MarketWhen you hear the conch blow, it means the boat has landed and fish are for sale. I once flew into Dominica sitting next to a new student who asked, "Are there any good shopping malls?" Hearing my polite response, but not my stifled laughter, she said, "Well, there must at least be some nice botiques." Dominca is a poor country. There is no capital for nice botiques, and students sometimes feel as though even the basics are not available. There is no shoe store. However, there are shoes for sale.
If you want to know where to buy something in Portsmouth, go to Portsmouth and ask the first Dominican you meet. You are guaranteed to receive a friendly response. Portsmouth is a town of tiny shops each of which represents a very small capital investment, but all those little shops add up to more merchandise at more reasonable prices than you might expect. You just have to know where to find it. (White goods, for example, are cheaper in Portsmouth than
at Astaphan’s - the big department store in Roseau.) Get someone to show you where the two larger grocery stores are located. The James Store is conveniently located across the street from the main gate at campus. G & A Enterprises (more commonly known as Tina’s) is about 0.3 miles north of the gate. Tina’s offers free delivery and friendly service. The grocery stores do not sell produce. There is a vegetable market in central Portsmouth on
Saturday mornings. Sales start long before you get up in the morning, and the variety of merchandise slowly decreases until the last vendor disappears around noon. Produce is sold by vendors at school, but is quite a lot more expensive. Bananas sold by the vendors are four for EC$1. Bananas at the Market are roughly 40 for EC$1. Prices at market are somewhat seasonal. While some items like carrots and tomatoes are expensive, and while some prices
are negotiable, what you hear about there being a special price for students is not generally true. Vendors will usually ask the proper price. Students who get hooked for outrageous prices usually get hooked by street hustlers. If someone comes to your door trying to sell vegetables, the produce is likely to be expensive, poor quality, and stolen. It seems as though everything in Dominica has a proper price that Dominicans know. For
example, the proper price for large fish such as tuna, uncleaned, is EC$5 per pound. The proper price for lobster and crab is EC$10-$15. It's a good idea to make some Dominican friends and learn the right price. Please don’t pick fruit from trees you find growing in the bush. Most of those trees are someone’s livelihood even though they may not look like finely-maintained California orchards.  Imorted, fresh, pasturized milk is sometimes available in the stores at a high price. Do not drink fresh milk produced in Dominica. It is not pasturized and is not safe (and is not sold in stores). You will probably want to settle for high temperature pasteurized (vulcanized) milk. It is not refrigerated. It has a long shelf life at room temperature. Most brands come in boxes but the brand in the
plastic bottle is recommeded (because all of the other brands seem to be produced by Nestle which has a bad reputation for its infant formula marketing practices in the third world). High temperature pasteurized milk is suitable for drinking or use on cereal.
For cooking, powdered milk is less expensive. Brands of powdered milk such as Dutch Lady are a little more expensive but dissolve in water with much less fuss than the generics. Some people think it is fine for drinking. You would expect a Caribbean island to have more fish available than a cat food cannery, but fishing is capital intensive. Fishing boats are expensive. If you listen for the conch shell to blow, you can find a fish. Better, however, is to ask. Someone will introduce you to a fisherman.
ON SUNDAY, IF IT ISN'T A CHURCH, IT'S CLOSED. | 
