Wait you mean to say that's formal ?

The  picture above shows a coconut vendor in Curepe on left and one In Port-Of-Spain during the day.

When you think of a Coconut vendor you think those skinny guys of East Indian decent at the sides of streets with baseball caps on. They normally chose areas dense with traffic as well as hot areas to set up. For the most part the average coconut vendor is part of the informal sector. Now that is all fair and true for the vendor on the left but for the one on the right it is a different story. At first I thought he was just like any average vendor till i saw the advertisements which I thought was quite strange. After talking to the man and purchasing a coconut i could say it is indeed quite different from the norm.

What he has there is a coconut cart yest cart not stall nor truck. He pays a rent for it and gets paid to advertise Island finance. Now form there you may wonder how he got a spot in my blog since he does not belong to the informal sector? Well he once did and in Mr. Lee Sings revamp of port of spain he took the opportunity to transition form a regular vendor to a more commercialized one. 'I just could not leave it , i know nothing else' is what he told me. There are 2 other carts similar to this around the Savannah with small concert platforms jutting out of the pavement just like he has. He mentioned that he did not being 'forced' to pay rent but he likes that sales still come due to eliminated competition.

This post shows that it is possible to build yourself up into something more out of the informal sector and is a definite positive in my book.