All that "prep" work of the last couple of weeks finally, and I do mean, FINALLY, culimnated to our not getting hardly any sleep the night before we left and then walking out on the tarmac to board this,



and what a great airline Caribbean Air is.

From the moment we got dropped off at the airport, to the lady with the plastic gloves that searched the contents of our bags, to walking up to the counter just a few steps away to get our boarding passes et al, to going through security, boarding the plane,

"But Dave honey, can't we stop to pick up a coffee?"
"Dear, they're calling for passengers to board..." says the habitually punctual husband of mine,
"But Dave honey, we have an hour before it takes off and I neeeed a coffeeee...."

and yes, we were early, and yes the plane did take off half an hour early, because, well, everyone was on it.



What a simple process. Efficient. Personalized. Friendly. Smile-ful. Pleasant. Relaxed.



I do believe the hardest part for Dave and I that morning was putting on long pants in the Grenadian Heat of early morning. He even wore socks. UGH.

We hadn't been 20 minutes in the Toronto Pearson Airport, we already felt stressed. The frenzied activity, the lack of smiles, the cold attitudes, the bureaucracy of technology, ushered like mindless robots through lines of automated systems that are supposed to make our lives easier but don't smile back at you. That instead of speeding us up so we can DO, DO, DO !! more, have us waiting in twice as many lines that all took three times as long than if a real live person assisted us, with everyone more frustrated at the end.

Oh and Air Canada's Customer Services sucks. It wasn't so much that we lost our duty free rum punches, it was the blatant lack of respect and the very obvious childish mantra of "if I ignore you, you will go away". And so you know what Air Canada, we will go away. For Good.

So since we couldn't participate in Saturday's Grenadian Hash, we chose to do our own hash, one that was a bit visually different,



Posted speed limit signs ?? Fields devoid of cows and bulls and goats, and nowhere did we hear the roosters crowing.



However the sounds of nature enveloped us in the beauty of the day, the birds singing and the wind rustling through the trees, the smells of the evergreen pines so different from the rotting jungle mangoes.

The blues of the water just as spectacular in a cold type of way.



We saw mama duck leading her family



until she reached the under-the-bridge current where we saw them all get spooked or decide to Iron-Man-Duck it to the other end of the lake,



Who knew ducks could move so fast? For such long distances ?

Once off the street we ventured into the perfectly prepared path,



where the banana leaves and razor grass were simply replaced by expansive and soft ferns,



and trying to cross the river skipping across stones not quite as feasible.



Abandoned boats along the way had us missing our Banyan,



but as we relaxed into the afternoon, and then what do we see crossing our view but these ?



And so we're taking a few days to allow ourselves to get settled into a different routine. With no passage making to plan, no weather systems to watch out for, no water aerobics in the morning, no volleyball to play on Tuesday afternoon... we can't help but feel a little lost.

However, it's simply wonderful to be welcomed back into the love, friends and family that we have missed so much.