It had been 25 years since I last visited the Outer Banks. Back then it had been the 'edge of the world', a place too far to travel to, back when the speed limit was 55mph it took 12hrs to get there from B'more. There was 'nothing' there, mebbe a two hundred rentals, a half dozen mom&pop motels, camp sites, a half dozen seafood retailers, bait & tackle shops & about the same eateries. Most who went there went for the surf fishing, crabbing, the ocean and sound, and any time but the summer, birding. You brought your groceries with you and figured on eating the bounty of the sea, if ya couldn't catch it you could buy it real cheap. Miles and miles of beach & sound with hardly a soul around, a kind of paradise, but things have changed.

I had an inkling of what was to come from the rental broshures, there were many, many more houses, much grander and pricier than in the past. That didn't bode well but I figured it couldn't be so bad...what a fool! The place has been disneyfied, whereas mebbe half of the visitors fished the surf back when I'd say mebbe 5% now. I doubt that a single acre of private land has been spared. Windsurfing shops out number bait&tackle shops. Seafood, once dirt cheap is now higher than a camel's asshole. How does $120/bushel live crabs grab ya, Tin?(I paid $60 in SC last year.) Crabs used to be poor man's food. And on and on, what miserable whining.

The Outer Banks have always been very white, back when the permanent population was less than 1000 I doubt the black population was more than 50, if that. Today the proportion looks about the same, very few brown folks too. They have managed this by importing their seasonal labor from Eastern Europe and the Balkans, students bussing the tables, staffing the shops for next to nothing and lodging. A very pliable work force and white too.

What happened? Capital happened. Most of the private land was held by a few families, notably the Midgettes, had been for a long while, it had been virtually worthless sand dunes and scrub. It really doesn't matter about the motivation of the locals, until there were massive gobs of capital looking for employment they were neardowell fishheads, now they fart thru silk. Which brings us back to the title of the OP, this ain't the first time I've inflicted this great disappointment upon myself. Capital follows me around like a hunter, finding those places that it had not yet exploited and going to town, turning human places into cash cows. The SC Low Country, the 'armpit' of the Florida Panhandle, southern Arizona, all gobbled up by the real estate functionaries of Capital.Ya can't run, ya can't hide, ya can't go home and ya can't go on vacation. Mebbe this might be the whining of the marginally privlidged or the onset of old fartism, it is nonetheless true. Nothing is safe, they're clever bastards and can turn a buck by stealing bread from the mouths of the poor or building a Mcmansion on snowy plover nests. There is only one thing to do.....

We visited there about 10 years ago. I liked Ocracoke, which seemed less populated. But in ten years a lot can change so not sure if I'd like it now.

Ocracoke Village, which once had one motel, one store and two eateries, with Clapper Rails lurking in the brush, caused me to exclaim, "this is fuckin' disneyland!" There are very few rental houses but it is as always a place for day trippers, but now there are thousands where there used to be dozens. It makes me sad.

Well they ruined that too - I'm not surprised. I do remember the store and having a bite to eat somewhere, but there certainly weren't crowds of people. It was a nice day trip because few went down there.

$120/bushel for live crabs? That's enough to give a Baltimore girl a heart attack. $120?!

The other points of your post are even more depressing. " A very pliable work force and white too. " I guess the poor Black folks just need to curl up and die?

Couple of my friends got there a day early, went to 'Dirty Dick's' crab house, a dozen steamed were $50. They ate shrimp.

You want some Old Bay for those crabs you might get? Be happy to send ya some, nothing else will do.

Oh lol, thank you! But I never move anywhere without a cannister of Old Bay :) I packed up such essential cooking ingredients/tools before moving and have some.

The problem isn't the Old Bay down here, it's the crabs. I've never seen such tiny crabs in my life.


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There may be some hope though. I just found out, via google, that one of the really good restaurants here has ties to Phillips (http://www.bistrotcinq.com/about-eng.htm). I may just waltz in, order a glass of absynthe, and ask them about the crabs since I noticed they have crab cakes on their menu.

Guatemala's a real shock when it comes to food. It doesn't have the rich culinary landscape of Mexico, Honduras or most other countries here. As a cook, that makes me really sad because it shouldn't be that hard to do but then again, the rich own most of the land and quick profit is the name of the game.

The rich import a lot and the poor are left to eat tortillas and beans. The meat is tough as nails not because it's grass-fed but because few butchers know how to cut it (buzz saws for everything ugh), GMO is everywhere as well as terrible pesticides and ugh, I could go on for hours. I'm grateful for the good things but there's room for improvement. Tortillas and beans is not a healthy diet. The price of food has gone up so much that food riots could be right around the corner.

You were right months ago. There's something really broken about people's soul down here.

Last week I started an informal cooking school- just the basics. It's been fun and I plan to do more until I can pack everything up and move to the boonies.

Back to the crabs- do you think they're just catching them too young?

If those are Blue Fins, I can't tell, they sure are. Too small to pick, best make soup out of them.

In these latitudes the folk practice of not taking females is about lost, demand, the cost of operation and so many non-Marylanders in the game have put crabs on the same downward spiral that every wild caught commodity faces. Humans can harvest wild foods on a subsistance level sustainably, as commodities this is difficult if not impossible, the nature of the market. The society which we strive for, rational and human need based, will be more like subsistance in this regard, we will only take what amount that we can while assuring that we can do it again tomorrow.

Mexico is by far the best cuisine, as good as Mediterranean. Seems like culture got something to do with it, chiles are very easy to grow and go a long way as a flavoring.

