ther islands claim to preserve the Caribbean the way it used to be. St. Vincent actually lives it. The somewhat ramshackle capital, Kingstown, has weathered wooden guest houses and a colorful marketplace with gaping fish and glistening fruit for sale; cruise ships and their passengers are not a part of the scene. An agricultural economy predominates, large portions of St. Vincent remain undeveloped, and there are no real white-sand beaches, so the island has minimal tourism infrastructure. Most visitors are steered to the nearby Grenadines, to which St. Vincent is linked politically. They have more conventional tourist appeal, the government reasons, so the main island is left relatively untouched. When the producers of the Hollywood movie White Squall were looking for a spot that could represent the West Indies of the 1960s, they chose St. Vincent for much of their location shooting.

But the flip side of this seeming bucolia is that the island is struggling under the weight of its banana-based economy. The World Trade Organization has taken the side of the United States (and American banana-exporting companies) in its "banana war" with the European Union (which has been trying to protect the banana exports of their former colonies). Further, the U.S. has devoted plenty of manpower toward eradicating a certain leafy herb (canonized by Cheech & Chong and a popular export to the U.S.) from Vincentian soil. Considering that these two items are the number one and (probably) number two cash crops on the island, this double whammy has not endeared Americans to locals, and it can be felt in the somewhat brusque interactions that have become commonplace.

That said, adventurous travelers who want to head off the beaten path will find dramatic scenery, great hiking, a good array of less expensive hotels, and real West Indian charm. All of this adds up to a pretty special package: an island that shows few of the scars from modern tourism that some of its neighbors wear. It may be one of the last West Indian islands to be stepping into the twentieth century, but St. Vincent has an irresistible backwater appeal that is getting hard to find in the increasingly packaged-for-the-masses Caribbean.