downtown!

Mom and I spent an afternoon roaming a round St. George's.
I found a new favorite store.  Not to actually buy anything from, but to browse and steal ideas from.
We started in the Carenage, went up hill to church street to see the roof-less apostolic church, down the stairs to the market, down the block to the mall, and then to KFC for lunch (we couldn't find/decide on anything else!)

It was a fun, hot, and tiring day.  But aren't they all in Grenada??
& mom LOVED the reggae buses :)

 taken out the bus window.

Discovery Train!

On Saturday the SOs went on the Discovery Train through the town of St. George's!
It was a lot of fun and an interesting perspective of a town that I've been to dozens of times.

The train leaves from the Esplande  Mall in dowtown St. George's.  It only runs on days that a cruise ship is in port (b/c who else is going to ride it, and they can make big bucks off tourists!)
I was told that it was $40EC or $15US per person to take the tour, which includes entrance to the National Museum (& that's a whole nother blog post)
But the SOs were able to rent out the entire train for $400EC, so it ended up only being $13EC about $5US per person! 

I would recommend this to a visitor in Grenada, but not someone who lives here... I didn't see anything that I hadn't already seen before. 

The Carenage

Today I went downtown to do some shopping and turns out that 3 cruise ships were in port today! 
So the number of cruisers probably outweighed the number of locals in town today :)

I had a fabulous day playing tourist!  No one bothered me much because there were busy with the literally thousands of other white people with cameras walking around.
I did however get my bus fair paid for by a nice man.  We had a nice conversation on the way into town & he was well informed that I was married and paid for me when he got off, so I said... whatever go for it & put my $2.50 back in my pocket.

I bought what I needed and walked through the tunnel to the Carenage to see the ship that was docked there.  There were two larger ships docked at the main port.  The main port is connected to the Esplande Mall.  It was built by the Dutch after Hurricane Ivan in 04.  The cruisers that got off at the Carenage got a much different first view of Grenada, a preferable one if you ask me.  Rather than seeing Duty Free shops and overpriced, made in China souvenirs when they stepped off board they were greeted with the beautiful, picturesque Carenage.

I walked around and snapped a few picture before hopping on another bus to to head home.  one I unfortunately had to pay for.

St. George's decked out for Independence Day!

Happy face! 

around the island!

Monday I forced Lee out of the house for some more adventuring.
Lee doesn't like to be without a plan... and I while I always have a "plan" in my head... it doesn't always translate as a plan to him.
My plan was to hop on some Reggae buses and see where we end up!  haha and that's what we did!

We took a university bus down to the Texaco and got a #1 Reggae to St. George's
from St. George's we took a #6 to Grenville (my, 3rd? time there) by way of Grand Etang.
BIG mistake. 
If I could have done it differently we would have taken a #2 to Grenville  instead.  The road through Grand Etang is rough... straight up a mountain on a bus driving way too fast.  Lee got sick.  It really did feel as though we had got off a roller coaster when we got out at Grenville.

Grenville is the 2nd largest town in Grenada.  It's on the east coast, facing the Atlantic so the beach there isn't quite as beautiful.  The town is almost identical to St. George's... fish market, spices, crappy stores selling way too expensive stuff, etc...

 Lee resting in the shade of a church built in 1844...  imagine Grenada in 1844!

 Like every town, Grenville is a big fishing community. 

We walked all around the town and got a smoothie (guava, yum!)  and then discussed where to go next,  I wanted to go Bathaway Beach because I had heard it was cool... but after talking to a bus driver we decided to go to Sauteurs instead.  I think the driver wanted us on his bus (#9), because he was kind of discouraging of Bathaway... told us it was a mile off the main road, which it very well may be, I don't know, and told me to watch my purse when we were there... lol. so we said hey let's go to Sauteurs!  and I'm so glad we made that decision!

Sauteurs is at the very northern tip of Grenada.  It is the place where the native Caribs killed themselves rather than surrendering to the French by jumping off a 100ft cliff!  The ride there was another bumpy, hilly, crazy ride.

The most beautiful part of Sauteurs by far is the view!  You can see several other islands including, Union Island and Carriacou, and several other smaller islands.

