Today is a national holiday in Grenada. Their Thanksgiving Day commemorates the arrival of US military forces when they intervened during a political revolution in 1983. Although many people might refer to this event as an "invasion" of Grenada, it is often pointed out by the locals as an "intervention". You can read more about it here at the following link... Operation Urgent Fury. Today marks the 25th anniversary. President Ronald Reagan was also dealing with the bombing of the barracks in Beirut only 2 days earlier. We didn't have any special plans for the day... we're hoping it's nice enough to get to the beach tomorrow.
On Thursday, we took a drive around the island. Well, we covered about the top 2/3. Originally we planned to do it on Wednesday, but there was a lot of rain in the forecast. Thursday's weather didn't look much more promising, but we decided to venture out anyway. Amazingly, we must have skirted the rain all day because we only came into one downpour. We were watching some very dark clouds over the mountains all day... even saw a waterspout out in the Caribbean Sea. (That's a little tornado over water.) When we got home later that day, we could tell there had been quite a bit of rain here while we were out. The news then showed that many streets were flooded in the city and along the tourist section of Grand Anse. One restaurant (along the main highway) had 3 feet of water inside! Here's a photo from the day... along the northern edge of the island:
We had a great day for the hash last Saturday! I forwarded some photos from the day so they could post them on the Grenada Hash Harriers website. If you want to see all of them, keep an eye on this site: Grenada Hash Website/Photos (Watch for the link for "Hash 601" photos, which haven't been posted by the time I write this.)
And today I finally did it! I made my first batch of soft pretzels... from scratch! They taste prettygood, but I'm missing the coarse salt. Snack food here is quite expensive so we've never bought a bag of chips, etc. (and I haven't seen any pretzels in the grocery store). We now make popcorn the old-time way... in a covered pot on top of the stove. It's great!
I forgot to mention... I received my first package (mostly forwarded mail) from my sister. I had to open the box in front of the customs agent so they could look through it to see if there was anything inside of "value". (Meaning: anything there to tax!) They saw that it was mostly mail, with some iced tea mix so there was no charge for duty. But we discovered that every time we receive a box, it'll cost us $20 EC to get it... that's about $7.50 US. In addition to that, there will be a percentage fee added to the value, which could be as high as 35-55% for electronics! (The root beer barrels she threw in were a real treat!)
Actually, it started last week... but we missed seeing the "Arcadia" at the pier. The Grenada Board of Tourism has a posting of the cruise ship schedule on the internet, so we knew there would be another one arriving this morning. Today's visit was from Holland America's VEENDAM, and has a capacity for 1,266 passengers... not so large compared to some of the newer cruise ships. We decided to go to town to get some photos and to see the city come alive! Of course, there is a hazard to us in walking around town on a day when the cruise ships are here... because of our skin color, we are constantly approached by the locals with offers for taxi rides, spices, and other souvenier items. So our answer to this dilemma was to stop at a hardware store to buy a gallon can of stain! (No one seemed to bother us after that.)
We thought there might be a good number of Americans on this ship, and we noticed that many of them seemed much older than us... I saw a few being pushed around the streets in wheelchairs, and one even was pushing along her oxygen cart... not an easy feat if you've seen the streets & hills in the city! I finally stopped a couple walking past our car and asked them from where the ship departed. They told us they were Canadians (from Vancouver) and this ship is on a 5 week trip which began in San Diego... through the Panama Canal and they were headed to the Amazon! (That explained the reason for all the senior citizens we saw! A younger crowd usually has more difficulty getting that much time off work.) Our neighbor at Bay Gardens said he had a group (from the ship) in this morning to tour his gardens. In case you're interested, here's a link to the itinerary for this trip: Veendam Itinerary
While in town, I took another little video clip while driving on the city streets. I know you'll enjoy this one! FYI... the red van in front of us is what they consider a taxi, and we stop for a moment at a traffic signal (look for the box where the traffic cop used to stand to direct traffic here). Further along this one-way road, we come to a speed hump. Now... fasten your seatbelts! (There's not much audio to go with it... sorry.)
We've heard about this group that meets every other Saturday for something called a "hash"... which is really a hike. Today was their 600th hash, so we decided to finally catch up with them at 2:30 today & see what it's all about!
First I have to tell you that last night we woke to some strong thunderstorms & heavy rain beginning around 3 am. At 10:00 this morning, it was STILL raining hard. I have no idea how much rain we actually got, but it was the most I've seen in one stretch since arriving here! On our drive to the hash, we noticed a number of landslides along the way, and one car looked like it had been submerged in an overflow across the road. Although it finally stopped by now, we are surely going to get muddy today!
