16:12 - Our last port of call led us to the town of Freeport, Bahamas. Freeport is a popular destination for cruise ships; I say this because when we debarked, two other ships were docked as well. Cruisers swarmed the place. Lucky for us, we woke up early and rushed off to Port Lucaya.Freeport does not have a whole lot to do. It resembles more of an industrial town than anything else. The comparison would be Port of Houston vs. Galveston. Freeport is Houston, and Lucaya is Galveston. Lucaya/Galveston is a bit prettier and with few better beaches, but you still are next to Freeport/Houston. For non-Houstonian Focus Foxies, that probably didn't make much sense. To you, I say Freeport had a bunch of manufacturing plants, but no beaches. Lucaya had fewer manufacturing plants, and more beaches. Also, shopping, Lucaya has more shopping.
We headed out to the marketplace in Port Lucaya with several other cruisers and a lively cab driver. Our cab driver, Eddie, had lived in the U.S. - Los Angeles specifically. He moved back to The Bahamas because he wanted a better school and healthcare system for his children. Apparently, the LA system wasn't cutting it; I don't blame him. The Bahamas has a universal healthcare system. Another interesting fact, Focus Foxies, is that The Bahamas does not have income or sales tax; they rely primarily on import taxes. With 80 percent of the consumption coming from imports, the government can bring in a lot of revenue. Eddie explained that he was thinking about bringing in a new van in the country, and he would have to pay a 60 percent tax on it. So a $30,000 van would cost $50,000 once it clears customs.
Eddie dropped us off at the market, but we were early. Shops didn't open until 9 AM, so we wandered around until they did. The Lucayan marketplace had many shops both formal and informal as well as two straw markets. we found one little shops with straw fans for sale. I bought five of them. I have four sisters, and the shop owner put the each of their names in them. She let me take a video of her sewing.
Once we got all of our souvenirs we grabbed a local beer at a small bar. I had been dying to try conch fritters. The raw conch tasted pretty good, but I wanted it fried. We ordered a batch, drank our beers, and watched a bit of football. The conch fritters tasted amazing, but the beer left a lot to be desired. I missed the beer from Grand Turk.
While at the bar, we noticed that a bunch of people put up dollars with their country or school on them. We also noticed a definite lack of an Aggie dollar. With markers borrowed from the barmaid, we worked to correct it. Now, if you go to that bar, you will find a Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2010 and a whoop dollar. Focus Foxies, you should go check it out. I mean right now; jump on a cruise, and go to The Bahamas.
Our cruise ship set sail early from Freeport, and we had to be back at the dock by 13:00. We did have one more misadventure regarding a Bahamian dollar and jerk chicken. What is it with us and jerk chicken? We had a great morning in Port Lucaya. We had one more day on the ship before we had to go back to the real world.
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