[ Main Index] [ Previous Day ][ Next Day ] [ Photo Gallery ]
 |
Name: Grenada Pronunciation: Gren-A-da Size: 133 Sq. Mi. Population: 115,000 Capital: St. George’s Affiliation: English (drive on the left) Independence: 1974 |
Excursions:
• Grenada Highlights (Bart)
• Tea at the Tower Estate (Marion)
Yet another island we’ve been mispronouncing the name of. It’s Gren-A-da. Not Gren-Ah-da. Hope we don’t find out it’s BAR-ba-dos tomorrow.
The excursion I was on was all day – 8:30 to 4:00. We were going to drive all over the island. I was beginning to think I was a bit rash cancelling the waterfall hike until I remembered that my water shoes had come apart and the hike included fording a river or two. So the bus it is! (Not that I could have changed it at this point…)
I was one of the first people on the bus, and since I was a ‘single’ and since it seemed like I got the last available spot on the tour when I changed it, I took the one single seat in the very back so the couples could sit together. But, as it turned out, the bus wasn’t full, and people filled in from the front. I ended up with my own little ‘suite’ in the back with the row on both sides ahead of me (4 seats) free and the two on my right. I think there were people who never knew I was on their bus since they always got off before me. The aisle was really narrow, about 6 inches. Each time we stopped, I had to wait for 14 elderly people to try to extricate themselves before I could get off. A lesson in patience.
The lady in the row closest to me couldn’t find her row every time she got on the bus, even with her pillow in it. She and her husband were 86 years old. I give them credit for doing the trip, but sheesh. They were definitely pushing it. Another lady was so frail she could barely walk.
The stops were somewhat interesting but there was lots of driving from place to place. We pretty much drove around the whole island through various towns and neighborhoods. It was very mixed. There were some really nice houses and some ‘basic’ ones. Some storm damaged/abandoned ones too. We found that no island was spared a hurricane hit or two. Although Barbados, we would discover, hadn’t had one since the 50’s.
The roads were not as crazy as other islands, and the elevation change was not as dramatic. Not quite as twisty/hairpin, which was nice given how long we were on the road. But there was lots of road construction.
We headed up the west coast to our first stop, Concord Falls. This is a fairly big (60 ft) waterfall on the edge of the rainforest. A pretty spot. And a shopping opportunity as well, but every stop always was.
A couple of enterprising Grenadians would leap off the cliff at the top of the waterfall and into the pool below for tips. They did it 3 or 4 times while we were there, and I got some great pictures. It was certainly worthy of a tip, which I dutifully gave to them.
Click on the picture to see the animated GIF (if it doesn’t auto play)
Then it was on to the Diamond Chocolate Factory, an apparently famous chocolatier built in an abandoned 18th-century rum distillery. You could smell the chocolate in the air when we exited the bus. We got a similar story as the other place about how chocolate is created, but at least it was consistent. I knew to suck on the cocoa bean 
. We got a bit more detail about how the beans are sorted – first by machine, and then by hand! Which looked like a decidedly tedious job.
We got the opportunity to taste (and of course, buy) chocolate in various forms. 90% chocolate is very bitter. Too strong for me. But 60% is good. I liked the one with nutmeg. Although I couldn’t really tell the difference between that one and the one with ginger.
Next stop, lunch at the Belmont Estate, a plantation and restaurant on the east coast, where we had a buffet of Creole dishes. It was very tasty. It took some effort to get us all situated. Three buses full of people descending on the restaurant all at once, when other people were already there. No instruction on what to do or where to sit and based on the animated conversations (that I couldn’t hear) we (or somebody) didn’t do it right. But it finally got sorted out
I sat with Paul and Sylvia and some people on my bus but didn’t realize it was them (I only ever saw the backs of their heads). Plus, the Smithsonian slave guy and his wife. They really are very pompous. They seem very nice and interesting otherwise, but it’s hard to get past it.
I found out Sylvia is Greek. Her father immigrated from Greece and opened a Greek restaurant (as all Greeks do according to Sylvia). Her actual name is something long and unpronounceable in Greek and they changed it to Sylvia.
I also found out at lunch that a lady had dropped her dry bag with phone, credit card, and hotel card in it near the boat in 20 meters of water. It sank (for some reason). But they got a diver to go down and get it and it was ok. Wow! She also apparently got in the water with her zodiac life preserver and discovered it inflates when you get in the water, like a car air bag (and I guess just as fast). They’re one time use devices. No one mentioned that to us. Information that might have been useful to know. She was quite surprised. And no doubt has now fully ingratiated herself with Ponant.
Lunch consisted of pumpkin soup (which I never would have ordered given the choice but turned out to be pretty good), creole chicken, tuna, salad, slaw, rice, and plantains. Vanilla ice cream for dessert, which was really good and ‘strong’. They use real vanilla here, not whatever pathetic synthetic stuff they use in the states.
After lunch I wandered the grounds a little bit but there wasn’t much to see.
