Visitors!!!!

Lee's parents came to visit us!!
They got here Friday night.... we've been so busy I haven't had a chance to blog....

Friday we went to meet them at their hotel around 8 & went to the grocery so they could get some things for breakfast and snack... and then went to find somewhere to eat dinner, but everything was closed! on a Friday night! I'm a little bit embarrassed to say that Lee and I had not been further than the movie theater after dark! ha! and that was only once! We just don't go places at night... he studies and I blog :)
So I didn't really know when places would close, but apparently early.
We ended up at a little restaurant and I introduced Lee's Dad to LLB (Lemon, Lime, and Bitters) it's a non-alcoholic soda.... it's soooo good, it's not bitter, it's sweet.  I had a hamburger and fries (surprised?) Lee and his dad had Club sandwiches, and his mom had pumpkin soup.

Saturday morning we went to their hotel, The Flamboyant, to meet them to take them downtown St. George's shopping and site seeing.  and to my surprise they gave me an early Birthday present.... an UNDERWATER digital camera! yesssssssssssssss :) They had seen on my facebook that I wanted one and bought me one!  How awesome is that!? and Lee had told them that I wanted a blender... so that is what he expected them to bring me for my b-day, but they brought BOTH! :) yippie!
I cannot wait till after Lent to make smoothies every single day!!!!!
and they brought us sliverware! yay! we had really cheap silverware & a knife had just broke & a couple forks were loose..... now we have 8 sets of each! I never knew I'd be so happy over silverware
It was like Christmas.... they also brought clippers to cut Lee's hair, zip lock baggies, peanut butter, Caesar salad dressing, sunscreen, stuff for the orphans and Limes kids.... :) :) :)

So we took a reggae bus downtown and walked around.... I'll post pictures to document the trip.  It was fun and hot..... and so afterward we went down to Grand Anse Beach & cooled of... we had a beach day with the Limes kids scheduled, so I rushed to go to that... and then we relaxed a little and came to campus so we could get them passes for the buses and show them around campus a bit so they would know where to go.  We watched the sunset out on the peninsula and ate dinner... it was a good day!

explaining the spices...

sad fish market... 

 spices, spices, spices 

smoooooothies!

up the hill to Fort George

Carenage

later in the evening we walked out on the peninsula at the end of campus to watch the sunset

 

Cactus Hunting.

Yesterday some friends and I went to St. George's to go to the market and mall.
actually a lot of people went, it was like an SO field trip.
Alfonso, Amber, Christina, Adriana, Sarah, Sarah, and Sarah.... there are now 3 Sarah's!
It was a lot of fun and incredibly hot.
I did manage to get a potato peeler, start fruit, yams, bananas, and earrings for my cartilage piercing, since my other one had like rusted or something... gross.
and I remained true to my vow to give up smoothies for Lent even though EVERYONE else got one. :/

Afterward I decided to go after my cacti I wanted to get..... it was an adventure.
I realized I didn't have anything to dig them up with, so I went with a..... spoon.
I was really afraid someone would see me out there digging up cacti, but luckily just some locals were out on the cliff fishing and they didn't even notice I was there. literally.
I found that baby cactus don't grow very deep roots, and they start off of a piece of an old cactus, so it wasn't too hard to dig them up. and I found some perfect little cacti that needed a new home.

I had been saving our tin cans from soup and vegetables, without actually knowing what I would do with them, and they worked perfectly for cactus. 

I ended up getting way more than I needed and Lee was like what are we supposed to do with these?! haha.... but I love them!  I'm going to sit them outside my door everyday to get some sun.
and I only got pricked once!!!

St. George's

Today the SOs went down to St. George's which is the capital of Grenada... It was the first time that I had been since we got here... and it's only like 5 miles away!
We took the Reggae Bus down... it's more like a van than a bus and it only cost $2.50EC!
I got very, very, very claustrophobic in the bus though, I was in the very back, the windows were tinted, it was jammed full, and then we went through a TUNNEL. and we stopped in the tunnel. I honestly almost had a panic attack... it would have been quite embarrassing. but I lived.

We went to the mall, which was just very touristy and expensive, I did get 3 postcards for $1.. and a delicious guava smoothie! I am becoming obsessed with guava.

Then we went to the market area where they have fresh vegetables, fruit, eggs, spices, and lots of other stuff. I got some what I believed to be sweet potatoes, but then found out were yams, and yes they are different.  Yams are grown in south america, the caribbean, and africa... and are much sweeter than sweet potatoes and a bit dryer in texture... and the ones I got today were white inside!
We had them for dinner and they were so good! we didn't even need to add brown sugar, just a little butter and they were perfect.
I also got star fruit.  I don't really know how to describe the taste, kinda like a grape, kinda like an apple, and kinda not. but good.. and I got a whole bag for $3EC!  and they look pretty when you cut them.
We also went to a hardware-ish store called something that starts with a P, that had kitchen essentials, which we were all very happy to find a little cheaper than most places.  I got another pitcher, so we can have tea and koolaid and water! a big bowl for mixing stuff, 2 microwave & freezer safe storage containers, some sponges, lotion, shampoo and conditioner.  and they had fabric! I want to make curtains for our room sometime.

Did I mention it was really hot today? I was a sweaty mess.

once we got back to Grand Anse, Sherry (a girl I am so happy I met today!) and I walked up to the movie theater shopping center to check it out.  On Wednesdays you can watch a movie for $7.50EC, so maybe if we plan really well Lee and I can go to a movie this Wednesday!

and then I came home and did 4 loads of laundry. 4! how do two people get 4 loads in just a few days??

so here is a photo recap of the market :)

my finds. real VO5 shampoo for $5EC! lotion, dish soap, the pitcher, bowl, starfruit, yams... 

 

this guy just walked in at the perfect time. he's very Grenadian =)