Volunteering in Grenada- Our journey: An oasis in paradise- Carriacou

Grenada is made up of three islands and seven parishes. Carriacou (pronounced carry-a-coo) is a small island with a population of about 6,000 and Petite Martinique with a population of about 800. To get to Carriacou you need to take a ferry from St. George's to Hillsborough.

The process of taking the ferry should be fairly simple, you can start boarding at 8:30 and it leaves at

9:00. Well it is supposed to leave at nine, but the reality is that the boarding process is a chaotic orchestra that is very out of tune. It seems that most people realize that the ferry does not indeed leave at 9:00 so people show up between 8:30 and 9:30ish. On board beside me was either a Swiss or German fellow, his wife and young travelling companions. He was looking at his watch every few minutes and at 9:00 said to me "They assured me that the ferry was the only thing on the island that did leave on time!". Looking at how many passengers and stuff needed to be boarded I knew we would be late leaving. And we were, one hour late leaving!

The voyage over was pleasant there is an air conditioned section that accommodates all passengers and for those who wish they can travel up on top and watch the coastline go by. Once you turn into the open Atlantic the seas are definitely rougher and my mom was happy she took the Gravol.

Getting off the ship took about a 1/3 of the time, although luggage is stored in a hold below, so first one on is last one off. Meaning you are punished twice for being on time, waiting the longest of anyone- now I see why people come late!

We stayed at Ade's Dream which we could see for the dock, so we just dragged our luggage to the hotel. Hotel would be giving a bit more credit than it deserves it is more of a hostel, but at about $35 a night it is a bargain. We had two rooms one with two doubles and one with just a double. Both

Ama's $10XCD lobster dinner!

rooms should have faced a nice quiet green space. But the owner came to tell us that there was going to be an event that night and that the people organizing it always went over the top. Living across from three bars I was not too worried about it as we go to sleep most nights with a couple of different bars playing music and we manage. Well this was not playing music this was blaring music to the top capacity of the subwoofers. We were in a concrete building and I felt sea sick from the sound waves hitting us. Thank God we got the boys to sleep before it started and they both managed to stay asleep. The adults on the other hand, we were up until 3:30 when it finally ceased with a shout out from the DJ to "find your shoes" since no buses were running.

Work has trained me to get up by 6:00 a.m. so, up I got and Brent and I went out to look for some bread. We found a lovely bakery off the main street. We were about to give up on finding it when a passing car yelled "They are in the back!". So down an alley and around the back we went, where the bakers were pulling fresh baked bread out of the oven. We all had hot bread, no butter, no peanut butter, just yummy warm white bread for breakfast and Brent hunted down a cup of coffee for my mom.

The #10 to Paradise Beach

We had decided to take a bus for a place called "Paradise Beach" which sounded like a good place to go. Since I take buses all the time in Grenada I was not too worried about taking buses in Carriacou the station was easy to find because it was behind the hostel. We packed up all our snorkeling gear and headed for the station. We didn't even get to the station before a bus going where we wanted to head picked us up. It was the Christmas 10 bus, because inside it was decorated with tinsel and when the doors opened the LED lights lit up. Our driver was signing Elton John tunes and was just so friendly. He charged us exactly the right rates for each person, dropped us right at the beach and then arranged to meet us back at noon.

Once there we could see Sandy Island. It was $35XCD per person to go. This was hard because even though it is not very much, I make very little. The owners of Harwood bar said they wouldn't charge

for the boys and we decided it was a once in a lifetime experience so lets go! Boy are we glad we did. The snorkelling was amazing. Live coral reef and all kinds of tropical fish, Owen and I even found a squid! My mom, who grew up in Saskatchewan and is not a strong swimmer, even wanted to try. Brent helped her out about 100 ft and then she was able to see the coral, but no fish- even though there were hundreds! I think a combination of fear and being full of a cold from Canada were impeding her senses. That and she never puts her head under water so this was pretty huge for her!

Poor Brent there was a guy kite boarding and we had hemmed and hawed about bringing his gear and opted not too. He had brought along the trainer kite, so while Mr. I-own-a-catermaran- and-kiteboard-in-my-unlimited-leisure-time was zipping around, Brent got to practice with his wee little kite. At noon we headed back to Ade's and all the adults fell sound asleep after a light lunch.

I should mention the rooms had tvs- with cable, with HGTV so while the adults slept the boys ODed on some brothers buying and fixing houses and "Love It or List It". Living here has made it sooo hard for me to watch shows like that. All I hear is whining about everything and not being happy/grateful for what you have. One woman who was going to have her fourth baby wanted two dish washers and two washing machines! I felt ill. The boys however are very able to separate their reality from the "reality" tv they were watching. So in the end everyone was happy.