After having a picnic and enjoying the view for a while we got on a #5 bus back to St. George's.
We drove through Victoria and Gouyave on the way home. 
The #5 bus is such a beautiful drive!  It's right along the ocean most of the way... and it made us slightly less sick :)

Once in St. George's we went to the grocery for a few things and got a #1 back to Maurice Bishop Hwy and walked the rest of the way home...
It was a LONG day. 
Which is why I went to sleep at 7pm that night.

All 4 Christ

I saw a flier at the grocery store one day for an island wide food distribution
so I went to their website
and requested more information

flash forward a month (or more!)
Friday night, around 7pm I receive a call informing me that there is a food giveaway on Saturday, can I meet them at 8am? a little more than 12 hours later....
ha! this is Grenada and of course I said yes



I drag my friend Jessi along with me, because I don't know what I'm getting myself into
and sure enough, it was quite the adventure!!! 

the morning started off great.
as I was waiting for Jessi and a reggae bus at the Texaco at 7:30am I see
a man walk by carrying a forever21 bag
a man driving down the street clapping, clapping along with a song... no hands on the wheel.
and then we hop on a bus and it's entire ceiling was airbrushed... two hand guns in the front, creepy trees in the back, and some dogs (or goats we couldn't tell) running over some sand dunes


we finally arrive in St. George's and meet David, a member of All4Christ and he tells us we're going to pick up a package.
from the post office??
no, from a red truck.
we walk along the street searching for the red truck, and alas it is there & the man does have a package.... a case of corned beef! :)
we turn around and luckily enough there is a bus going to Tempe stopped in the street right behind us, so we all jump in!

in Tempe, we walked up to a Pentecostal Church and helped carry bags of groceries from storage to the door to get ready to load the truck.
then we wait.... just the 3 of us...
little by little a few people wonder in...
9am passes
then 10am
and 11 is nearing.... and we are sitting in this hot, stuffy church waiting.

finally a truck arrives. after spending 20 minutes trying to park perfectly & ending up parking in the most inconvenient location (nothing, and I repeat nothing is done in a well thought out way in Grenada) we start loading up.
food, clothing, and an entire drum kit in the back of a truck...haha!

looking around I didn't see many other cars or a van... so I look to Jessi & say "I think we're riding in this truck!!"
and sure enough... we all load in!
they thought the floor of the truck was a little damp so they laid out trash bags for us to sit on. not the best idea... the first couple turns and Jessi and I were sliding all over the place!

As soon as I get my hopes up that we are actually going to be on our way.... we need to make a pit stop for a generator.
turns out the generator may not be working... so we sit and wait for someone to come check it out.
mind you Jessi and I had both taken Dramamine in prep for this trip because bus rides through the mountains have proved to be quite hard on the stomach.  so it was kicking in and making us sleeeeepy

another 20 minutes and we are on our way! for real this time... at least until we had to stop for gas :)
the actual truck ride was short and enjoyable.  nice breeze, great views.


We finally arrive and meet the people at the government housing scheme in St. David's where we were handing out the food and clothing. 
Lots of cute kids running around!  & one little girl bit and pinched me :/ just for fun!

The group set up and about 5 minutes into the generator running, smoke fills the air and the generator is broken. all that for NOTHING.
so we continue on... singing without instruments (which really would have been fine in the first place)
someone along the way pulled out some extension cords and hooked the mics and keyboard up from someone's house... so a little later the music picked up. 
It was nice listening to everyone singing and praising God... even in the hard times they were facing.
and it was nice to be able to give them some food and clothing (even if I had very, very little to do with it and the whole production could have very easily gone on without me)

After distributing the stuff Jessi and I had to make a break for it because I was supposed to be back to babysit at 2!

we walked down the road, until we found the "main road" and waited for a bus to pass.
one finally did & we got on
and it took us to St. George's. again.
so we had to take ANOTHER bus to get home!

craziest day.

I got back to the Lance Aux Epines roundabout to find that no bus would be passing for another hour, so I had Kerrie (my babsitting mom) come pick me up there.
eeesh.

I fell asleep the minute I got home from babysitting (dramamine) and didn't wake up for 2 hours.
the best nap ever.



now after the longest post ever, some pictures!

Train ride through town!!

A friend posted this picture on facebook today!! I had read about the "train" ride through town on this website a couple months ago but didn't think it'd actually happen.... but here it is!!
I'm so excited.  I'm going downtown soon (maybe Friday) and I will be looking for this!!
I'll let you know what I find out.

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