Grenada, Part Two: Touring the Island

On Day Four of our trip, the University sponsored a tour of the island. Our guide, Edwin, was extremely knowledgeable and well-educated. Although he's traveled the world and saw his country through a revolution and invasion, he now spends his time educating Grenada's youth and giving tours to people like us.

I was able to attend a Q&A with the SGU SGA students and Jim & the advisers. Our buddy Tim took these pictures of the campus buildings at sunset. I'm so glad he did!

Here you are looking at one of the forts (the fort?) in St. George. The two towers in the middle (one black, one white) are bell towers of two churches. The tops were completely blown off during Ivan and have yet to be restored.

Is there any way you can see what we are seeing above?
The driver was AWESOME and totally took this hill inch by inch, brake by brake, like a pro. I just looked out the window and tried not to get sick.
This hill made Ithaca's streets look TAME.

A spice market in St. George's.
We came home with the following:
Vanilla, bay leaves, cloves, mace, nutmeg, chocolate, cocoa balls, jerk seasoning, and cinnamon bark.

Oy, haggling for prices is not one of my strong points. We smartly bought just a few things here... and got the rest of the stuff later on the tour.

Everyone was still recovering from the week-long (month long?) celebration honoring the country's independence in early February. Lots of decorations with the national flag, as above.

There were goats tied up on the side of the road everywhere.

Our visit to Concord Falls. Pretty, but not quite like those in Ithaca. Or Niagara.
(But we didn't tell them that)
Too cold to swim in them, although we were encouraged to do so.
Oddly, the day of the tour was the worst weather-- all rainy-- but I was glad it was like that on that day.

OK. So that is a cocoa plant. With the slimy cocoa beans inside.
Jim and others happily sucked on one. He insisted I try one as well... the darn thing looked and felt like a raw scallop. I spit it out after two seconds. Yuck.

"Come on honey, try it!"

This is a great example (above) of what nutmeg really looks like. You have the outer flesh, the red mace, and then the inner brown shell. Crack that sucker open, and you have fresh nutmeg.
The mace is actually more expensive to buy, but the nutmeg is exported in greater quantities.

Those leaves are used to make callaloo soup, a local iron-rich favorite. I had it once, Jim had it a few times.

Our tour included authentic, historical stops, as opposed to modern touristy attractions, which was right up our alley. Here we are visiting a cocoa plantation that is still in operation.The beans are harvested and put in troughs out below to dry out before being processed.

Chocolate gold.

Nutmeg covered in mace.
Apparently, mace is good if you use it in turtle soup.
I will have to do more research to see what else I can cook with it...

A guide, who allowed us to sniff and touch many fresh herbs and spices... and taste those slimy cocoa beans.

This dog has the life. He was beggin' for me to take this picture, too.

 Fresh cut cinnamon!

 We ate lunch at a place called Belmont Estate. Absolutely beautiful, except for the rain.

 It was the best food I had on the island... a lunch buffet.
Below are some very, very old bowls that are used to break up the cocoa beans... you step on them in there.

 On the Northeast cost, we visited Rivers Rum distillery. This place was unbelievable.

It started operating in 1785... and still operates in the SAME EXACT WAY, for the most part.

Sugar cane is harvested by hand in the nearby lands. Brought to these belts.

 Crushed with this machine. Wet sugar comes squirting out and is collected.

 Husks and waste are recycled, mostly used to heat the furnace.

Yep, that's the furnace.

 Liquid sugar comes into these massive vats, where it is transferred from one to the other using a giant ladle at the end of a long stick. Heated, scooped, moved...

 Then, the sugar used to ferment in these big wooden barrels. But they became too expensive to maintain. So they now use bigger vats.

 There is no telling what touring groups may drop into these vats.

 Something else magical happens during this part here.
I don't remember what.

 Ah! This might tell you if you care!

 End product?
Rum!

 That thingy tells you how alcoholic the rum is. If it doesn't pass the test, it gets sent back into the system to be refined again. Pretty efficient. The rum is so popular, so organic, they cannot make enough to keep up with the demand. It is local and usually stays local for that reason.

 And this is what I think about rum.
Let me tell you, I was drinking the RUM PUNCH. Which is diluted rum in Hawaiian Punch, I think.
It was still strong.

 Jim and Tim tasted some very strong rum. So strong that you could not bring it on the airplane because of the high alcohol content.
Entire tour and all-you-could-taste rum samples = $2 USD

 Look! Elevation!
The bus tour lasted from 8:30AM until 5PM. We did get to see all of the island, but we were also glad to get back to the University Club.

On Saturday morning, we left.

 Open-air airports are AWESOME. The one in Hawaii was a lot like this. You know you are in paradise when the airport doesn't need rampways.

 If you look very carefully right right right right heeeeeeeeeeereeeeeeee****, you will see the part of the bay where we were staying. At least I think it is. We can pretend so.
Good for me to get my camera out in time, no?

 Five hour layover in Miami and dammit, I'm getting some rays.
Too bad all of the smokers decided to do the same.
So we killed time eating sushi at the airport. Below, Jim digs in to his BOAT.

And that was Grenada! Would I go back? If given the same opportunity, absolutely... but the flight was looong (3.5 hrs from Miami). Might try a closer island for our next adventure. 

But, I have a nice tan, rockin' spices, and lots of beautiful pictures.

Thanks, SGU! Thanks, Grenada!