Sunday buses don't run so your options are limited. I had "investigated" getting to Petite Martinigue but the Osprey doesn't run there on weekends. And stupid me, because in Grenada you do not get information by researching on the internet, you have to talk to people. Sure enough, Monday (when we were leaving) we found out boats go everyday back and forth and it was quite easy to buy passage!! So I feel a little sheepish about not figuring that one out in time. Thus Sunday we just lounged about the hotel. Aiden, Ama and I went for a walk to a secluded, but not very nice, beach.

Later in the day Aiden and I went for a long hike around some back dirt roads and found ourselves at the oldest cemetery in Carriacou. Which was awesome because we had passed it the day before and I had wanted to take some pictures. And terrifying because it was really far from town the way we had driven, and we only had 1 litre of water between the two of us! The cemetery was completely overgrown in places by this beautiful plant very similar to a bleeding heart, only a much smaller flower and a fatter bloom. There were goats a plenty helping to trim back the grass but the vines must have been 3 feet high to cover the headstones in one section. I don't think even the goats could work their magic on that section!

Thankfully, as usual, there is always more than one way back so we hiked up a road that cut out 70% of the distance and we were able to get back with a steep hike up but then an easy walk back.

Monday we opted for a partial tour of the island, again I wish I had done this Sunday, but we didn't so que sera sera. The island is so spectacular on the Northern end of the island. the water is a shade of blue that almost hurts you it is so beautiful. We were able to see Petite Martinique and Petite St. Vincent (a playground for the rich and famous). You can only marvel at the reefs in between the bright blues of the sea. Carriacou means "isle of reefs" and we could see our missed opportunity to snorkel them! But with happy little houses everywhere you get over what you lost pretty quick and get back into the beauty that surrounds you.

One oddity in Carriacou is the "Janet" house, which you can find all over the island. Built by USAid after hurricane Janet in 1955, these wee gingerbread homes were built to withstand a hurricane and they did- surviving Ivan and Emily.

Boat building is still an enterprise here and we were able to see a boat being con
structed. Apparently it would cost about $60,000 USD to have a fishing boat built- so not an insignificant industry!

Stafford our driver took us to the round house a lovely restaurant that was closed as the owner was doing her Christmas baking. For me the best part of that stop was the Christmas tree. Here trees are decorated outside not inside the homes. Even fake Christmas trees, which yes they do have here, are placed outside. Mainly because for most homes Santa does not come and leave gifts under a tree. Christmas is still only about Jesus's birth. In fact one of my sons was told that Santa was Satan!! Well I guess if you rearrange the letters...by God they may be on to something.

Note the IV drip!

Sadly our visit had to come to an end and on the way back we travelled with a passenger from the local hospital. Similar to Canada if you can't be treated at one hospital you are moved- now it depends on the severity, if you are in critical condition I believe a place would be sent for you, but if you re stble to you are transported by ferry. With a flimsy curtain for "privacy" the stretcher s placed on the floor and the nurse sit in the seat to monitor the patients condition. I will never again complain about a trip to the hospital!!

The ride back was turbulent. The sea swells were slamming against the side of the ferry sending it rocketing from side to side. The Captain was doing his best to ride with them to avoid these collisions but I felt like the waves were the bulls running and we had a giant red flag painted on the boat!

God love Aiden, he wanted to go right up front, I was absolutely terrified he would go flying off the boat, so Brent went to supervise. At one point I thought the crew was going to fetch them but instead the crew member just wanted to enjoy the ride too!! Owen had a fever and I had given him two

Gravol's before we left so he slept on me the whole way back, except for a brief period when I went out to take some pictures.

Getting home required coordination. Brent had to get off first, catch a bus to the bottom of our street, hike up Gleans Rd and then get our car and return for all of us and our bags. Given the chaos of our departure I sent Ama and Owen to wait where they couldn't be bumped or knocked over. While we were waiting for our bags we saw the fellow whose girlfriend was being refused entry at the airport when Ama arrived. We went over to say hello and they had both had a fabulous time and were catching a flight home that evening! Hooray- being me I checked for a ring- no ring. I wonder if there was one but with the bumpy start he decided to opt for a better time!

So I carried most of the bags to Ama and Owen and as I was waking by a number of men commented about me being "a strong girl". Didn't know which made me happier being called strong or a girl!! It took a couple of trips but we got all our bags to the other side of the road and we only waited a minute or two for Brent to arrive!

Below are some of my favourite photos from Carriacou.