This should be approached as a pastime, rather than a chore. The rewards are two-fold: A more accurate picture of the inhabitants can be formed than is likely to be gotten in the restaurants and boutiques, and a leisurely visit to all of the island's markets reveals an astonishing range of both European and American products unlikely to be duplicated in any continental community smaller than San Francisco.
    Don't compare prices with those elsewhere, unless you are Japanese or Swiss, or unless you have found righteous indignation to be therapeutic.
    For an occasionally rewarding diversion, try the ladies hawking shamefully expensive Guadeloupean produce at the site of the old fire station in Gustavia.
    Dispute the price as if you were buying a rug in Morocco.