Volunteering in Grenada- Our journey: OMG Sara is doing hash!

Starting point of the hash

First I really don't know what drug hash is, I think it is ganga, but I have always been totally oblivious to these things! Here a hash is a weekly run or walk on Saturday afternoons called the Hash House Harriers. Hash House because hash is what rum is made from- traditionally the runs start and end at a rum distillery or a bar!

This week was Oktoberfest and there are a number of Germans on the island so a theme was formed. We went to the tiny town of Munich (get it?) to do a 2.5 mile walk and the runners 5 miles. As I mentioned I am still very much afflicted with "the chicken" and probably if I had realized what it would be like I would have passed.

We met up at a school destroyed by hurricane Ivan and parked on their playing field- the bowling area for cricket was covered over to protect it. The run was to start at 4:00 and apparently these folks are on German time because we got there at 4:03 and the whole pack of 200+ was gone!!

A true paper trail!

This guy actually had a monkey on a leash behind him!

We had to sign in as "virgin" hashers and pay $2 EC each about maybe $3 Canadian dollars. It was really well organized, everyone checks in and when they come back they check out and then they know if anyone is missing. A trail of shredded paper is laid out to follow and you just keep following it.

Unfortunately it had poured rain yesterday so the trails were unbelievably slick and steep. The result was the pack backed up very quickly as people had to use their hands to get up. So we found the pack early on but once they were up the first hill we almost never saw them again! I knew I was slow because their was someone herding the back of the pack. He hung out with us.

Lots of breaks to "look at the views" or catch my breath

For me it was a very difficult hike as you constantly had to grab vines and trees to keep from falling down. All that reaching and grabbing with sore shoulders was not great. After 15 minutes I was ready to give up, but you're in a rainforest, you can't just turn down the next road. So we hiked on past some stunning views, cocoa trees, pineapple, mango and papaya trees.

When we finally finished, an hour later, there was German food for sale- sausages, soup and then burgers for those less adventurous. I had a delicious soup and the boys all had burgers- that last brat went to the guy in front of us!! Oh well.

We were all a muddy mess, but it was a good tired (at least I thought it was until I could not sleep last night because I was so sore). We literally bought the T-shirts. Although it is for next weeks hash - they are at 850 harrier hash runs!

So next week will be busy-