TravelTalkOnline Forums Trip Reports (Read Only) Trip Report and Photo Archives Trip report day 3 - Grenada

Feb. 3, 2012
We took the bus to town early so we could buy our ferry tickets to Carriacou on Monday. We stopped at a small bakery for breakfast, I had saltfish and bake with fish cake on a roll, Kim had a cheese pie, and we both had fresh passion fruit juice, all for less than $5 US. One of the things we like most about visiting the islands is the fresh juices you can get here, it’s like biting into a piece of fruit. After our business was done we took the bus to Grenville, on the east side of the island. It is a busy little town, off the tourist route although some people do visit there. The town was buzzing with activity as people were starting to celebrate Independence Day; many children were dressed in the countries colors of gold, green and red. We walked a little and I had some coconut water and then the jelly. We took the Hermitage bus to the Belmont Estate where they process the cocoa beans for Grenada’s famous chocolate. I had been there before but this was Kim’s first time, we took the short tour (10 EC each) and tried the cocoa tea and some of the final chocolate. They have some nice gardens at the plantation so we wandered around a bit then grabbed a bus back to Grenville.

Kim at the cocoa bean drying beds


Children dressed in the national colors
We were getting hungry so we went back to BG’s Restaurant, located right where the #6 buses to St. Georges park. I had a chicken roti and Kim chicken and chips (18 EC total), both were very good and the beers were nice and cold.

Enjoying a roti

We took the bus back to St. Georges and then another to the hotel to get ready for Fish Friday.

Grand Anse beach


Another beautiful sunset

Dan and Em arrived in St. Georges with their charter guests around 5:30 pm, so we gave them some time to clean up then we meet them at the Yacht Club around 7:00 to leave for Gouyave. We called a taxi driver we met yesterday and he took us up there. The fare for all 8 of us was 180 EC including waiting and return. Due to Independence Day celebrations they moved the event to the local sports field. This made it nice, since the streets in Gouyave, where it is usually held, tend to be dark and narrow. The vendors were lined up along the fence and they had jumbie dancers for entertainment.

The crowd watches the jumbie dancers

They were also doing a completion with entertainers from the different villages to see who would represent the parish at the main celebrations later in the weekend. There was a good selection of food available. Kim and I had lobster, fish kabob, fish pie, stuffed potato, cou-cou, and fried plantains. Dan finally got to try oil-down, the national dish. It is a stew of many chicken, pork, fish, dumplings and many vegetables. It was being served from a large cauldron and Dan’s portion even had a pigs snout and chicken backs in it (no parts go to waste).
After about an hour or so we all had our fill so we dropped them off at the yacht club and Kim and I continued on to the hotel.