Posted by:
pat
(---.dsl.wlfrct.sbcglobal.net)
Ah, Philippe,
Those of us who are fortunate enough to have visited the island before the rebuilding of Marigot for that infamous Sandra Bullock movie would have had a better shot at remembering this view than those who came afterwards.
We spent many a Saturday morning back in the day wandering through the Marketplace poking through the offerings. It was interesting to see the little fishing boats come in with their colorful catches and to view the fruits and veggies offered. My first experience of an island pineapple (no clue from whence it came) was via this marketplace back in the mid to late 70's.
Another time, I think about in the mid 80's, we were walking the Marketplace with friends on a Saturday morning and saw a butchered pig (hog - perhaps - I don't know the difference) laid out on a table and the owner hacking off big chunks of meat and wrapping it in paper and tying it up with string for those who wanted to make a potential dinner purchase. (Quite truthfully, this grossed me out a bit since I'd never seen anything quite like that before, but I guess it was the island way back then.) And as we stould there checking it all out, we happened to see Frank Perdue (Perdue chicken fame) shaking his head right along with us, but you see, it really was an island marketplace in those days, as opposed to what it's morphed into over time with the current vendors and their trinkets.
It wasn't at all unusual to see the ladies walking away with a chicken for dinner and their basket (a few times seen atop their heads) over-flowing with fruits and veggies in anticipation of a special meal. Those are but a few of those wonderful colorful island experiences that we are so blessed to have our memories of today.
When we first started visiting St. Maarten/St. Martin in the early 70's it was totally out of character to see the island ladies wearing slacks, jeans or shorts (at least in public) so given the benefit of your second photo I might have been a little more accurate with the dating part of your post. By the time we started bringing our girls in the early 80's it became more common.
Two other things that were very common sights back then were the island ladies walking along the streets with their umbrellas open to protect them from the sun, and also to see so many of them out and about during the daytime with their hair done up in big colorful curlers. I always assumed this was done to protect their hairstyles from the humidity of the day but never really knew for sure.
Respectfully,
pat
And OMGoodness - now that I've put it in writing, I sure do hope it really was Sandra Bullock since I'm not much of a movie buff.
, but except maybe one or two which could lead to a "clue search" most of the others are easilly reconisable...
