Intrepid Travels

Pete, our guide, arrived ahead of time in his shiny green van and I had an opportunity to chat with him before the others arrived. He is a quiet, unassuming Grenadian who started his working life as a mechanic, became a bus driver and saved enough money to buy his own van and set up a small business as a driver and guide. For the next 7 hours, he took the six of us up, across and down the island, along steep, narrow and windy roads. Unfortunately, a cruise ship had docked in the capital and so the first two stops were overrun with large cruising customers, which took away some of their charm. At Annandale falls (a very beautiful waterfall and natural pool) we were treated (for a fee) to a display of jumping by a group of muscular young Grenadians dressed in the island colours of red, green and yellow. We moved on to 'Grand Etang', a large natural lake in a volcanic crater, which serves as a reservoir providing a third of the island's water needs, and which has a spectacular view right across the north of the island. Pete got the message that we would prefer to avoid the tourist hot spots and we set off towards Grenville, the second town of the island, situated on the east (Atlantic) coast. As we approached, we found ourselves in the middle of a large march past of the local high school, each 'house' dressed in house colours, with drum majorettes and very colourful uniforms. All of us piled out of the van and walked along the streets to better feel the atmosphere. The midday heat was intense and we were all soon sweating buckets, but the big crowds of spectators seemed unaware of the oppressive conditions! Next stop was the nutmeg cooperative, where we spent a fascinating hour. Until Hurricane Ivan in 2004 destroyed 90% of the island's nutmeg trees, Grenada produced 33% of the world's nutmeg. Production is now approaching this figure again after an enormous amount of work in planting and tending new trees, but it will be at least 5 years before production returns to the pre-Ivan figures. The nutmeg is grown by several hundred farmers, many with just a few trees, and is brought to the cooperative in hessian sacks where it is visually sorted and weighed, and the farmer is then paid cash for the product. A significant proportion of the processing of the nuts is still done manually (mainly by women) and it is an interesting process, resulting in very high quality nutmeg and mace, which is exported all over the world for both culinary and medicinal purposes. It is the nutmeg that gives Grenada the nickname of the Spice Island.
Our last two stops were the River Antoine rum distillery, complete with a wonderful working water wheel built in England in the late 1880s, and the Belmont chocolate factory, where cocoa is grown and processed. Although we just tasted a few of the delights of the island, we felt that the day had given us a wonderful overview of the richness and beauty of this small island nation.