Grenadian Rattle Trap!

Megan and I are now the proud owners of a Grenadian Rattle Trap! AKA an old beat up, rattling, worn out, car! After exactly two months of being on the island we decided to purchase a car. I've been walking 15-20 minutes each way to the store 3-4 times a week (only able to buy what I can carry home). Laundry also requires the same hike, and let me tell you 30lbs + of laundry on your back in 80+ F weather is not any fun. We waited long enough to see if there were easier ways around this and there just isn't, without some sort of car life requires a LOT of walking. I've enjoyed the walking... just not the very heavy loads of groceries and laundry.
So we started looking around... cars here are a completely different story then in the states. To import a car you are charged 105% tax, so you buy a $20K car, pay 5K to ship it here, then pay $21K in import tax. Your $20k car now cost you $46K. (no we did NOT pay anywhere NEAR 41K!) The "normal" state of cars here is also pretty shabby. I thought being on the ocean and with all the rain all the cars would be rust buckets but surprisingly most cars only have a tiny bit, nothing like MI where paint keeps the car from falling apart due to rust. Looking for a car here we decided a couple things were important, it must be able to roll down hill AND uphill (I know were picky), and 4x4 was preferred. 4x4 is VERY common on this island as many of the inland roads are in pretty bad shape and I hear they get a lot worse in the rainy season. So we set our targets on a tiny 4 dr suv. We found exactly what we were looking for... and in our price range we couldn't be too picky. We've got a four door Suzuki Escudo, (known as a Chevy tracker, or Suzuki Vatara in the states). See below for some shots of us and our new Escudo...

Above - Notice the hump on the right side of the dash? This is a "Right hand drive" car, we drive on the Left side of the road down here... yeah it's taking a little getting used to, but I'm getting the hang of it. Megan has yet to get her license so she'll be out experimenting this weekend!It actually looks a lot nicer in the photos then in person but hey! It gets us from point A to point B, and with 4x4 it will get us over the bumpy ass roads in between.

Now at first glance I called our car "Black". I have been corrected by my ecstatic wife when she looked closely and found it to be "Peacock Green"... uh OK if she says so. :) The below photo is an attempt to show the green, try to imagine the thick layer of dirt not being there...


So what are other Grenadian/student cars like? well the Escudo is by FAR the most common car for all students, there are hundreds of them zooming around, (occasionally on the wrong side of the road). There are also a number of American cars down here (left hand drive). One of the people living in our condo complex has to win the award for the car with the most ... uh... personality! This is Dave's car... it's quite a looker!

Ain't she a BUTE!?!?!?!

No windows? NO problem!

If it looks like the camera is at an angle, it's not. This top-notch pure bread Land Rover has a nice lllleeeaaannnn to it. You should hear this thing PUUUURRRR!!! (like a sickly lion!). Dave said it only has a 4 cylinder engine in it, but there's enough room in there to put a 400 cubic inch engine under the hood.

For any of you who know my good friend Bill, this has his name ALL OVER IT!!!