What to do if you come to Grenada

If you like to read books on vacation:


Grand Anse

Grand Anse or La Sagesse is the beach for you. Both beaches have great views; Grand Anse the Caribbean, La Sagesse the Atlantic Ocean. You can rent beach chairs at both beaches. Both beaches have a restaurant. Grand Anse has a more central location and is closer to the capital and is great for a short stay(also its close to a library). La Sagesse is more out in the country but has spectacular views and a more tropical islandy feel. If its your first time in Grenada I would go to any hotel on (or close to) Grand Anse.

If you like history:

If you like history you should go to the forts. There are three forts in St George and two museums, also you could ask around and listen to stories.

The main fort is Fort George, it is near the Carenage. Maurice Bishop and his entire cabinet were executed inside the Fort. This fort has some neat tunnels. The cannons are epic how they all face out towards the Caribbean sea. The views of Grand Anse, Port Louis the city are amazing.

Tunnels at Fort Matthew

Fort Mathew & Fredrick are the forts I like best, they are more interesting. I was told that they think there are tunnels that lead all the way to the Carenage. These forts are on a really high mountain about the prison. The tunnels there are really cool and they have an underground bar. The bar area has a sign that says no urinating in this area! Fort Matthew accidentally bombed when the American's "liberated" Grenada. At the time the fort was being used as a mental hospital and patients were killed in the attack.

The museum is one of the oldest building in Grenada. If you head toward the Sendall tunnel from the Carenage, the building is brick and has a rusted balcony. There is a small fee for going into the museum. In the museum they have artifacts from the Caribs and Arawaks; information on the revolution; information on the slaves and on the sinking of the Bianca C.

The museum at the Spice Basket was a lot more informative. They had displays on the animals, the
terrain, and maps of Grenada. Then had the records of the slaves who were brought in. They had a huge display of the Revolution, it was interesting. Then they had a large display of the history of Cricket in the Caribbean.

I would recommend the Spice Basket, Fort Fredrick & Mathew.

If you like nature:

If you like nature you should go on a "hash" its a great way to see parts of the country you would never see. Hashes are every Saturday, you should acclimatize to the heat before you try a hash. There are two trails:1 hour for walkers (about 3-4 km) and an 8-10 km trail for runners. To find out where a hash is look up Grenada Hash House Harriers on Facebook.

You could also go on hikes though there are very few trails and you could get lost.

You may also want to go to Belmont Estates. At Belmont Estates they have lots of animals and many different types of plants. You learn about cocoa production.

If you like food:

If  you like food your in luck there are many different places to eat and many local foods to try
e.g. breadfruit, "Oildown", fig (green banana) and callaloo to name a few.

Le Phare Bleu - Friday nights are my favourite

The restaurants I have eaten at are Le Phare Bleu, Umbrellas, Dodgy Dock & Belmont Estate. All of them are a good place to eat- we don't eat out much :-).   

I would highly recommend trying KFC's Spicy Chicken which you can only get in the Caribbean!

If you have young kids:

If you have young kids you should hit as many beaches and attractions as possible. If they're older than seven you should try a hash. If everyone likes to snorkel there is the underwater sculpture park and is definitely worth it.

There is a story time at the Mt. Zion Library in St. George's, Friday afternoon at 3:00. Local authors and volunteers read children's stories. I got to hear The Nutmeg Princess & La Diabless read by the author Richardo Keens-Douglas! Who knows who will read to your kids! A benefit of going to this library is kids get to see what a library looks like in a developing country. Maybe bring a book to donate.

Technical Drawing

Here in Grenada I am in high school (Form 1) and you can take many different classes, but because I am in Form 1 I don’t get to choose what classes I take.

Mr. Dominique and me

One day in late September I took a drawing I did of a house to school. Some kids in Form 3 (grade 9) told me I should take technical drawing (TD). I talked to the teacher, Mr. Dominque, and he said he teaches private classes on Saturdays and Wednesdays (and sometimes Mondays).

My teacher Mr. Dominique also teaches me social studies and geography.

I have been taking TD for 7 months after school and on weekends. I am now and at a Form 4 level (grade 10) and almost Form 5 level (Form Five is the last form).  Mr. Dominique tells me that I am the best student he has ever had at my age. He is really proud of what I have been able to do and so am I.

This week I got moved into Form two.

My drawings

When my mom first asked me about changing grades I was nervous about it. I was worried about what the kids in Form 1 would think.

But my dad just went to the school and made it happen. I had wanted to ask my teachers if they thought I could do the From 2 work, but I didn't get the chance to.

Now that I am in Form 2 I get to take Technical Drawing as a subject. That means an extra three periods of Technical Drawing each week!

