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The Carribean
Church and steak
Camilla Roberts
Fourteen years ago food shopping in Nevis, a former British colony in the Caribbean, was a haphazard and exciting experience for a child. We lifted up dusty tins on the shelves of Chapman's store to watch the cockroaches scatter (with the hope that one day we might find a donkey spider or a scorpion). If no fresh fruit or vegetables could be bought, then there was the terror that we might end up with goat- water stew (the local delicacy made with goat intestines) for dinner. On other days we joined the race to Mrs Williams's shop when cheese arrived off the boat, no matter that it was a tasteless American variety with jaundice. Buying meat involved taking freezer boxes over to the neighbouring island of St Kitts on the ferry, and then gorging on our haul for a couple of days before the power failed and everything in the fridge had to be thrown away.
Over time we learned that the best prod- ucts were to be found by using island con- tacts. The postman 'knew for' pork (though he did not know much for post, which was pulled round the island on a cart with only one round wheel). Lobster could be found in a fridge behind the loos at the back of the Sea Spawn Guesthouse, and melons and cucumbers were found in the bonnet of a red Volkswagen Beetle (emblazoned with Rastafari go-faster stripes), the prop- erty of Prophet Jah, or `Spanky' to his friends. My parents, having just obtained their building insurance from the chemist, were not surprised to find that the best place to buy mattresses for the house was the funeral parlour, which this Christmas we discovered also sold baby baths.
Today, with a few air-conditioned super- markets, food is more easily obtained, though the best meat and fish are still to be found on the island network. Supermarket business was slow to start because of the crowds of people who dropped in to enjoy the novelty of standing in cool air. You can still do things the old way, should you wish; one shop in Charlestown proudly announces on its sign, 'Jesus is Lord. He owns and manages the Conveinent [sic] Enterprises Store'. New businesses are still given astonishingly naive names; no mar- keting men can have been involved in either 'Crappy's Coconut Bar & Grill' or `Shat's Corner Bar'. Island buses have endearing names: 'Problem Child', 'Jeal- ousy is a Boss', 'Only Rumours', 'The Ener- gizer' and 'I Lave My Job, it's Great'.
My family has had a home on Nevis for 12 years, and although there have been advances and some development they have been so gradual as to be almost impercepti- ble. It remains one of the least spoilt islands in the Caribbean. The 36-square- mile island has a population of about 8,500. Since gain- ing full independence in 1983 Nevis has remained in uneasy union with her larger neighbour, St Kitts. The administration of both islands is run from St Kitts, and Nevis has become the Cinderella of the two. While St Kitts can boast a smooth, tarmacked highway which runs the length of the island, Nevis has a Mane Road [sic] which is more pothole than tarmac.
This disparity in funding, while frustrat- ing the islanders, has left Nevis relatively unspoilt and free from the nastier side- effects of development. St Kitts has recent- ly had serious problems with drug smug- gling and crime, while on Nevis the only major incident in recent years was the fire that burnt down the police station in Charlestown on Christmas Eve. The fire brigade could do little and the islanders held an impromptu party in the street as criminal records burned before their eyes. Nevis is currently considering whether to secede from St Kitts and so things might change, although given the islanders' ten- dency for doing nothing and doing it slowly (or 'liming it') any change is unlikely to be dramatic.
The island has only been touched twice by the hand of history. The American president Alexander Hamilton was born there in 1757 — ruins of the Hamilton estate can still be seen and there is a small sea-front museum. Horatio Nelson visited Nevis 27 years later, fortified Saddle Hill to review his fleet, and in 1784 married Fanny Nisbet, the widow of a local plantation owner. Prince William (later to become William IV) was the best man; the marriage register is on display in St John's Church, Fig Tree. The reception was held at the Montpelier estate and there is a museum dedicated to Nelson's life on the outskirts of the capital, Charlestown. It is said that while on the island Prince William visited a brothel housed in the Bath Hotel. The building still stands, albeit in a dilapi- dated state, and has served as a temporary police station since the fire.
Nevis has the requisite golden beaches of the Caribbean commercials, although some have suffered badly in recent hurricanes. What sets it apart from other islands is that the beaches, with one exception, remain unscathed by development and are open to all. If you seek celebrities, glamour and night life, Nevis is not for you. The high- lights of the year are shambolic horse races, run by the Nevis Turf & Jockey Club, and Culturama week. The races are scheduled to start at 2 p.m., but nothing moves before 3.30 p.m., including the hors- es. Culturama week leaves the majority of the island without power as electricity is diverted to the biggest party.
For the locals, the focus of the week is church on Sunday, every sect and denomi- nation being represented. Out of the old chattel houses progress replica Chicago gangsters with their ladies in ball-dresses and gravity-defying hats; the latest in chic is to wear a full head of brightly coloured curlers to church. Services are only for the physically fit: four hours of jumping about in incense-laden air with a sermon of an hour and a half in between.
Those wanting 'sanitised, hermetically sealed, five-star luxury can stay at the Four Seasons Resort, but then you could be any- where in the world. The best way to see Nevis is to rent a house or stay in one of
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the small plantation house hotels. For the traveller who prefers the eccentricities of a grand English household with Nevisian quirks, the Montpelier Plantation Inn is run in style in the old estate buildings and serves the best food on the island. The Old Manor Estate Hotel is also worth a visit and is famous for its steak and lobster din- ners. Wherever you stay, leave your watch behind as you will have to adopt Nevisian Meantime.
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