Nutmeg, Mace & Water Falls

It's Sunday, day 7, we've been here a week now. Time is flying by. I have had little time to post what's been going on because we've been up to so much and frankly blogging seems to take forever. People said the speed of life down here is slower which is true, kinda... things take forever but that doesn't mean we don't still have a million things going on at once. Most of the "slowness" of life here is waiting for buses. The bus schedule is difficult to understand, I've decided they did it that way because the schedule doesn't mean a whole lot anyways. Buses come when they come and don't when they don't. So getting onto a bus can take a while, but hold on tight once you get on board. Grenada has two speed limits officially 20mph in the city of St. George's, and 40mph everywhere else on the island. All buses try there hardest to make sure they exceed that limit as fast as possible, that is of course until they come to a speed bump, grate, or disturbance in the road (even very small), then they slam on the breaks and cross it as if the buss is made of glass, then the gas is on the floor again and we rocket off down the road. There is an entire language with driving by using the horn, for example one short beep is a warning to a pedestrian they are driving up on them, three short beeps is used while passing someone to tell them your passing, one long beep is equivalent to the U.S. %*&# YOU! That's about all I've picked up on so far, it goes on and on but i have been spending most my time trying to not notice the oncoming parked cars in the middle of the road, the blind corners were wizzing around, or the general lack of maintenance of the vehicles screaming around the island. Generally the SGU buses aren't too bad, but the taxi's are another story. The other main form of transport around the island is the public bus system aka "Reggie Buses". I have yet to ride one but from what I've seen and heard they are like the taxis but you have to add BLASTING Reggie music and someone hanging out the passenger side yelling at people on the street if they want a ride or not. Another odd note about the buses they all have individual names such as "God Sent" or "Earthquake" or even "King Elvis" as in the below photo...

I took this photo of the rain forest we were driving into as this Reggie bus came barreling towards me. I pulled my head and camera fully back into our buss as "King Elvis" zoomed by. More about the rain forest later.

This past week was "orientation week", essentially every day packed full with social events to get everyone comfortable with each other and the island. There have been some interesting quirks to being involved with a graduate program out of the country, for one there apparently is no "drinking age" in this country, not to mention everyone in grad school is "of age" anyways. The point I am getting at is any large gathering where food is served, beer flows just as freely as the water... at no cost to the attendees. The beer is always Carib, which is the only beer made in Grenada. As I am not a beer drinker all I can say is it looks about the same color as Corona and tastes just as terrible as every other beer out there. At least I can say I tried it.

Among the many events was a tour of the Nutmeg factory and a waterfall. The nutmeg factory in Grenada provides 80% of the worlds Nutmeg... kinda crazy ehh? Something else interesting nutmeg is the pit of a fruit... i don't know the fruits name... and in between the pit and the fruit is a fibrous layer which is blood red when the fruit is first split open, it looks a bit like muscle wrapped around the pit. Anyhow this fiber is Mace. Yes i think it's the same Mace they spray in people's faces when they don't like you. As you can see if the photo above left this factory that pumps out all this Nutmeg is an old warehouse like building, pretty beat up and 100% manual processes for everything. To take a better photo would have required standing in the street which would have been a bit like playing Frogger while trying to take a photo, instead i opted for this poor side shot. Below are a few shots of the nutmeg drying racks, up close of the nutmeg nuts or pits, and the mace sitting next to a pit.


After the nutmeg factory we headed towards the center of the island and drove up to a waterfall in the rain forest. The drive up there was as much an adventure as the water fall was itself.

(Below) 2nd term students joined the trip and knew to bring bathing suits. We want to go back to do some waterfall swimming our selves without 200+ people watching. The pool under the waterfall is about 18 feet deep.(Below) the waterfall, note the nice smooth water effect? ;) I am enjoying playing with our new Digital Rebel to be able to make effects like that.(Above) Ahhh... the guard rail... yes this blurry shot is of the guard rail we hit TWICE on the steep windy mountain road up to the waterfall and on the way back down. I took this shot planing on making a comment about hitting it on the way up. The photo is blurred due to hitting the rail the second time while taking the shot. One student shouted after the second hit "TWO FOR TWO!!!" trying to lighten the mood. Like I said it's been an adventure. Living here you have to just learn to roll with it, which we are, it's been fun.


So There is lots more to talk about but I've run out of time. More later. By the way PLEASE send comments, or at least shoot me an email that you've read it. It's just nice to know if someone is keeping up with our activities.
More later ~Kris