Grenada first week

Grenada
the spice of the Caribbean

Billy Goats Gruff

The Eighth "Week"
Oct. 1 - Oct. 8, 2006

On Sunday, October 1, 2006, we were treated to a tour of some of Grenada's beautiful places courtesy of our land lady, Christine Antoine and her sister Michelle Antoine.

We drove through St. George's and past the construction site where an enormous new cricket stadium is being built. Grenada is hosting the world cricket tournament in 2007. The landscape then quickly turned mountainous and green with beautiful valleys.

The first stop was a place called Annandale, where there are hinking trails and a lovely waterfall next to a beautiful stone wall with vines falling down the side. During tourist season, divers jump off the rock wall across the river for a "donation." On this fine Sunday, a group of boys jumped into the water from the wall we stand on.

Christine and Michelle.

And then we drove across the middle of the island, past a striking church in a meadow.

The car's path wound around beautiful, green mountaintops of the Grand Etang rain forest. Most of the island of Grenada has a wetter climate than Lance Aux Epines, making the landscape an even more vivid green. While driving down the road, Christine pointed out a number of nutmeg trees along the way.

Nutmeg

They were practically in reach as we drove by! We stopped and picked a couple of the fruits and learned that all of the parts of the nut are used in Grenada. The large, fleshy outside is used to make jelly and syrup - both of which are wonderful! Between the fleshy part and the hard husk inside is another spice: mace, which is bright red. Under the mace there is a tough husk, which is used to pave walkways, and at the center of it al, there is the familiar nut itself.

We soon came across a beautiful crater lake at the top of a mountain:

On the way back, we drove through Grenville, the second largest city in Grenada. Things were fairly quiet on Sunday afternoon, in Grenville and around the island in general. Even the main attraction of one small town, a bar/restaurant/pool hall/ice cream parlor-all-in-one was closed!

One evening this week, Heather met with a couple of SOs at a neat little restaurant/bar on Grand Anse Beach called Coconut Beach. It is a tiny little place with a few tables and benches and umbrellas right on the beach, yards away from the water itself. What a gorgeous backdrop. I could not get the camera to capture the scene as it was, but you can get an idea:

Peter has midterms next week!

Peter has been studying non-stop! No sun, no beach ... and Heather has resorted to "Meals on Wheels," delivering home cooked dinners to Peter on campus. Peter is holding together very well, doing all he can each and every day without going berzerk. His efforts are concentrated and purposeful and enthusiastic. Despite the great demands on him, Peter still has a very positive attitude and he is excited to be putting his efforts toward studying medicine.

The most recent "HeatherMark" birthday card, depicting one of Heather's favorite Grenada reef fish.

Peter ... taking a moment to reflect back on his recently abandoned Mechanical Engineering career:

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