This is Duran from Nassau in the Bahamas.
Duran rented me this.
Thirty-five seconds later his "associate" asked my friend and me if we liked to party. If you are ever asked this question in the Bahamas, your reply should be a firm "no" - unless you want to hear a sales pitch which begins with "I got the best green and the smoothest white on dee island, mon."
This is "cracked conch", which is deep fried and about the consistency of clam strips or calamari.
Duran sent us here on the scooter to try this local favorite.
This young fellow is making "conch salad", which consists of chopped, raw conch, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, hot peppers, and lime juice. Judging by another tourist's crimson ears, do not try the conch salad unless you and the chef have a pre-established agreement on what constitutes "just a little hot, mon."
This is Chris from the Daiquiri Shack, a literal wooden shack on West Bay Street in Nassau.
Chris makes these: a blender full of fresh fruit with a wash tub full of rum - for just $6.
According to the locals, if you combine the daiquiris with the conch, you get this result.
I cannot speak to that since my mother reads this blog. However, I can say that after hanging out with Chris at the Daiquiri Shack for an hour and a half and then driving the scooter with no helmet and with an inebriated passenger on the back who was dancing to reggae music in her head and waving her empty daiquiri cup at local constables and asking them for a refill, I learned three very important lessons:
- In the immortal words of Chris, "Drive on dee left, or dey be nothing left, mon."
- No matter how close the ocean looks over the sand dune, a scooter is NOT a 4-Wheeler.
- Limpin ain't pimpin.
- Finally, ALWAYS buy the insurance on a rental scooter.