We were prepared for the mud... extra set of clothes (and shoes), and camera in underwater housing (in case it rains again!). I wore my high-topped hiking boots... which are not that comfortable, but I was told it would only be about an hour hike so I could handle that.
At the beginning, we had to sign in (then sign out when we get back)... indicating that we were "virgins"... first-timers. There were quite a few virgins on this one, I guess because this was their 600th hash. They have different people who lay out the trails each time, so the guys who set this one were acknowledged. In preparation for these hashes, they usually need to cut the brush back to create the trail to follow. Sometimes I hear these guys get a bit over-enthusiastic in creating a challenging trail. Today we heard there were 3 trails for: walkers, runners, and ironmen. (We're doing the "walkers" trail... we're not nuts!)
I'm including a link to the photos I took: Webshots Album I've captioned most of them, and there are a couple very short video clips to really give you an idea of what the environment was like. Overall, we had a good time, although it took us about 1-1/2 hours to finish! (Sometimes the trail got bottled up when people had to go single file to get through an area.) We're looking forward to doing it again since it's really great exercise! (At least it's a way to work off the alcoholic beverages consumed during the event!)
Upon returning home, the first order is to clean up the mud off our boots and get the clothes in the laundry! Then after a shower (and some medical attention to relieve the blisters on my heels), I'm sitting here posting the photos. In a few minutes, my head will be meeting the pillow for hopefully a restful and QUIET night of recuperation!
We went for groceries today and just happened to pass by Grenada's new Prime Minister Thomas Tillman... in the grocery aisle! http://www.gov.gd/ (He was just elected in July.) We noticed an official-looking car sitting out front, and there seemed to be a bit of excitement when we walked into the store. But no one gave us a second look. As we walked down the soap aisle, he passed us on his way to the front of the store. (By the time we got to the check-out, he was gone.) He had at least one bodyguard with him, and I'm sure there was more security there, but it seemed to be no big deal. I could have easily touched him as he passed me. Today started out with a very strong and hard rain storm, but once it passed it turned out to be a beautiful day... with big puffy white clouds in the sky! So we ran outside and finally rolled the last bit of paint on the side wall of the house. The only thing left to do outside is some trim work. I'll leave you with a photo of Scott in our car... with our old La-Z-Boy recliner on top, ready for delivery to a friend of ours here. Who says we need a "truck"?!
I'm sitting here this morning watching another beautiful sunrise! I suppose the mornings back in PA are turning crisp by now... not something I'm missing. Thought I'd talk about the street market in St. George's. Every Saturday morning, the city is alive with street vendors selling local produce & spices. There is also a Fish Market and Meat Market... buildings where you can go to purchase the fresh "catch of the day". Occasionally, we'll trek to town, with our cooler ready to see what's in store! Last week, we bought some pork at the Meat Market. It's a pretty gross place... as you can see in the photo. There are about 6 or 8 spaces for vendors in the building... 3 on each side. Each one is behind a counter with bars that go to the ceiling (looks like prison bars). They all have a really old looking chopping block, probably from a tree stump! And believe it or not, when they chop the meat for you, some of it actually splashes through the bars at you! (I had to try to protect my camera from it!) Scott thinks this place is really cool... I think it's gross.
Today I have a haircut planned, along with a bit of shopping for a few items for the house. We need a few large pots so we can transfer a couple large plants that have become root-bound (on the veranda). The decision is whether to get the kind made with cement... or to use plastic ones that look like pottery. I'm still trying to figure out where the best place is to purchase them.
NOTE: There's a new "Big" in town! We've noticed another large lizard (not quite the size of Mr. Big) hanging out in Mr. Big's area. This one is brown... and doesn't seem to be very friendly. AND I'm not sure, but Tail-less Joe may still be here! We've trimmed back the bush that he used to lounge on, so he must have gone somewhere else temporarily.
And today I finally did it! I made my first batch of soft pretzels... from scratch! They taste pretty good, but I'm missing the coarse salt. Snack food here is quite expensive so we've never bought a bag of chips, etc. (and I haven't seen any pretzels in the grocery store). We now make popcorn the old-time way... in a covered pot on top of the stove. It's great!
And today I finally did it! I made my first batch of soft pretzels... from scratch! They taste pretty good, but I'm missing the coarse salt. Snack food here is quite expensive so we've never bought a bag of chips, etc. (and I haven't seen any pretzels in the grocery store). We now make popcorn the old-time way... in a covered pot on top of the stove. It's great!
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