocky little fellow who wore a bow tie, summoned them back to the vehicle. Soon the bus sped off.
"That's how it goes. You have to almost beg them to buy something. But I used to it still, and they are very friendly. I love to talk so I talk with them you know," Miss Claudia said, folding a five-dollar bill and sticking it somewhere in her shirt.
We soon bid the good woman farewell and went off to find some other folks to chat with.
We stopped in the capital, Castries. It was about midday and the town was as busy as it was ever going to get. It was market day and the vendors there were doing brisk business. A man was washing the wheels of a van parked at the side of the road. A woman in a purple business suit and dark glasses bounced hurriedly along the sidewalk as a little boy in a blue shirt and khaki pants stood eyeing the contents of a woman's food stall.
We met up with 'Uncle Charles' and his friends who were sitting enjoying a game of dominos in the middle of all the hustle and bustle. They all wore hats and seemed quite comfortable.
Uncle Charles is a fisherman, in fact they all are. But it was Uncle Charles who was the first to explain what life is like being a fisherman in St. Lucia.
"I get up about four in the morning you know son. I enjoy the sea. The sea is my life. I have spent my entire life out at sea. When I am on land, I am like a fish out of water! Ha Ha Hee," his laughter transformed into a terrible bout of coughing. But he was fine after a while. One man slapped a domino on to the table hard and shouted something that I didn't understand. The man across the table from him gave him a glare and the others started laughing. Uncle Charles went on speaking. "I make a good living from fishing. We eat a lot of fish here and fishermen get a lot of respect. It is what I do and will do until I die," he declared. Fair enough, said I, and was off again.
Note: To Antoinette from the hotel, they were very firm and bouncy.
Just the way I like them. Thanks again!