Our last stop was in the central highlands in the Grand Etang National Park. It really it was a stop to buy trinkets and spices. But I found a trail to a lookout and followed Kevin and Kristina to it. A nice walk and a reasonable view. There are supposedly monkeys in the jungle, but we didn’t see (or hear) any. I guess there were some in cages at the waterfall but I missed them.
I did learn a fair about Grenada during the drives between stops. Our guide is Bertrand. He is a cut-up. My favorite line, when a car passed us: “undertakers like over takers”. And another one-liner: “Enjoy your time in paradise, it might be your last.” (and I do believe he was suggesting some of us would not make it to heaven in the after-life)
Nutmeg is called the ‘lady in the boat with the red coat’, since when it’s ripe the shell cracks open and looks like a boat and the nut has a red wrapper on it. All pieces are used. The shell is for jelly and stuff like that. The red coat is used for cosmetics. The shell of the nut is used for gardens. And, of course, the nut itself is used for spice. 30% of world’s nutmeg comes from Grenada. A lot of the nutmeg trees were knocked down by hurricane Ivan which seriously impacted the local economy.In fact, 90% of the buildings on the island were damaged by hurricane Ivan (the terrible), a category 5 hurricane that hit Grenada in 2004. Just about everything lost its roof at minimum.
The island has monkeys, armadillos, opossums and mongoose. People eat them all. Including monkeys. He said monkeys taste like chicken. And we’ll be having chicken for lunch (wink wink). The mongoose were brought in to clear snakes and rats from cane fields. They got the snakes, but rats are nocturnal, and mongoose aren’t so ‘they never met’. But mongoose eat chickens, which they didn’t want to happen. And spread rabies which they also didn’t want. So it didn’t work out too well. (Never does. Ask Australia.)
There’s a yearly best village competition with prizes. It helps make things look better and fosters civic involvement, which is nice. There’s also a yearly ‘color’ day to dress up in red, yellow and green (the colors of the flag) for Independence Day. This is their 51st year of independence. It turns out the guy who designed the flag died on the anniversary day of the 50th.
The flag is green for foliage, yellow for the sun, red for the ‘blood of the people’ (i.e. the people are good), 7 stars for the 7 parishes (all named after saints – John, George, Patrick, etc.), and a nutmeg for spices.
Bernard claimed the crime rate is low. Just a handful of murders (mostly domestic disputes). Versus Trinidad which had 600+ murders last year. (Which is kind of a lot…)
Health care is free, including medications (if available). But you can also get private (i.e. better) care if you pay.
Per Bertrand, people can be poor but never go hungry because it’s so easy to grow things or find things to eat. People we talked to on returning to the ship begged to differ based on what they heard on their tours.
There are both goats and sheep on the island. They look very similar because the sheep don’t have wool (too hot). The way to tell them apart is goat tails go up, sheep tails go down.
During one election, some politician promised to bring back goatses and sheepses (whose population had dwindled for some reason). Bertrand found this hilarious and said it cost the guy the election because he sounded so stupid.
The government consists of a House of Representatives (voted on by the people), a Senate (appointed – not sure by who), a prime minister, voted on by the legislature, and a director general appointed by prime minister, who has no political power. He’s a figurehead, like a monarch.
There was a coup in the 80’s by some Marxists. They shot the prime minister and his cabinet. This is what prompted the US invasion, over concerns of ‘another Cuba’. The people who did it were caught, including a woman. They were sentenced to death but given a reprieve by a court in London. The woman then got cancer and was given permission to go to Jamaica for treatment and then come back to serve her sentence. Bertrand said they’re still waiting for her to show up.
Primary school is free and mandatory. But you have to wear a uniform and buy it yourself and buy your own books. Similar to the other islands.
We headed back to the boat, but for some reason, we needed to swing by the old airstrip to see the remains of a crashed Aeroflot plane. The airport was also where the US troops landed during the invasion. It’s not used anymore. For planes anyway. The driving school uses the runway for driving practice. And given how people drive on the islands, that seems like a good idea.
I got back before Marion. She had done the Tea House tour. She really liked it. An old (1700’s?) house with mahogany and such. And a really nice (but small) garden. It’s supposed to be one of the ‘1000 gardens you should see before you die’ and the general sentiment from her and others was ‘really? why?’ It wasn’t bad, just didn’t seem worthy of that level of recognition. The place is famous for ‘blue tea’ which is very blue and apparently quite good. Marion bought some.
Since her tour was just in the afternoon and I was out on a bus, she went into town to shop in the morning, which she really enjoyed. And, as an added bonus, saw lots of fish (more than snorkeling) along the waterfront as she walked.
This evening we had the last lecture from Bernard the slavery guy. He really just sucks. It was supposed to be about Barbados and how the English profited from sugar. But mostly it was the same information as the last one and just as poorly presented – no real flow, stopping mid-sentence to make a different point. No depth. Terrible slides. Very disappointing.
After his talk, a 15-minute talk on the disembarkment procedures. We need to get packed up tomorrow night. We’re not looking forward to that, although it mostly falls to Marion.
[ Main Index] [ Previous Day ][ Next Day ] [ Photo Gallery ] [ Top ]