I like the kids a lot more in Form 2 and they like me too. It has been going really well the last couple of days and I am happier to go to school.

 My mom works as a career counsellor and I am lucky because she really helps me to think about my career, even if it is a long time from now. 

Cricket Rules

On Friday I didn’t go to school because the West Indies cricket team was playing England and we were never going to a cricket game in Canada so we decided to go.

 

Seeing as this was our first time watching cricket we knew very little about the game (and rules). Our plan was to take someone who knew how cricket is played, but no one was around.

 

When we got to the stadium the cricket game had been going on for 3 and a half hours (it starts at 10 o’clock). The game is pretty self-explanatory and we got the hang of what was going on (with a little help from the people around us). Once we started to understand what was going on the game was alot more exciting and we stayed until around 5 o’clock.

 

I had a really good time and learned a new sport. Sadly England won by nine wickets (don’t really know what that means).

Back to school

On Tuesday my brother and I started school again. I was kinda happy to be back but mainly because I like my teachers.

The subjects I have here that I don't have in Canada are:

• Spanish
• Technical Drawing (extra classes)
• Home Economics
• Geography
• Caribbean History
• Religious Studies

Everyday at school we have an assembly talking about God (this is a "non-religious" school) this is only supposed  to take 30 minutes but can last up to a hour and a half in +30 degree weather everyday. The assembly starts and ends with praying.

After the assembly we wait 20 + minutes for the teacher to arrive sometimes they don't even come! Sometimes when they come  they just  give work and leave and don't come back until the end of the class (only two teachers stay). Then we pray and it is time to have lunch for an hour. I usually read or draw and the class gets very loud.



Even though it says 3rd I really am 2nd

At the end of the day we pray again and go home. I go get Owen. When I get to him they are usually praying

I have been doing really well at school. I like having different teachers for different subjects.

Here they rank students and it gets put on your report card. So I am number 2 in my class. Yesterday I told Senior Rene that we don't do that in Canada. He was really surprised! I think rating kids is a bad idea because even if you did well you could still come last and it would make you feel badly about what you accomplished instead of feeling proud for trying hard.

I am looking forward to being back to school in Canada with my friends in September.

puppy love

Yesterday we had an unexpected visitor...
IT WAS A PUPPY!!!!!!!!

The puppy is about the size of a slipper and probably weighs about 2 pounds. We aren't sure how old he is he just showed up yesterday afternoon. My dad was sitting out on the deck reading when the puppy just wandered up.

The puppy had to climb up a lot of stairs to get to our house. My mom got him a mixture of rice, lentils and chicken but just a couple of tablespoons. I got him a bowl of water.

We called him George because he lives in St. George. Other names we thought of were Jesus (Spanish pronunciation) Paque (Easter in French), Steve (because I call everything Steve because of Minecraft).

He hung out all afternoon, but then went downstairs to the bottom apartment where the neighbours were having a party. They fed him a lot of left overs, and we ended up with lots of turds all the way back up the stairs to our house.

He spent the night asleep on our deck. Mom made him a little bed out of a towel we weren't using. He was cuddled up in it last night.

This morning my mom gave him some more rice and I got him more water. My mom also took him downstairs to the grass to give him a Teatree oil shampoo for fleas- because he had fleas. He didn't like that.

My mom saw a neighbour who thought the puppy might be from across the street. He went to check. We haven't seen the little guy since. :-(

We were hoping to give him to Mr. Campbell whose dog died a few months ago. We are hoping he comes back so that we could claim him for Mr. Campbell.

Out and a boat

Last week I went with Owen to his friend Josh's boat. Josh lives on the boat with his little brother, mom and dad. Josh is friends Owen because they are in the same class at Beacon.

To get to his "house" you have to through Woburn which has a stinky, stinky mangrove. The day we went it smelled like egg salad threw up on cow paddies. It was STINKY!

When we arrived at the dingy launch Josh and his mom, Kate, were already on their way to pick us up. Once they picked us up we headed back toward their boat. To get to the boat you have to navigate through a maze of other boats. On the way we saw boats from pretty much everywhere. I also saw my friend Noa's dad heading to the launch.

Josh's Boat.....just kidding. But the same harbour

Getting on the boat means you need to climb up and over the side of the boat. It was a lot of fun to do. Their boat was blue and had two masts. There boat (house) is a lot more compact than I thought a boat could be. I had no idea you could fit some much stuff into 15 meters (about 50 feet). It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room and living room (these are all together). There is an other dining area on the deck.

Once aboard we went to the bow (front) and jumped off. Kate went over to Noa's boat (Noa is my friend from Switzerland who is in my class). Noa was doing his French (which is his first language) and he said he would catch us later.

