DAY 9, AUG 6

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Walking to down today I stop at "The Boat Shop" It's a small home art studio. There I meet Lucy. She and her husband create authentic Bequian model sailing boats from coconuts. They're all hand carved by her husband and hand painted by Lucy. I have my eye on one particular boat that has a beautiful moca brown paint that really looks cool with the natural look of the coconut showing through a deep layer of clear enamel.

The morning and early afternoon are spent working (that's right, working!) to buy some cars online through the Dallas auto auction. Not unlike going to the auction in person sometimes, its a lot of time spent just to come away with one car. Well, that's how it goes sometimes. It's kind of like fishing-some days they're biting and some days they're not.

By afternoon I'm ready for some R&R, but unfortunately it's been cloudy and rainy off and on all day. I make my way to Lower bay for a while, but I don't see much sun. Since not a lot of interesting things happened today, let me give you the complete low-down on the "dollar bus"

The dollar bus is Bequia's answer to public transportation. It's so named for the cost of the ride, which is $1EC (that's about $.38us) For a mere dollar ($1.50 for long trips) one can ride most anywhere on the island. The system works like a well-oiled machine. It consists of about a dozen Toyota mini vans especially outfitted to set up to...well, there may be no limit to how many they can seat. One ride I took included 18 adults and a baby. That's 4 and 5 across in each row.

You can easily spot the "buses" coming up the road by their boldly decal-ed names plastered on the hoods. Names like: BE BE, SANO, DALO, PEBBLES, CHARITY, MAJESTY, FAITH, MORE FAITH (sounds like a competition thing to me) and my personal favorite, OVERNIGHT CELEBRITY.

Everyone seems to know the drill. Each time the bus stops to pick someone new up all the passengers shuffle to the back for the most efficient seating arrangement. All except one young man/boy who operates the sliding door. Each bus seems to have one of these "conductors". He's a combination, doorman, bellhop, usher, and cashier. I'm not sure if he's the driver's son, or little brother, or maybe even an apprentice who hopes to acquire the route after paying his dues to work up the ladder.

Each time the bus stops, he's opening the sliding door even before we stop rolling. He folds the seats up and down to form the ultimate seating arrangement and to allow access to the back seats. When the bus starts to get really full, he pulls out an extra cushion to fill in the space next to the fold-up seats. Once everyone is on board the driver takes off while the "first mate" is still closing the door and the bus speeds away leaving a puff of gray smoke in it's rear view mirror.

There's always a heavy beating reggae song pumping through the sound system. On Sunday morning my driver was playing some gospel music to get his passengers ready for the day's services. Of course there's no air conditioning, so all the windows are slid open and usually there's one or two kids hanging out of them. And then there's the honking. In Bequia, your horn is not used to show your annoyance to other drivers or as a precursor to the "one-finger-wave", but rather as a way to say Hello.

When I'm walking down (or mostly up) the roads I get honked at a lot. I smile and wave and say Yah, mon in a low, laid-back tone. Or sometimes I say "morning, morning" or "yah, yah" (I think I mentioned already that repeating a greeting or response seems to be the thing here).

In all my rides, I appear to be the only "non-local" on any of these buses, but I love it that way. This is why I came out here. This is why its an "Adventure"- not a vacation. I wouldn't say I'm blending in, but I do think I'm getting along. And along the way I'm learning a lot about the culture and a lot about myself.

Another day in beautiful Bequia,
Yah mon,
David

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Photos

MORE FAITH
plain ol' "Faith" has been trumped.

Comments

[terry]

church
Have you been to the island church for a service? Wonder how that would be. So you duplicate your greetings in Bequia...when they pray do you say "Dear Lord, Dear Lord" and "Amen Amen"? Just kidding. Seriously, I think a service would be great to attend. Do most of the people appear to be believers? Really enjoying your blogs, David. Look forward to them every day. See ya Mon!

[BeachDreamR]

Let me hear from ya, mon
Greeting from Bequia, Ok all you blog readers. I have been scolded for suggesting you sen messages rather than comments. So, I apologize. I didn't realize that I was taking you out of the loop by messaging. SSSSOOOOO. Let's have those comments. Keep em coming-the more the merrier. Let me hear from you. What do you like and dislike. What questions do you have for me? Come on Blogee's, COMMENT AWAY! yah mon, David

[BeachDreamR]

church
Last sunday morning when I was on a walkabout to Sping and Industry bays, I could here singing from several of the churches. There are many believers here on Bequia. Last night they were holding a "crusade" downtown under the almond tree. The singing was very good and the preaching was very enthusiatic. Kind of like an old time tent revival. When was in Kingstown, St Vincent, there was a man on the street corner preaching with a bullhorn. Reminded me of the Rob Bell video we say at church a few months ago. Keep those comments coming. David