Grenada- a nice surprise!

The absolute best part of Grenada was these two men. The guitar guy made up songs about everyone as he sang to us and was absolutely hysterical. The next dude was the reflexologist, and he was a lot of fun too--I got a foot massage and Carrie had her back and shoulders done. He used aloe vera he grows himself, and claims it is the best on the island, but it is no match for his marijuana. That is as far as that conversation went! All of this happened on Grand Anse Beach which you get to via a water taxi which costs a whopping $3. I could live like that! Men fought over who would be the drink gopher and brought snacks and drinks all day long. That is right up my alley too.


That got me in a bit of trouble. My second rum punch had what looked like sand on it--which of course I mentioned to my gopher--he laughed hysterically and told me it was fresh nutmeg. Suffice it to say that I really thought it was pepper flavored sand. Every drink after that, he asked me if I wanted it with sand or without. I went with it, but should have had him hold the rum, is what I should have done, but I am a sucker for a rum vacation drink. Even with sand. Or nutmeg, or whatever the hell it was--looking back on how I felt, it may have been some other unidentified drug!


I did not anticipate liking Grenada so much. After all, the only thing I knew of it was that there used to be US troops there, and that they are known for their spices. In researching before the trip, I learned that it is mostly rain forest and they have a lot of monkeys. I like monkeys.

It was different than I anticipated. We ended up with a guide that I thought was just showing us to the right place to buy spices. He ended up taking us all over the town of Fort George, including the actual Fort, and giving us a jam packed history lesson that was extra interesting because he was so invested in it.

He showed us the old port that is not used anymore. The street scene is the road that lines that port.

The courtyard is part of the old Fort George, and I was standing where the Prime Minister was executed. To listen to him talk about it gave me shivers, he showed us the plaque commemorating all the government officials that were also killed, and noted that there were many more, but they were "just civilians". Interestingly, Grenada is one place where they tell you right off the bat that they love Americans, particularly Ronald Reagan--not something you hear very often! The cannon shown, pointing at the cruise ship, is just one of about 8 lined up in a row there, and they are part of the Fort as well. Today, the Fort is used as police headquarters.

















This is one of the few churches remaining above ground after the last Hurricane, which the entire island is recovering from. Even the Prime Minister was run out of his home and it is still not repaired. Anyway, many churches are in basements so they are safe in storms. Another interesting thing that our guide told us was that all kinds of churches were destroyed but oddly, lots of bars remained standing through the storm--makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Another side effect of the last hurricane is the monkeys. It killed most of them off, blew them right out of the trees where they laid until the parts of the rain forest that could be accessed were cleaned up. That makes me very sad.

All in all, Grenada was very nice, even if it is so hilly that I thought I would have a stroke walking up to the Fort. It is another place you could go for nervous breakdown recovery, I think.