Grenada first week

Grenada
the spice of the Caribbean

Spring 2007

Jonathan and Manny will be just fine by themselves for the next week. Really!

After how slow things had become with many students gone and tourist season ended, it was shocking how full my family's chosen resort was over the holiday weekend. So much the better for local businesses, and it meant live music and a bustling vacation atmosphere!

My brother's family had been traveling since the day before, and everyone got up at 3 am to start today's travel adventures. Grand Anse beach makes it all worthwhile!

An all-around American meal the first night in Grenada: pizza, calzone, and spaghetti!

Jeffrey's long day of travel and fun in the sun started to catch up with him before his spaghetti finally arrived. What a champ! After a good dose of dinner, it was lights out Lightning McQueen.

On Saturday, we got right into gear, piling into a reggae bus for an around-the-island tour! I heard of a highly recommended guide just last week, and arranged for a Saturday extravaganza. We saw most of the major sites of the country in one long day, and none of us had to do all that dreadful driving! *whew.* (That's Crapzilla breathing a sigh of relief!)

The Carenage with Fort George in the background.

The still roofless Catholic church at the height of downtown St. George's.

First stop: Concord Falls.

Peter and Heather.

Eric, Jen, and Jeffrey.

Nutmeg plantation.

Nutmeg drying racks.

A former plantation worker; now a tourist educator. We learned about cocoa, nutmeg, allspice, bay leaves, cinnamon, calabash, loofah, vanilla...if it grows, we heard about it from an expert! We got to touch and smell everything; what a great introduction to the spice island!

This building is the only thing standing between Grenada and another Hurricane Ivan: the hurricane monitoring station in Sauteurs.

We were treated to a genuine Grenadian luncheon at a great little hideaway in Sauteurs, thanks to our tour guide, Kennedy. I can hardly remember everything we had our pick of: fish, chicken, breadfruit, plantain, salad, and fresh juice.

There isn't a whole lot of traffic just off the main road in Sauteurs.

Rum, rum, rum, in my tummy, tum tum! Jeffrey and Peter pose at the water wheel that powers the River Rum factory, where they still make rum the old fashioned way.

Vats used to cook down the sugar cane.

Bagasse: leftover fibers from the sugar cane, after the cane has been all sugared out. This is the fuel used to boil the cane.

The entire rum distillery is an antique...the oldest distillery in the Caribbean and the only one that still runs on the hydropower provided by a waterwheel. Besides the facility itself, there were many ancient artifacts everywhere we looked. Above is a photo of the tasting room: an enormous space with a small table at the end of it...occupied largely by a huge water cooler. We got to choose whether we'd prefer the regular rum, or the "overproof" rum. I chose the regular, and with some trepidation at that, as it contained 60% alcohol. Peter was the only one brave enough to try the firestarter rum...if it could really still be called "rum" and not a medical product or engine fuel at 75% alcohol. I'd like to describe the taste, but it was more a feeling than a taste. It felt like most of the liquid evaporated before it even touched my taste buds. It was what I would imagine swallowing vapors to be like, or drinking gasoline. A unique experience, and hard to imagine that people put that in their bodies on purpose. Did I mention that there was a huge, football size, water cooler handy?

Peter and Jeffrey at Belmont Estate. It turns out, the facility was closed on Saturdays, and the nearby Grenada Chocolate factory is not hosting tours, either because they are renovating, or because it's too much traffic for such a small business - we got a few different stories. Whatever the reason, we stopped to stretch our legs and visit the animals on the estate.

There were plenty of sheep, goats, donkeys, a horse, a couple of monkeys...even a parrot.

Mr. Monkey.

Grand Etang crater lake.

We had dinner at the Coyaba, and enjoyed a particularly engaging steel drum band.

Ahhh! Finally, a little time to relax after a big day of adventure!

On Sunday, we were all set to get everyone snorkeling and checking out the marine life! The water had been crystal clear since the family arrived. We got the gear and headed to the beach to get used to the equipment...that's when I first noticed that it appeared rather...murky. We forged ahead, fitting everyone with masks and snorkels and giving them the chance to see how things work in the calm Grand Anse waters. Most of the better snorkeling locations pose other challenges, especially for kids, like rocks and more noticeable waves, so it's good to try things out in nice calm, blue waters.

Jennifer is ready to brave the big blue yonder!

Jeffrey does great, and has lots of fun playing in the water.

Mom, as well as Eric, not surprisingly, take to the water like fishes.

Jennifer is still alive! And thinking happy thoughts!! She is a real trooper.

I later found out that Jen has never actually swam in the ocean before Friday, and masks trigger her claustrophobia - which I didn't even know she suffers from. It must be pretty hard to breathe through a tube when you feel the weight of the universe pressing on you...smoting your whole being. Yeah. I was trying to weigh all of this news after our experience at the Aquarium...a typically great snorkeling beach in Point Salines where today we found very big waves and even less visibility. Above water, there were throngs of people on the beach enjoying the long holiday. More people than I've seen there. Ever.
What happened to the visibility overnight?? This area is usually a bit more wavy, and rocky, too, but this day the waves were ridiculous! Usually, it's a great location because you don't need to swim far to see plenty of marine life. I was bound and determined to find some freaking fish we could see underwater. I dragged everyone over to the Rex, a ways down the same beach, where there were less waves and I found a few fish (after scouting frantically, my earplug firmly attached to protect my infected ear.) We saw a handful of colorful fish there.
This was not the experience I had hoped my family would have. They have spent a great deal of time at the ocean and fishing, but never where you could actually see in the water and swim with fun, colorful fish. It is so exhilarating! My enthusiasm to share this experience may have clouded my judgment because it was then, at our third location, that I noticed everyone else looked fairly bewildered. In my unrelenting zeal and desperation to find marine paradise (which is nearly constant to some extent in Grenada) I think they felt as drained as rag dolls tossed about by a choppy ocean. Thankfully, there are no photos of this defeat, as (I) there was nothing to see, and (II) Peter and I were both too busy to take photos as we were either keeping people safe from the rocks or scouring the sea for a better location.

The unexpected didn't end with the day's swimming adventure. We went to eat at a favorite restaurant that has a good variety of foods to please everyone, but it was closed. When you don't find what you're looking for straight away on a Sunday, with people who need food soon, you could be in trouble in Grenada. Many establishments are closed on Sunday...and food is never fast here (most of the time, that makes for good food!) So, we tried the next restaurant down the street. It so happens, it was closed for renovations, but the adjacent bar/cafe was set up with tables and we could eat there.

Well, the truth is, everyone was very forgiving! Really, the best part was being together and sharing our always amazing, interesting, surprising, and Grenadafabulous home with our family.

It was only then that I started hearing my brother explaining that the unexpected and the "it never does that here" always actually happens when they go on vacation. In about nine months in Grenada, I can count the number of times I've gone snorkeling and visibility was poor (let alone dreadful) on one hand. Same with the number of times it has rained consistently for more than 20 minutes...but that's a story about tomorrow...and next week's entry!