Generations of oppression is soul crushing, I see something similar in the attitude towards unions here in SC. Crushed but not destroyed, and like an ill managed forest the tinder accumulates, the longer the greater the conflageration. As they sell us rope so they will strike the match.

Last week I started an informal cooking school- just the basics. It's been fun and I plan to do more until I can pack everything up and move to the boonies.


How is the soil? Are you able to grow some vegetables to go with the beans/tortillas? I read a study this week in the MSM about obesity in the US and folks being too heavy because they eat the wrong foods. Wrong foods, over-sized portions (even more so than lack of exercise, these are the culprits in our diet). Really it's the same problem in this country - we have more variety but a lot of folks can't afford the fruits/vegetables/lean protein that are required for a good diet. Mcburgers and Twinkies aren't a healthy diet, even soup has a lot of sodium. Michelle Obama talks around it, never focusing on the economics.

If those are Blue Fins, I can't tell, they sure are. Too small to pick, best make soup out of them.

In these latitudes the folk practice of not taking females is about lost, demand, the cost of operation and so many non-Marylanders in the game have put crabs on the same downward spiral that every wild caught commodity faces. Humans can harvest wild foods on a subsistance level sustainably, as commodities this is difficult if not impossible, the nature of the market. The society which we strive for, rational and human need based, will be more like subsistance in this regard, we will only take what amount that we can while assuring that we can do it again tomorrow.

Mexico is by far the best cuisine, as good as Mediterranean. Seems like culture got something to do with it, chiles are very easy to grow and go a long way as a flavoring.

Generations of oppression is soul crushing, I see something similar in the attitude towards unions here in SC. Crushed but not destroyed, and like an ill managed forest the tinder accumulates, the longer the greater the conflageration. As they sell us rope so they will strike the match.

I wanted to post this last night but couldn't find the video. Determination wins- here goes


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttZHdi1eYKo

Dreadful. And that was in the countryside

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Callnectes toxotes (Male)
Another Callinectes bought in the market

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Callinectes bocourti (Male)
Another "Jaiba" from "La Placita" market in Guatemala city. Photographed as a part of a research project on Guatemalan crabs.


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Callinectes sapidus (Male)

East coast blue crab. Known locally as "Jaiba", bought in "La Placita" market in Guatemala city. Photographed as a part of a research project on Guatemalan crabs.


I think you're right- blue fins, totally unprotected by laws saying they need to be at least 5 inches or not bearing eggs. They really need help down here but it's a hard situation- the government has no foresight and the people don't understand. This place is primed for a food disaster, add the toxins the international food companies dump in the water and the situation is even bleaker.

A friend of mine lent some money to a family to start a business. Her idea was a coop, a few chicks, breed em, kill em & sell them along with eggs. The woman would hear none of it. She wanted to plant radishes in a soil that's so poor, it doesn't even have worms, and no steady irrigation except what nature sends. I was so frustrated and not giving up on the chicken idea.

The minimum wage here is whatever people can get away with. 1600Q is considered a very good wage (that's what bank tellers make). 1600Q? A pound of ground beef costs 17Q at the market. Beef cheeks or liver is 10Q.
A pound of chicken? 20Q. An egg? 1q each. Rent? You better have family. Running water? 40Q. Electricity. Dream on.

The people can't eat. No wonder the people in charge are assassinating the labor leaders and any politician who even hints at fairer distribution. There are times I really wish I'd gone to Mexico but this is worth it.

I'll have to check the video later, no sound here.

Have you got any idea how they are being caught? Could be that they're working too shallow water. I could have gotten a bunch that size wading in 3-4 foot of water last week, did have some fun running them down. Adults generally like water a bit deeper. And it could be that bigger crabs are taken but are reserved for the well off and possibly export.

How is the soil? Are you able to grow some vegetables to go with the beans/tortillas? I read a study this week in the MSM about obesity in the US and folks being too heavy because they eat the wrong foods. Wrong foods, over-sized portions (even more so than lack of exercise, these are the culprits in our diet). Really it's the same problem in this country - we have more variety but a lot of folks can't afford the fruits/vegetables/lean protein that are required for a good diet. Mcburgers and Twinkies aren't a healthy diet, even soup has a lot of sodium. Michelle Obama talks around it, never focusing on the economics.

There's lots of soil erosion. The government is delivering fertilizer to people as "aid" (http://www.prensalibre.com/noticias/politica/Demandan-fertilizante-mil-familias_0_505149724.html in Spanish).

I can't speak for the whole country but from what I understand, the international companies that took over have destroyed the soil. They fertilize their overused soil to the max and dump the toxins in the rivers or on other people's soil. What are the poor gonna do? Sue? With what?

There's a big push among local farmers to return to ancestral Mayan farming methods but there aren't enough independent farmers left. This is a huge indentured nation. Many people have moved to the forests but they're destroying the trees there which only compounds the problem. There are some good organizations that are trying to help but it's a struggle. Then you have the compounded problem of drug gangs hiding out in the forests and really destroying it with no care. Water distribution, even untreated, is another huge problem.

Most of the arable land is in the hands of the top 2% and is saved for export agriculture.

My soil is so poor that, I kid you not, my chickens can't dig for worms. I haven't even seen a worm in my soil and I have a huge yard healthy enough to sustain fruit trees (avocado, citrus, figs, and a few native fruits).

Then you've got the drug and sex-trafficking gangs destroying the Peten rain forest which was the cradle of Mayan civilization.

That's my impression based on location. When I get out more, I may have a better picture.

Economics and education are the big issue here but no one wants to really address those.