Steve and Cathy's Blog

What a difference a couple of degrees in latitude makes.  Two days ago we were in a virtual desert in Bonaire and today we reach lush and wet Grenada.  We are scheduled to arrive by 8:00am but it would seem we arrive somewhat earlier.  Regardless, the much larger P & O Cruises ship Azura has preceded us into port, and we dock on the other side of a long finger dock from them.

Apparently it’s a busy day for customs officials, as we are told to meet in Insignia Lounge at 7:45 for our excursion and are left staring at the slightly embarrassed Destination Services personnel, who explain the customs delay, which lasts around a half hour.  No big deal.  Hey, where else are we going, anyway?

Finally we are ready to board our 24-passenger bus for our morning Mountain Rainforest, Grand Etang and Annandale excursion with driver and guide Norman, aka Pumpkin (Cathy speculates that his mother gave him that nickname when he was a baby and it stuck).  The forecast is for scattered showers, and, sure enough, we are greeted with a quick shower on our way to the bus, as well as showers – quick, drenching ones – throughout the tour.  We drive (they drive on the left, by the way) through the capital city of St. George’s, which is packed with traffic, and begin to climb … and climb … and climb.  Grenada is described in today’s Currents as having “lush vegetation, mountainous terrain and colorful colonial architecture…”  Lush vegetation for sure, but the mountainous terrain would make a native of Vermont think they came from Kansas.

The roads are narrow, and why wouldn’t they be, having been hacked out of the sides of mountains.  The main roads are two lanes wide, but many of the mountains through the plantations are just barely over one lane wide and full of switchbacks.  Our driver is truly an expert, as we find out later he has been doing this for almost twenty-five years.  He is polite, as are all the drivers.  It appears that our driver Pumpkin knows about every other person on the island, as cars, trucks and buses are constantly giving a quick beep-beep hello to him.  Additionally, on really tight areas where the passing is done at one mile per hour, both drivers exchange beeps as “please” and “thank you.”  One feature that keeps the speed down are speed bumps on all the roads all over the island.  Thank God.

And steep?  We spend the entire tour either climbing fifteen to twenty-degree slopes or going down the same steep hills.  I have a newfound appreciation and respect for the Nissan Corporation, the maker of our bus.  We spent all day grinding up hills in first or second gear or coming down hills in those gears with the brakes on.  I am not exaggerating.  It was remarkable.

We wind through small villages and in about half an hour find ourselves at Annandale Falls, our first of four stops.  This beautiful 30-feet high waterfall is surrounded by lush vegetation and large trees.  A quick five minute walk brings you there, but first you must run the gauntlet of people posing for photos (for a $2 fee) or selling necklaces of spices.

They are very pleasant but the whole scene is a bit confusing (in part because we are not the only tour base arriving.  Throughout the tour, there must be a half dozen ahead or behind us by no more than a minute or two.)  Steve certainly is confused.  There are three ladies in very interesting dress, and he naively asks if he can take their picture before hearing about the fee.

He’s learning fast, however, because once we reach the falls, there are five young men making conversation with us tourists.  They are five guys who regale us visitors by climbing up to about forty feet above the pool into which the waterfall cascades and jump so that we can capture them on our camera.  Ricky is the one that greets me.  He is super nice, a great salesman, and explains that any tips given for his performance will be shared with the other four.  And of course his suggestion for a tip is five or ten dollars, way above our price range.  Hey, you don’t ask, you don’t get, right?  We climb down the steep steps to the platform where we can take photos of the falls and our jumping performers.

They do put on a good show, and they are very lively and friendly, but the scene is a bit frenetic.  I think I took a photo of Ricky, and he volunteers to take one of Cathy and me.

She heads back up as I try to get some pictures of the actual falls, and she tips Ricky two bucks, which is reasonable.  These guys will be wealthy by the end of the day if every couple were to to do that.

Back at the top where the buses are, the woman who clued me about the photography fee reminds me that I still owe her.  I go to the bus, get $2 from Cathy and square up with her.  This was a great lesson that I won’t soon forget.  It has to be remembered that the unemployment rate in some of these islands is very high – in Grenada, it is officially 30% – and agriculture and tourism are the only sources of hard currency.  Folks take every opportunity to earn a living, and I will say that they are quite creative at politely getting us to part with a buck or two.  I say good for them, especially because they’re so pleasant about it – insistent sometimes but pleasant just the same.

Along the way, of course, our driver gives us information about the island.  Here are some random facts: the island has been battered by hurricanes, the latest being Hurricane Ivan in 2004 that devastated the island as a Category Three storm.  There is still reconstruction going on in certain places.  They were slammed in 1999 with another hurricane, and much of the financing of reconstruction after that one came from Kuwait.  Why Kuwait?  Because the United States asked them to, and they were glad to oblige as a way of returning the favor done by the USA in liberating them from Iraq.

The currency is the Eastern Caribbean dollar, pegged, as is most currency in the Caribbean, to the US dollar.  The agriculture around the island is centered around spices, primarily cinnamon, allspice, cocoa, bay leaf, turmeric, and especially nutmeg and mace.