So then Kate took us to Hog Island to play. We played on the swings and there was a Cabana to hang out in. We also played Bochi ball, it was really fun. About 45 minutes later Noa caught a dingy ride to Hog Island to join us. Then we went around the corner of where we were and went snorkeling. The snorkelling was really good, except it knee deep water for about 100 meters, so that was a bit tricky. But then it dropped off to really deep. Everyone had a really good time.

When we got to the boat we had sandwiches and chips. We watched a movie and I showed Josh how to do some things in Minecraft.

When my mom and dad came to pick me up we dropped Noa off on the way to the launch.

It was a lot of fun. We plan on having Noa and Josh over during the holidays- but after Auntie Ceilidh leaves.

The five things I want to do before I leave

Today there are only 100 days left before we leave. These are the five things I want to do and why:

1. The sulphur springs- I want to go to the sulphur springs because we have been told the mud is yellow.

2. Belmont Estates (again)- Belmont  Estates own the Grenada Chocolate Company and also has a huge acreage with gardens, goat petting zoo, and a talking parrot.

3. Petroglyphs- I really want see these because I have only seen petroglyphs once before in Canada and they were very cool. These glyphs belong to the Caribe and Arawak Indians.

4. Black Bay Beach- I have really wanted to go ever since we went to The Spice Basket, mainly because it is a volcanic beach and has gold in the sand (very small amounts).

5. Seven Sisters Waterfalls-The seven sisters waterfall is a stream of water that falls over a cliff seven times. We haven only been to one of the seven sisters because it is a 90 minute hike (1 1/2 hours).

I really hope we get to do all of these things before we leave.  

Me with my family doing one of my favourite things- going to the beach

Field trip number 2!

On Friday the 13^th I went on a field trip with form 1, 2, 3 & 4 (grade 7, 8, 9 & 10). The trip was to help with our history and IT class. We are studying the Mayan, Incas, Caribs and Arawak indigenous peoples.

The first place we went to was the Grenada National Museum in St. George. It has artifacts like canoes, spears, axes and pottery belonging to the Arawak and Carib Indians. They came from South America to the Caribbean using drought canoes. They carve them by burning the tree and then using a flint knife to scarp the insides out. The Arawaks were relatively peaceful but the Caribs were violent and chased the Arawaks all the way the through the Caribbean Island chains.

The second place we went to was Diamond Chocolate factory where they make Jouvaye chocolate bars. This was near Victoria in St. Mark’s parish. I liked it. I learned how they make the different percentages of chocolate. To do this they add sugar to the mix. So if you want 60% (which is my favourite) you add 40% sugar to the mix. This chocolate is not exported you can only get it in Grenada.

The next place we went to was Leaper’s Hill in Sauteurs. This where the Caribs did not jump to their deaths. This is because Mr.Peter’s, a historian, told us that they jumped at the other church because when the British took over from the French they kicked them out of their church. So the Protestant church used to be the Catholic church, which is where the Caribs really jumped. But the monument is at the “new” Catholic church. Either way the last of the Caribs all died at Leaper’s Hill.

Now to Belmont Estates which is in St. Patrick’s parish. Belmont Estate is an old planation which now has a chocolate company, restaurant, and gardens. Here I learned who the cocao beans are processed in chocolate. It was a really confusing process, it takes a really long time, requires heating, moving, drying. They also had baby goats and a talking parrot.  They weren’t as cute as the one we saw on the Hash though!

Then we went to a bakery in Grenville where I got a cinnamon bun and a cupcake. It was really good!

From there we went over Grand Etang and got home around 5:00 p.m. We were supposed to be back at 3:00 but of course, Caribbean time is always different than what you expect.

All in all it was a really good trip expect for the headache that the bus gave me.

If you are coming to Grenada I recommend Belmont Estates.

 

Field Trip

On Friday I did not go to school because the day after sports (track and field) there is no school at Beacon. I was thinking I was going to get to stay home and do whatever I wanted... but no! My mom dragged me all around St. George's for NEWLO's field trip.

My dad drove us through the Sendall tunnel, but traffic wa sso bad he had to drop us off at the edge of the tunnel. Traffic was so slow that we were walking faster than my dad was driving! We were supposed to meet brother Saul at the Fish  Market... but we met up with him at the bus station instead,

About 12 NEWLO trainees, Brother Saul, my mom, Owen and I got on a Grand Anse bus. Owen literally front and centre. I sat behind my mom in the second to last row. In Grenada when someone in your row wants to get off the bus, everyone in that row has to get off. There are seats that fold up to let people out and those those people have to get off too. It is kind of like a tango! I had to get off twice before we arrived.

We arrived first at Sisssons a paint manufacturing plant which was in an industrial park. You can see it from the road because it is painted like a rainbow. There are two large buildings, They didn't look that big from the outside but when I got in they were huge! The first building the place where they made the paint, the second building was where raw materials and cans of paint are stored. They also tint paint in this building, this was very cool.

