Shrimp boat
This morning was clean up, swept up all the dust that blew
in all week and got the washer before all the late risers. The washer is an
Elextrolux front loader and it is quite a machine (despite the fact the latch
is broken and I need a knife to open it). It washes well and spins so good the
clothes don’t take much time to dry. Much better than my Sears front loader which
died after 3 ½ years and I think was on the way out for a long time. Don’t buy one, they wouldn’t do a thing for
me, after admitting they were defective…..and don’t even ask about my Rav4!!
Decided today was the day to scout out the ‘Downtown’
area. I caught a taxi out front of my
building and luckily the driver understood when I said, “Downtown”, and I did
know the direction we should be going. This is the main shopping area and is up
the coast in a northerly direction. It
is probably a 10 by 5 block shopping area, I am guessing from what I saw. Lots
of little shops, I just walked the main drag but there are a lot of other shops
on other streets. The whole area closed down at 2:00, glad I went in in early
enough. On the way out I stopped in at
Horti Fruti, the biggest fruit store here, but still a far cry from Pete’s
Fruitique. I got a picture of my mystery
fruit and the Portuguese name. Selected
a bunch of fruit, some known, some a mystery and was lucky again to catch a
taxi with a driver who knew enough English for a bit of conversation, makes it
easy to say where I want to go. He told me the big boats which are always in
the harbour are shrimp boats, who buy shrimp from local fishermen. Maybe that is right or maybe they are fishing
shrimp themselves, got the story partly correct anyway. Oh yes, no Sunday
shopping here, the place closes down on Sunday.
Went to the beach for sun and swim but wind came up and the
surf was rolling in like a big storm in Judique so no swim today. The
parasailers really love the wind, there were about 4 or 5 out today. Never see
any seadoos or motorboats. Strange, there are a lot of rich oil people here who
could afford them.
Despite the fact the buildings are made mostly of cement and
marble it seems they are very big on fire prevention. Every establishment has 2
types of fire extinguisher, water and CO2. The teachers had to take an extensive fire
course, crawling between two barrels which had some burning oil in them, so hot
they couldn’t stand up and they were soaked with fire extinguishers. They finished the course, dirty, scratched,
wet and annoyed.
