Grenada first week

Grenada
the spice of the Caribbean

Sunset over campus after Peter's last final.

The Ninth Week
Oct. 9 - Oct. 15, 2006

More evidence of mental overload: After looking at one two many histology slides, I guess they begin to take on personalities of their own.
And then the slides start talking to you ... hoo boy.

For her part, Heather made certain to spend enough time with sane non-students to keep in touch with her equilibrium!

Free at last!

On Friday, Peter completed his third and final exam, Biochemistry. He also found out that he passed all of his tests! Soon after the last exam, we enjoyed free pizza and soda complements of the "SO" (Significant Other) organization, and we gorged on homemade desserts complements of all of us SOs!

Heather is soooo happy to have her Peter back!

Then we moved on to the True Blue Bay Resort and enjoyed a relaxing evening with friends, winding down from the stress of the previous weeks. This is a beautiful restaurant and inn located on a tiny inlet/harbor near the University.

There was relaxation...

and engaging conversation...! Peter and Heather left earlier than most in order to rest up for the exciting activities planned for Saturday.

On Saturday, we explored Grenada with some friends. We started out on campus, picking up our companions, Matt and Ally. Then it was on to Grand Anse to pick up a friend's map and a car jack ... just in case! The map turned out to be a wall hanging depicting where the main roads lie, but since neither the map nor the roads themselves are marked with the names of those roads, it turned out to be of limited utility. A very Grenadian experience. Fortunately, since we had earlier explored the island with Christine and Michelle, we were able to navigate fairly well - thanks largely to Peter's memory!

On our way through St. George's, we encountered an enormous cruise ship in the bay. It seemed larger than the city itself, and the whole island was buzzing with activity - unlike a few Sundays ago when all was very quiet and every little tourist shack was closed. This Saturday everyone was aglow with the effort of trying to sell their wares or services to the tourists. Our car was misidentified as a car full of wandering tourists when a local man offered his services as a tour guide. Our car, in any event, was full of people and mounds of "stuff" filled up the back, which was hardly large enough to accommodate a person even when empty. We told the man no thanks, but he literally ran after the car - superfluously shouting that ... it was OK, he could sit in back!

Our first stop was a return to Grand Etang Lake, a volcanic crater in the middle of the island. This time we hiked up a trail and we were rewarded with a view stretching all the way back to St. George's, the sea, and the cruise ship. It was a striking cliff and a marvelous view. The trail itself was hardly maintained, having been a bit washed out and overgrown. We really could have used a machete - especially after we discovered that one of the long grasses lining the "trail" cut our skin as we walked by. We were all lanced with teeny cuts on our arms and legs from slender blades of grass! On the walk back, Matt and Ally thought they caught a glimpse of a monkey! We certainly heard different sounding creatures nearby, but we did not get a good look. There are mona monkeys in the forest, which were introduced from Africa - but Peter and I have yet to see one ourselves!

One side of the trail: Grand Etang Lake

The other side of the trail, looking all the way down to St. George's, which is the little "V" at the waterside occupied with white buildings.

The view ... well, straight DOWN!

Beautiful Grand Etang Lake

A rousing lunch was had ... then it was off for more exploring!

We headed toward Mt. Carmel and some waterfalls, but we were distracted after a road detour. Above is a basketball set up on the main road. The pole is a tree and the hoop is made of an old bicycle wheel.

We drove by the old airport again, and this time we stopped to investigate. These planes were caught in the US invasion of Grenada and were destroyed before they could take off.

What's left of the cockpit.

Heather, not surprisingly, preferred to investigate the animals. All of the large animals on the island are quite valuable, but there are no large fenced areas for them to graze, so they are tied down with "leashes" around their necks. People move them about to refresh the small plots of land they have access to graze. Heather's investigation revealed that the languid looking cow in the background was actually a bull! Yikes!

We soon moved on to Bathway Beach, which is a popular beach on the very north east of the island. There is a reef right where the water breaks which calms the water and insulates bathers from currents and tides. It has some facilities and is very populated on the weekends. This beach, although in the middle of relatively nowhere, has a bit of an urban feel to it.

A man walking his bull down the highway, looking for the next place to graze.
Just down the road to the south, we found a gorgeous palm-lined beach with fabulous waves which we had all to ourselves. We enjoyed playing in the water and riding the waves, as there are no appreciable waves on the south side of the island where the University and Lance Aux Epines are.

Looking southward.

The view to the north.

The amazing cliff face on the north side of the beach. We saw brown pelicans feeding in this area.

As Peter noted, the only drawback to this beautiful place was that the main highway ran along a portion of the beach. On the other hand, this was the state of the highway:

We stayed and enjoyed the beach and explored the cliffs for some time. On the way back, we drove by yet another destroyed church. The men sitting out in front of the church are playing chess.

On the way home, we made it a tradition to stop at a tiny ice cream stand by the side of the road on the way back down the east side of the island which Christine had showed us on our earlier drive exploring the island. They carry Sugar and Spice ice cream, which is made locally in Lance Aux Epines and makes great flavors like nutmeg, hurricane, and peanut! Mmmm!

On Sunday, Peter and Heather went snorkeling for the first time in too long! This excursion took us to the ocean surrounding a restaurant called "The Aquarium."

A school of Tangs, or "surgeonfish."

This little fellow is one of Heather's favorites. The blue dots are shockingly bright in the sunlight! It appears that when they get older, these fish develop bright yellow tails and lose some of their iridescent spots:

A very large coral.

An example of marine symbiosis: this eel is enjoying good dental hygiene courtesy of a cleaner wrasse, the small striped fish perching in the eels jaws. The eel is relieved of parasites, and the wrasse gets a meal!

New York has "black and whites," but here our black and whites aren't baked goods, but live fish!

Are we growing gills yet?

Peter, with the Aquarium in the background, complete with wonderful food and live music on a leisurely Sunday afternoon.

We found this gorgeous tree lizard on our walk back up the hill to the car.