I felt like Scissons was a very safe environment. They had safety signs, fire extinguishers, emergency evacuation plans and sign saying they had gone 1026 days without a lost time injury!

After we finished there we walked up the road to a place where they made windows. It was interesting. Then we went to a place where they made soap, perfume and other stuff that smells good. They gave everyone an incense, my mom got potpourri as well.

From there we had to take buses Saint Georges University (SGU) veterinary animal clinic. We had to wait for the second bus, so my mom got us chips and ginger ale. Mr. Gay who is the ADP Coordinator gave us a chocolate ball with a nut in the middle. It was sooo good.

When we arrived at SGU, they weren't ready for us so we had lunch. This turned out to be awesome because mom bought us G Burgers, my favourite burger on the island! It was really good. Thank you mom. We walked "down by the bay, where the watermelons grows"...to Moca Spoke. This is where I started the red dress hash. We went back to the little food court and my mom got a cherry smoothie. We had to wait for a bit but it was totally worth it. I got to see cats, dogs, horses and cows!

The veterinarian clinic was air conditioned! YESSS! Most places don't have air conditioning so it is a treat to be in it. The tour was very informative and  learned quite a bit.

NEWLO ADP Trainee, Mr. Gay and Brother Saul

After the tour was over daddy came to pick us up and we went for a swim at Grand Anse to end our wonderful day!

Here are some more pictures.

Houses in Grenada

Construction

Houses in Grenada are made out of either concrete or wood.

Mixed neighbourhood just above ours in Upper Belmont

Concrete houses are owned by the wealthier people in Grenada. Most houses are built on concrete stilts. They build the house from the top down.  Usually the main floor is for the family, because you get breezes through the house and there are more windows.

Then they build down with apartments that can be rented to earn extra income. The apartments don’t have as many balconies or windows because usually the house is on a steep slope and one side will be blocked by the earth.

These houses almost always have glass windows that open. If you are really wealthy you have air conditioning. No one in our neighbourhood has air conditioning. Some house will have metal or plastic shutters to keep the rain out. Many houses (and most schools) don’t have bug screens- which explains the spread of Chickungunya.

Water in houses is not heated (unless you live in a wealthy area). Showers have hot water by using an electric heating coil inside the shower head. Other than that there is only a cold water tap.

Wood houses owned or rented by people with lower incomes. They are also built on concrete stilts but just off the ground, so rain can run underneath. They would rarely have additions underneath.

These houses really vary with windows. From wood boards you can move out of the way to glass panes. It depends what you can afford to upgrade to.

In some of these houses there is no running water. Some of our neighbours have outdoor showers and bathroom facilities. But is it very warm here so it is not like you are getting cold going out.

We are almost 100% positive that the sewage from homes goes straight into the ocean. I don’t think that is good for the marine life.

Our house

Our house is a concrete house with three stories and four apartments. We on the top floor. There

are four exits from our apartment but we only use the front to go out and the back to enjoy the view and the breeze. It has two balconies a big balcony that faces two directions and the one at the front facing the road and the boys. Inside it has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, more bathrooms than our house at home by half. We also have a living room dining room and kitchen. My bedroom has double bed (bigger than my bed at home), a closet and dresser. It also has 20ft vaulted ceilings! It makes the house cooler. My ceiling is also wooden, it is really pretty.

Local house in Belmont

Here the houses range from small and wooden to large with fancy gates. Most houses have gates,

bars on the window and lots have guard dogs. This neighbourhood is a mixed area with high and low income. It is also multicultural, we have people from Cuba, Canada, St. Vincent, and other Caribbean states.

 

Mansions

The places you would find mansions in Grenada are: Lance Aux Epines, Egmont, Fort Jeudy, Prickly Bay, True Blue, and Westerhall Point. But you can find large homes all over the island, but these are the main communities. These homes almost always have ocean views if not ocean front property.

I would go there every day if I could, I love the architecture. I have been lucky enough to be invited into two of these houses. I am really happy I that I got to see these houses.

Destroyed houses

80% of all buildings in Grenada were damaged by Hurricane Ivan and the Emily. Damages ranged  from total destruction like the Presbyterian church, partial destruction like the Anglican church and then varying degree of damage (broken windows, partial roof collapse, structural damage) ect. I feel really bad for the people whose homes were destroyed because they can’t afford to fix their homes. Most people have abandoned them. You see that all over the island.

I also wanted to say it is not too late to help Leshon andhis family. Here is a link to his page.

A New Mexican style home

Everyone has gates, by few are this fancy!



Heading down to Kirani James Blvd.