Our Grenada Blog

We were recently in town on a saturday morning looking for some cucumbers.

Occasionally, there tends to be a shortage of certain fruits and vegetables. The fruits because they are not in season all year round, and the vegetables, because most farmers seem to plant them at the same time, so when the crop is finished, there is a short time when you can't seem to find any.

Just before Christmas, it was tomatoes and cucumbers.

Anyway, we were doing some window shopping in the town and decided to check out the market to see if by chance there were cucumbers available.

If you would like to see a cross section of Grenadian life, then the market on a saturday morning is a good place to be.

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Yacht Reverie

We were just sitting on our verandah watching the lights come on after the sunset. Glorious sunset (Moni saw the green blip), the last for 2007.

The Royal Clipper is all lighted up outside the town. At Port Louis, the 'Reverie' is all lighted up as well. She is the largest private yacht built in Italy. The photos of her on their website are unbelievable! More like a floating palace than a boat.

They were decorating the top deck, just before the sunset. I guess there is going to be a private party to ring in the New Year.......just checked my email and no, there is no invitation there....guess we will just have to sip our drinks and watch the action from here ;-)

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Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) - click to enlarge

Yesterday, the Queen Mary was in port for its usual Christmas visit.

Today, the QE2 has taken her place.

This will be the last time the old girl visits Grenada it seems. Heard that she has been sold and will be turned into a floating hotel later in the year (2008) at Palm Jumeirah, Dubai ...not the end you would envision for one of these old cruise ships.

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The largest privately owned yacht in the world, pulled into the lagoon today.
Now THAT is a one beautiful and expensive toy.
The Maltese Falcon is currently moored alongside the jetty at Port Louis (where else?). Seems they are waiting for their guests to arrive tomorrow.
Stopped off after work to take a shot of it...WOW!
O.k, i know what i want for my next Christmas....;-) I guess the daily upkeep on that baby is more than i make in a year.

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There are two seasons during the year which attract the most attention, and these are Carnival and Christmas.

Carnival attracts both visitors and locals alike. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find space on a flight into the island at that time, as it seems that every Grenadian living overseas, is trying to get home in time for the celebrations.

Christmas is usually spent with the family...and in Grenada, that can mean a VERY extended family. Of course, there is the usual rush to get the house painted, cobwebbing done, hang the new curtains (or give the old ones a severe cleaning), and make sure you have a ham and some sorrel and ginger beer handy for the Christmas.

The nights are cooler and wherever you go, you hear Parang playing on the radio. It's a part of Caribbean culture, as much so as Christmas carols.

For church goers, there is of course midnight mass and other services at chapels all over the island. There is a feeling of 'expectation' in the air and even the sunshine seems to change a little and its not as hot on the skin.

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I guess it comes as no surprise to some people how difficult it can be to find the stuff you are looking for. Grenada is a great place to live, but you certainly need lots of patience sometimes.

For instance...after Ivan (yes, more than 3 years ago, if you insist on keeping count), as we had lost all our furniture, we decided we would like to re-decorate the house in a warmer, more caribbean style. This means brighter colors and furniture which tended to be either rattan or bamboo.

This would be a long term project, not because we were not in a rush, but because we could not find everything we wanted in the local stores at a reasonable price (cheap).

To this end, we would buy individual pieces whenever we came across them, occasionally finding rugs, side tables etc. in the shops in town.

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If anyone in the Caribbean hasn't heard by now that we had a strong earthquake, then they were asleep.
Driving home this afternoon, i was stuck in the usual traffic jam at the Lagoon junction when i realized that the jeep was shaking a little more than normal.

Of course, the first thought which goes through my head is that the suspension probably needs checking, after all, Scooby is a little long in the tooth now (12 years old). Just about then i glanced up and noticed that the telephone poles and wires were shaking....O.K! Must be an earthquake!...or at least a strong tremor.

Right about then i also noticed that all the employees in the buildings along the roadside were running outside.

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Tourism in Grenada is a major industry, and the tourist dollars are very important to our island. Like the government slogan says "tourism is everyone's business".

Every couple of days we have at least one cruise ship in port and sometimes up to three. We have noticed a few quirks, over the years..you tend to, if you go people watching.....

For instance, Moni worked for a couple years as a rainforest hiking guide for the german cuise ships, and was always amazed how some tourists came dressed to go hiking.

I mean really!! High heels, fully made up, wrong type of clothing. You would think that they don't expect to get muddy and sweaty, much less soaked by a passing shower of rain, especially as the tours started in the rainy season. After doing this for so many years, her biggest wish was to get a t-shirt which said 'I am not a tourist'!...

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We have been having an unusually hot rainy season this year. Sitting here now, i wish today was one of those hot sunny days.

Started out sunny enough this morning, but that didn't last very long!

Since around 9:30 its been raining off and on, but it didn't really start to pour until nearly midday...and has been ever since.

You would think that, if you live in the Caribbean, you would never feel cold and your biggest worry was sunburn....HAH! O.k, it might not snow in the next 5 minutes, but as far as i'm concerned, 76 degrees is a mite cool...Throw in the wind chill factor and a persistent rain and it feels like 66!

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For the past couple of months we have been noticing the chinese workers putting up a building in Woodlands, next to the Sugar Factory.

We naturally assumed that it was either accommodation for their workers, or some sort of warehouse for supplies used in construction.

Turns out that it is actually a hotel! Of course, we got a few photos.

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