Grenada -- Drive on the LEFT!

In preparation for leaving Grenada (yeah, I know it seems like we never will but Kevin tells me we are leaving and he's the captain, so...) we rented a car so that we could stock up here at the great IGA supermarket. We wanted to pick up things that we aren't likely to find in any of the mom & pop shops on some of the smaller islands -- things like Frank's Red Hot (mmm...chicken wings), and fancy stuff like hearts of palm, capers, and dried shiitake mushrooms (I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but what the heck -- put them in the cart anyway!) After taking the bus everywhere, driving a car here was a bit of a shock. As we left the marina and started to turn onto the main road, Kevin hit what he thought was the turn signal. The windshield wipers went berserk (turn signal is on the RIGHT side of the steering wheel in Grenada!) and we sat there on the wrong side of the road with a jeep bearing down on us while I gestured frantically to the left shouting "That side, THAT side!". No harm done, Kevin got the wily wipers under control and fortunately that was our only mishap while driving despite the multitude of obstacles that Grenadian roadways present. It could be a video game -- "Mario Kart" meets "Frogger". Two things to keep in mind while playing the game: 1. Always drive on the left, and 2. Be prepared to slam on the brakes at any moment. You drive along narrow, curvy roads avoiding small elderly women, wandering goats, men with machetes, and every once in a while the car in front of you will hit the brakes and slam it into reverse to pick up a passenger, say hi to a friend, or just to mess with the carload of tourists behind them. (This happened no less than four times today). It's a fun game, really.

We rented the car for two days and got all the errands out of the way yesterday so today we had planned to explore the Grand Etang National Forest and do a little hiking. Unfortunately about 1000 other people (it was a cruise ship day) also had the same plan so we arrived at Grand Etang and were surrounded by aging British tourists standing around sipping $10 cups of juice and being hustled by 30 spice merchants all trying to sell them the same necklace made of nutmeg. We explained to the lady at the admission gate that we'd been living in the country for five months and happened to pick the wrong day to come enjoy the scenery. She just laughed. But we hopped back in the car and headed up the road a ways to Seven Sisters Falls where we had a much more secluded (and strenuous) hike down into a gorge with two good-sized falls (the other five were a longer and even more strenuous hike away, so we just saw the first two). We had the waterfalls all to ourselves. Well, pretty much to ourselves. A local kid and professional "jumper" (see our Annadale Falls post) was there to give us some information about the falls (but primarily to jump from the heights for a small "donation", which we gladly gave). Cliffon the Cliffjumper seemed to scale the sheer face of the rock before jumping the 35 foot first fall, and then he took a running jump off the second fall (take a look at the videos, but don't try this at home. If you have a waterfall at home, that is.). Kevin swam in the pool (too cold for me) and the hike back was grueling -- it's always easier to hike down to the waterfalls than to hike back up to the car. Anyway, it was nice to get out and see something of Grenada other than the marina bar and the grocery store. Although after our hike we did stop at the grocery store for a few last-minute items. Oh, and we did hang out at the marina bar for karaoke night.