St. George's - We Invade Grenada

Well we are finally here, in the capital city of Grenada. On Thursday we made the 32 mile trip here and we had to make a slight detour around Kick 'Em Jenny, an active underwater volcano that lies directly on the route between Carriacou and the mainland. It erupted in both 1988 and 1989, so they've got a maritime exclusion zone around it. We like the name -- it sure sets it apart from the multitude of volcanoes out there named "Soufriere".

Grenada has the distinction of being one of the few nations that actually welcomed a US invasion (back in 1983 we helped put down a communist regime at the Grenadian people's request. According to a local guy we met today, Ronald Reagan is considered a great man here and no one says anything bad about him. I didn't ask him if the same rule applies to George W.) Our personal invasion of the country began with a reconnaissance of the local restaurants and a full assault on the grocery store (fantastic -- just like a US grocery store!). Sorry if I am always rambling about finding groceries, but you have to see what passes for a grocery store on some of the smaller islands to fully appreciate the convenience of the superstores we have back home and being able to buy what you want when you want it.

Today (Saturday) we hit the Grenada National Museum, which was kind of a hodgepodge of natural and political history. The exhibits were not in any specific order so it was a little random. They had the marble bathtub of the Empress Josephine (Napoleon's wife who was born on the French island of Martinique -- not sure why they have that artifact in Grenada and there was no explanation on the plaque to help us figure it out). After the museum we hit the Saturday Market, which is like a farmer's market on steroids. Along with the required fruits & veggies there were locally grown spices (Grenada is known as the "Spice Island". We saw lots of Ginger, but no Sporty or Scary). There were so many stalls we got confused and kept passing the same aisle, where a lady named Theresa kept saying, "You guys back again? Jus' tell me what you lookin' for and I find it for you". So we let her "find" us some tomatoes and bought some other vegetables as well. She then offered to braid my hair and also complimented the pigment of my skin but said if I wanted to get darker I should let her fix me up with some black pepper (she sold it by the bag). If I eat enough of it, it will "blacken" me up. I took a pass on the braids and the pepper -- for now...

Where we are:
Location=St. Georges, Grenada
Lat=12 02.539
Lon=61 45.297