Around Grenada and on to Trini

3-3 Tue

One more hour in Grenada until Rock picks us up in his taxi to drive us twenty minutes to Grenada Airport. We need 40EC for Rock and 100EC for the exit tax. We'll have to find another 20EC before we leave though, because we can pay the exit tax in dollars but not the taxi fee. Plottie will be able to bring home a dozen 1EC coins to add to his collection. Then, in Trinidad, they use a different currency, the TT Dollar, so he should be able to bring home some more.

Yesterday's trip around the island with Rock was astonishing in one major respect: this beautiful island was decimated by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and has not even begun to dig out from its effects. Not that you notice anything in particular when you drive -- the countryside is lush and tropical and the villages appear to be bustling with either commerce or fishing. But in the town of Grenville there is a nutmeg processor, one of 18 that used to operate on the island. Now the others are closed, and locals all have to bring their nutmegs to Grenville, which is only operating at 10% capacity. Something like 80% of the nutmeg trees on Grenada were uprooted and destroyed by that hurricane.

Above you can see a bin full of nutmegs, mace removed. We saw perhaps half a dozen people in a line carrying small bags of nutmegs, maybe 50 or a hundred? -- to sell to the woman at the collection plant. They went into those bins. Below you see nutmegs, red mace (fresh) and yellow mace (dried and ready to grind into powder. Here the people use unground mace in soups and deserts. It has a somewhat sweeter taste than the nutmeg seeds it surrounds.



And in the capital, St., George, the parliament building, all the old churches, and too many homes and businesses to count still have their roofs torn off, their steeples damaged, their commerce interrupted. In the US we all read about Ivan but Plotnik never really felt it before until yesterday, when he saw up close how much damage that storm wreaked upon the island.

The dorado last night was the tastiest yet. Plus De Big Fish also served poutine -- basically french fries in gravy and covered with melted cheese - as a disgustingly unhealthily delicious side dish for the grilled fish.

Plotnik's legs haven't looked this bumpy since the flea epidemic in Stiletto in the 1980s. One hour hiking on Union Island a week ago allowed every biting insect in the Caribbean to land on Plot's right leg and all those bites have now swollen up and scabbed. Plus, they itch like hell. You won't see a picture, though.

So. Onward to the nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The airport is just over the rise from the dock, so we've seen four engine turboprops and two engine island hoppersw taking off over the boat from time to time. We will probably be on that turboprop.