For that reason, our next stop is Dougaldston Plantation.  This was a formerly 1000-acre plantation owned by a family that sold off most of it in 1979, reducing it to a shell of its former self.  Today it’s mostly a place to bring us tourists for information about the many spices grown on the island.  We are all brought into a long building with half a dozen large tables, upon which are examples of all the spices.  A very knowledgeable person explains how each is grown and processed, and passes around examples for us to touch and smell.  The presentation lasts about twenty minutes and we are back out the door with a lot of information.

Back on the bus.  We enter the town of Guayave and stop at a working nutmeg factory with a small gift shop.  There was no explanation from the guide for this stop, but here we are.  We spend a few minutes reading signs and hearing information about this important crop, watching as people process the nutmegs and fill large bags for export throughout the world.

There are some very sweet ladies outside selling spice necklaces and bowls of spices.  Steve is accosted by Dorothy on the way in, eliciting a promise from him that, should we decide to buy anything, we would seek her out.  Indeed, on the way out, Cathy expresses interest in purchasing a $4 necklace.  I insist on dealing with Dorothy, only to find out later that Cathy had promised to do the same with another woman.  Oops.  Well, Dorothy not only sells us a $4 spice necklace, but a $1 bowl of spices so that she doesn’t have to give us change.  I’m telling you, these are enterprising people.

We head out of town with our goodies and begin climbing mountains again.  The roads are unbelievably steep and narrow, and the only place to pass cars appears to be the numerous switchbacks where the road widens.  It’s a good thing, because you can not see anyone coming in the opposite direction on these switchbacks.  Grenadian people are very skilled drivers, I’m telling’ ya.

A twenty-minute agonizing (to the bus) climb through a couple of plantations commences, one of them being Belvidere Plantation, once the largest nutmeg plantation in the world until Hurricane Janet in 1955 destroyed most of the nutmeg trees.  The trees were replanted and then Hurricane Ivan leveled 95% of those trees in 2004.  It was then that the British planted banana trees.  You have to give these folks high marks for perseverance.

We reach our last stop in a few more minutes: Grand Etang Forest Reserve, a 3,816-acre national park containing a crater lake remnant of a long-extinct volcano.

Upon leaving the bus, we first see a series of four or so carts with things for sale.  One of the carts has food items that immediately draws Cathy’s attention.  A very good salesperson by the name of Selma describes everything she has in her neatly laid out cart, including two hot sauces that she made herself.  We are given a taste of both varieties and opt for the hotter of the two to bring home to someone in our family we know will enjoy it.  (Okay, family, who do you think that might be?  One guess only).

There is also a very small but well done museum describing this forest preserve, how the timber it produces is used, how the ecology is protected and so forth.  There must be ten different species harvested, the most prevalent being the Caribbean pine used as a primary building material.  In another building, there is an outdoor bar and restaurant where we are given a coupon for a rum punch, beer or soft drink.

That’s the last stop,  Shortly after we leave, we reach the highest elevation of the tour at 1,910 feet above sea level.  We then slowly descend all 1,910 feet back through St. George’s to the ship.  Cathy and I both agree that it was a wonderful tour.  We saw three highlights of the island, and truly got a sense that this is more than a tourist destination.  It is a working island, a unique culture.

Before concluding remarks about the tour, let me just tell you one other unique attribute of Grenada.  For a few months back in 1983, this small island was the epicenter of the Cold War.  Cuba had been meddling in their politics for some time, and the first Prime Minister, who had served since independence in 1974, was overthrown by the Marxist New Jewel Movement and its leader Maurice Bishop, and a People’s Revolutionary Government was established.  On October 19th of 1983, the Deputy Prime Minister engineered a coup.  Chaos ensued, and six days later, the United States military and a Regional Security System force landed and took up the fight against the Cubans who were attempting to reinstall the communist PM.

To this day, Ronald Reagan is a hero on this island, despite the fact that he was excoriated by liberals in the US and Canada and elsewhere as a warmonger.  This small country is a democracy despite Cuba’s best efforts because of the willingness of the United States to come to its aid when requested by its government.  Who knows what might have been their fate to this day if the peace-at-all-costs Democrat party had won the 1980 US election.

Well, I just had to say that.  The Grenada invasion was poo-poohed in the United States, but it sure takes on a different perspective here in the country that was rescued from what was surely to become widespread and long-term bloodshed.

Okay, we arrive back at the pier around 1:00pm.  In order to board the ship, a passenger must wander through a very nicely set up mall full of shops.  We stop to buy postcards and stamps and to just view the scene.  It is well laid out and quite handy if you don’t plan to venture into the city later.  We are two of those, especially because the rain showers keep coming and going all afternoon.

We walk to Insignia through the pouring rain, have lunch at the Waves Grill, and then attempt to take naps (for some reason, neither one of us can sleep). Then time to read and blog … and watch the passengers from our neighbor cruise ship Azura who have spent a boisterous afternoon in the city’s pubs wander back to their ship for a late afternoon departure.  We wave to each other as the huge ship backs out of the pier.  We are due to depart Grenada at 8:00, so we head for the Grand Dining Room at 6:30 or so.

We are seated at a very nice table right in the stern, a perfect place to watch them cast off the lines just before we finish.  It’s back to our room to see Grenada in its evening splendor recede into the distance.  What a very nice day we had.