74) Grenada

St. George’s Harbour, Grenada 12° 02.727 N 61° 44.942 W

St. George’s Harbour (Amor Fati is below the arrow on the right)

 Felix

                  

John, Nancy and I wanted to walk thru the downtown area today.  On our walk out of the marina and at the entrance guard shack we met Felix.  He worked us as tourists and offered to take us on a 5-hour tour of the island for $100 USD.  We talked and agreed to meet him the next morning at 9am.  We figured we would see more of the island this way and not get too lost.

While walking down the street we happened to be in front of the bus pick up area and caught a ride into downtown.  The bus, if you can call it that, was a Toyota van full to capacity, driven by uhm a guy that was playing hip-hop through the stereo.  I noticed that the woman next to me knocked on the side when she wanted off.  And once again, there are only 2 speeds on this island and they are stop and go. 

The layout of the roads through the structures was obviously not designed for our current modes of transportation.  Yet, there is an unspoken language between drivers to drivers and drivers to pedestrians.  In other words, they honk the horn a lot.  Our route to the downtown area took us through the tunnel that was described to us the day before.  You literally risk your life walking through it with the cars.  Immediately after getting through the tunnel we got out at the end of the line or the start of the line, I’m not sure. 

Outdoor spice market

We walked a couple blocks just meandering and after turning the corner there was KFC.  It is everywhere.  And it was packed.  Just at the end of that block was the spice market.  It was a small outdoor area where it seems they are all selling the same thing.  One Grenada attraction is all the spices they produce.  We met Teresa and got quite a talking to.  She was pretty animated and very personable.  They all seemed to know how to engage the tourists.  It was raining hard while we were under cover in the market and had a long discussion with her while waiting it out.  We discovered that 90% of the nutmeg trees on the island were destroyed 2 years ago by hurricane Ivan.  I got the impression that the nutmeg for sale here was imported.  It takes years for the trees to produce.  We also learned that her house was destroyed as well as most of the others on the island.  After her husband re-built it his crazy son burned it down.  But, she had a smile on her face and said life goes on.  We got a restaurant recommendation from her and went to Denya’s, a local’s joint.

The Tourist Shopping Center!

                                                  

 

   

Grenada National Museum

  

Grenada National Museum (the attic!) 

 

 

We managed to find the Grenada National Museum and despite the exterior we were very interested.  Once we made it to the second room on the first floor we started wondering.  A guy was collecting water on the floor with a mop.  We were on the ground floor of a multi-story building.  It had been raining hard off and on but could it be leaking?  Sure enough the higher you went the more water was on the floor and coming from the ceiling.  I did manage to walk all the way up the interesting staircase to the attic and noticed that there were holes in the roof as big as TV’s.  There did not appear to be any concern to fix the roof.  Water was everywhere in the building and getting on museum items.  One display case had documents that were originals from a couple hundred years ago and John covered it with a tarp.  It was difficult to witness the destruction of the items in this museum due to lack of knowledge, concern, money and whatever other reasons.

The Nutmeg Restaurant & Bar

   

On our walk back to the boat we ducked into a café to get out of the rain and we happened on Alan in there eating lunch.  Today was his day to take a break.  We all sat together and had some snacks and waited out the rain.  We were in The Nutmeg Restaurant & Bar and found out that it is an attraction for some reason.   

    

We took the dinghy over to Foodland for groceries.  It has been raining a lot here and this little guy was ready for it.  I’ve shied away from buying pure rum.  Based on my taste tests at the rum factories I’ve learned the best rums are aged a bit and have taken on coloring from the oak barrels.  But, it’s still fun to look around in the foreign stores to see what’s available.

John, Nancy and I waited for the rain to stop so we could walk to Patrick’s for dinner.  We read the ad and thought it sounded great.  It was on the opposite side of the bay from the dinghy dock we use at the yacht club and not too far.  We were a little confused when we got there because Patrick’s is Patrick cooking dinner and serving you in the front room of his home on the 2^nd floor.  That was an interesting aspect and we took it in stride.  There were 3 tables in the room and one had 4 people that said the food was fantastic.  He asked us about drinks and then started bringing small portions of food on small plates.  Apparently, you eat what Patrick cooks and there is no menu.  He is a very confidant cook.  Some of the food was ok but the majority of it was fantastic.  The range of stuff was so wide and so well done that it was a surprise.  He explained each dish as he set it down and was incredibly polite and unassuming.  Unfortunately, the rain started just as we left and it poured.  I had a windbreaker and tried to share an umbrella with John and that helped but I was soaked from the shirt down.  The rain was blowing hard and we were walking into it.  At least it was warm outside and the rain wasn’t cold.

Monument for the Italian cruise ship that burned outside the bay.