AH, IT’S GREEN

January 13, 2019

What a beautiful island!  We had a great tour of Grenada today.  It’s pronounced GrenAda, not GrenAHda – as I was corrected in a friendly manner.  You say GrenAda, I say GrenAHda.  You say PotAto, I say PotAHto.  Etc.

I wish I could have taken more pictures of the lush, green country-side.  It was nothing but mountains and valleys of green.  Hurricane Ivan did incredible damage in 2007, but much has recovered.  One part that hasn’t, and it was part of our excursion, is the nutmeg plantations.  Before the hurricane, Grenada provided 1/3 of the world’s nutmeg and Indonesia the other 2/3s.  Since the hurricane, Grenada’s nutmeg farms have been reduced by 85-90% and many think it will not recover to its former height.

We were taken to a spice farm and a nutmeg processing plant, both very enjoyable.  We got to handle some of the spices in their raw state and smell their unprocessed aromas.  At the nutmet processing plant we learned that there are 85 workers there, before the hurricane 250.  I have some neat pictures which we will post when we get home.

Nick, our driver and tour guide, stopped frequently showing us different things and told us at the start that we would be late getting back from the tour – not too late to miss the ship, but past the allotted 4 hours.  Actually, we were out 6 hours.  Top notch.

At the nutmet factory, Nick held up an object that looked like a peach which had begun to split and asked if anyone knew what it was.  I said, “It’s nutmeg and mace.”  He was kind of taken aback that someone knew, but he did not know, that nutmet and mace are part of my spice talk.  But it was the only part of the quiz that I got right.

We got to taste raw cocoa and see how it is processed, and we bought some cocoa balls which we will make into hot chocolate once we get back to 233.

Well, we have to get up at 6:30 again tomorrow to do an excursion of the Ten Best Things of St. Lucia, so I will turn it over to my cruise buddy for her turn.

TTFN

After breakfast we came back to our room to wait for them to say it was time to get off. At a little after 8 we were a little concerned because we had to be on the dock by 8:15, so we went out in the hall and people were already getting off and they had not made any announcement. By the time we got to the pier we were just about the last ones in line for the tour. But fortunately they had 2 vans and not one large bus.

The tour was very good. Because the roads are very narrow and windy the tour buses are small 15-20 passenger vans. They were very nice. Everybody could see and the windows were very large and the seats comfortable. They don’t look anything like the vans from back home. We climbed to a height of over 1500 ft to visit the Nature Preserve forest. Their animals were possums, armadillos,  mona monkeys and a bird (I can’t remember its name).
There was a  large lake in a crater from an inactive volcano. Quite beautiful. We went to see a waterfalls where there were local young men who would jump from the top down into the water for a tip. We watched as they jumped got out and went back up and jumped again.

The reason the nutmeg industry may not recover is because it takes about 15 years for a tree to grow and produce the nutmeg fruit. Most of them didn’t survive the hurricane because they have only one main root. We saw breadfruit trees, star fruit trees, cinnamon trees, mango trees, avocado trees and even a tree from Australia called the rainbow eucalyptus. The guide said you can’t plant many of them because they use a large amount of water and they will take all the water out of the ground. But the bark is beautiful. It multi colored.

There were banana trees everywhere. They were in almost every yard outside the city. And just about every house had a flower garden planted in its front yard. Young men when going to date or marry a young girl were told by their mothers if they went to pick up the girl from her house and their were no flowers planted in her front yard leave her alone because she would have no love in her heart.

They were many goats and chickens everywhere along the roads. The colors red, green and gold were everywhere. Those are the colors of their flag. Our guide told us about how  the US came in an saved the country after their prime minister was murdered. The men who perpetrated the crime though originally sentenced to be hanged there sentence was changed to life but after about 10 years they were released after some very bad court decisions saying they were tried unconstitutionally. The people here are still very grateful to the US.

We bought some of the spices and a got a bottle of nutmeg syrup that is supposed to be very good on pancakes. Hey Mac and Tate we will have try that out. I even got some nutmeg balls and cinnamon bark.

After we got back to the ship we grabbed a little something to eat and headed to the cabin for a nap. I took a bath and washed my hair. After 3 hat days it was in dire need. We went to supper a little before 5 and the line wasn’t very long. We had supper and then went to the show. It was a good one with the singers and dancers.

Well we are back in our room and will have another long day tomorrow. So I will say good night. Mac I hope you are feeling better.

Love Mom, Granny and Bonnie