06-30-2011: Grenada, part 2

In my last blog entry I raved about Grenada's national dish, Oil Down,
& it's friendly people.

Now a story linking the two.

The story begins with our fried fridge compressor.

Enter Basil St John,

refrigeration engineer extraordinaire

& his trusty sidekick, Kurt,
here to effect repairs:

In true Grenadian style, Basil invites us to his home for an Oil Down dinner

& to meet his High School buddy, Dr Elliot McGuire

- now a big time Ophthalmologist in Grenada:

A wonderful time is had & we enjoy an excellent Oil Down

cooked by Kurt.

Five days later we are again enjoying Grenadian hospitality

as guests for dinner at the home of Madge & Elliot McGuire.

The Roti (curry dish) is outstanding.

In the meantime, we do some entertaining of our own,
aboard Dance Aweigh.

Here's the queen with Joanne & George of RomantaSea:

And here's the old man with Lyne & Guy

of Julia Maria:

With all the dining, we need some exercise.

So we take the bus to Budget Marine in Prickley Bay.

Alas, it's closed for inventory.

We do lunch at De Big Fish Restaurant next door:

Then a brisk walk over to True Blue Bay,
where the restaurant has a great view

of a somewhat rolly anchorage:

We hear that the Fish Market in St George's is worth seeing.

We dinghy to the Carenage

& walk through the tunnel to St George's

- not a maneuver lightly undertaken

as we share the tunnel with 2 way traffic!

Safely through the tunnel (whew), we walk down the Esplanade

past the cruise ship dock & associated shopping mall:

To the Fish Market

- where huge slabs of Tuna & Mahi lie
alongside Barracuda, Grouper & Smelts.

All fish - EC$7.50 a pound (about US$2.80):

Next door is the Abatoire (slaughterhouse)

and adjoining Meat Market.

By now the queen is thirsty.

No problem, lots of coconut water available:

I tip him well

- don't want him mad at me!

Well, enough of this walking, let's get Raymond
to tour us around in his mini bus.

First stop, Laura's Spice Garden.

Here we see & smell every spice known to man

& learn how to cure everything

from diarrhea to menstrual cramps:

Leaving Spice Garden, we drive up the hill overlooking the marina:

We head North to Concord Water Falls:

Next stop Gouyave, the fishing capital of Grenada.

Leave the last 'a' off Guava & you have the pronunciation.

Today is the annual fishermens' holiday - check the flags in the photo.

Tonight it's party time in Gouyave:

Grenada is famous for Nutmeg

and the Nutmeg processing station in Gouyave
has been operational since 1938.

As the yellow fruit ripen on the tree, they split open:

Inside is the seed, covered with lacy, red mace.

Inside the shell of the seed is the Nutmeg that we grate
over our rum punch or porridge.

The mace is used as a more delicate spice in baked goods.

Even the fruit is used - nutmeg jam!

On the Northern coast, we pass Caribs' Leap

where in 1651 Carib Indians pursued by the French

jumped to their death.

We, on the other hand, are in pursuit of the charming
River Antoine Rum Factory.

In operation since 1785, they churn out some pretty rough white rum

- I know, I've tried it!

They have some fabulous scenery.

Bougainvillea covers this building:

And this Flamboyant (Poinsiana) is yellow

- don't remember seeing that in Jamaica:

The giant water wheel is still operating:

It turns the gears that drive the crusher:

Sugar cane goes in:

Cane juice comes out:

Ferment the juice, distill,

& you've got some potent "whites" - River Rum.

Samples all round - except the queen!

We drive to Belmont Estates for lunch:

And we tour their cocoa processing factory.

Cocoa pods grow from the trunk of the tree:

The cocoa beans are inside, wrapped in pulp:

The wet beans are left to ferment in boxes for a week.

Then placed in wooden trays to dry in the sun for another week:

The trays slide out for sun, back in for rain.

All done manually.

We sample their end product - wonderful dark chocolate!

Back at the marina we discover a hidden beach

where we relax after all that touring: