Nov 28

Bus stops on Barbados are serviced by a regular bus system. They also attract private buses (no time scheduled), much like we have seen on the other islands, except here they also have traditional larger vehicles rather than just stretch vans.

At the bus stop near the hotel, we met Ricardo ... a big fellow with a knack for cooking. He held, keeping it level, a baking pan wrapped in a supermarket plastic bag. "Good morning," we greeted each other. He was a friendly fellow with a big ready smile. We were talking to him about destinations we might consider via public bus when a man from a nearby road work crew came up to Ricardo and began a conversation; they seemed to know each other. Without ceremony, the workman peeked into Ricardo’s bag.

"Can I buy one?" he asked.

They settled on a price of $5 Barbados dollars (approx $2.50 US). Ricardo reached in and handed him a hand sized package wrapped up in wet banana leaves. When the workman left we asked, "What was that?"

"Conkie," he answered taking another out to show us. "I make and sell them to the hotels here. They are very good." Our conversation was interrupted by two other workmen coming up with money in their hands and taking away two more banana leaf packages.

"Conkie?" we questioned. "What is a conkie?"

"A delicious mixture of pumpkin [squash], sweet potato, coconut, raisins, brown sugar, spices and other stuff mashed and wrapped up in banana leaves ... then steamed. Lots of people don’t steam them anymore, "Ricardo told us, "they take shortcuts, but you need the steam to get the goodness out of the banana leaf." The first man returned for a second.

"I try to sell them for $6," Ricardo told us after the workman left, "but I can be a richer man selling them at $5 or a poorer man keeping them for $6." We complimented him on his reasoning. "One day," he said with passion and determination, "I’m going to open up ‘Big Rick’s Bar’." When another workman approach to buy, Ricardo apologized and explained he needed the balance to fill an order he had. That gave us the answer to the question we were going to ask ... could we buy one. (You can find recipes on the internet.)

We headed north to Speightstown (pronounced ‘spite’s-town’), which was, in the 1600s, the first major port and centre of commerce on Barbados. Today it is more of a fishing town and local commercial centre looking to attract more tourists with the development of luxury accommodations and a new marina.

Much of Speightstown’s colonial architecture remains including the 18^th century Arlington House which has recently opened as a museum. Here the visitor will find three floors of exhibits providing an abundance of interesting and entertaining information for all ages.

Turning right by Arlington House we admired the size of avocados and the freshness of okra at a sidewalk market.

The road wraps around to the waterfront where there is a new breakwater and new (as of 2006) fish market (or you can catch your own from the adjoining pier).

We entered the Fisherman’s Pub, one of the town’s most popular eating spot, just south of the small beach by the Fish Market. Inside the front door the foyer has a stretch of window looking through to a length of buffet. By pointing and pantomime, customers indicate what and how much they want and it is put on a plate; the plate then goes to the cash register around the corner.

As we didn’t know what the different items were and talking through the glass is near impossible, one of the girls came out to us. We showed her a list of menu items we wanted to try ... flying fish, conkies, cou-cou (an okra and cornmeal mash), pumpkin fritters and jug-jug (a combination of cornmeal, green peas and salted meat).

The girl read over the list pointing at the different entries either nodding ‘yes’ or shaking her head ‘no’, before returning behind the glass window and filling two plates.

There is no table service, so once we had paid (a small sum for such full plates) we found an unoccupied plastic table and sat in plastic chairs ... just like the locals were doing. There was plenty of space and tables enough to handle tour buses but at the moment the clientele looked mostly local.

The conkie, which we had been looking forward to ever since meeting Ricardo, was delicious. Very filling and rather rich for our tastes. One was plenty to share between the two of us.

We started a conversation with a woman cleaning tables; her name is Jean and she was just in town for a short time to help out her brother Clement, owner of the Fisherman’s Pub.