Welcome to Grenada!

Welcome to Grenada! My first few days here have been a complete whirlwind of music, confusion, and humidity. Yesterday we left Boston in the morning and had a nice bumpy ride over to the island. Right when we stepped off the plane the humidity hit me like a wall, which was surprising seeing as it was relatively late by the time that we arrived. We went through Customs and met our island guide that will stay with us throughout the trip, Urias. He is an island local, a playwright and story-teller, and he has a lot of connections throughout the entire island.

We took a bus to our first city that we will be staying in called Grenville. We were warned ahead of time that the bus ride would take us through the rain forest, but I think we all underestimated what that really meant. The road was barely wide enough for two cars to drive and every time that another car was coming the opposite way, I think we all held our breathe for a second.

I didn’t really know what to think of the towns that we saw as we drove by. At that point it was dark, but I could hear a lot of music and crickets (or some sort of bird as someone pointed out). I also felt a LOT of humidity. A lot.

Our first destination was the “Spice Basket” before we got to our hotel. The area was a place where locals come to eat, drink and dance with local artists performing every night. I didn’t know it at the time but apparently the man who was performing wasn’t actually singing traditional Grenadian tracks. Even I recognized some Bob Marley (clearly Jamaican music), so that was a huge let-down for Urias (even though I still really enjoyed it).

Urias’ wife saw me try to dance at some point and had to stop me. Apparently I have no idea how to dance because she proceeded to give me a lesson on how to dance in the Caribbean. It’s all about the hips, people, and I don’t have as much rhythm as I would like to think I do. A group of us did go out on the dance floor to dance along to the beat, but I couldn’t stay long as I felt more like a spectacle to all the locals rather than someone trying to enjoy themselves. But, I did appreciate the dance lesson, and hopefully I’ll try to study up some more on how to properly move my hips!

After leaving the Spice Basket and arriving at our living for the next two weeks, the Rainbow Inn, Karla and I got our room assignment and lugged out suitcases up. Our room is attached to a kitchen and has its bathroom, but is not as glamorous as it sounds by any stretch of the imagination. We only have one medium sized fan that circulates back and forth to our beds and it’s boiling hot in our room. Plus, I had to put mosquito bite spray on before bed and sleep under a mosquito net (which I eventually took off because I felt trapped), and I still ended up with 5 bug bites this morning. I did, however, fall right asleep after a long night regardless of how uncomfortably hot it was.

Today we were told to be downstairs in our lobby at 9am. We had some breakfast and waited for Urias to show up as well as a few other guests. While we were waiting, Dr. B lectured us on some new music concepts such as tempo, beats, and measures. For instance, there are normally 12 measures in a jazz song and 4 beats per measure, but the tempo can change throughout. He also taught us a beat that we had to memorize and repeat as he called on each and every one of us to perform a solo scat session. Some people were incredibly good and really confident in their freestyle ability. Me, on the other hand, just looked pathetic as I scatted out a few soft notes. My goal is to be a little more confident by the end of the trip to try to make up something loud enough for people to hear.

When Urias showed up he brought us fresh bananas, mangos, and fruit juices that we ate as he introduced the other people with him. The banana I had was so delicious, so fresh and actually pretty tiny compared to other bananas I have seen. It tasted a lot different than the ones you would find back home. One man that was there talked about spices on the island (Grenada is the spice island after all) and how things found naturally in Grenada can actually be used to cure diseases and act as remedies. Another man, Mac, lectured us about safety on the island. Apparently it really is a very happy island; there are only on average 5-12 murders every year (I can’t even imagine the stat in the US compared to that). But, apparently anyone can get arrested for using foul language at any time in public, which is a lot different than what we are used to obviously. Overall, it was a lot of talk about sticking with other people and being polite to people but not overly polite to give them the wrong idea.

Mac then acted as our tour guide for the day, leading us on the hike to the nearest town. The Rainbow Inn is about a ten minute walk to town, so I was able to see a little bit of the surrounding area. I thought it was really interesting how some of the houses were clearly very nice and the residents must have been rich, but then they would be situated on land right next to shacks. Very different than how it would be in the US. It was again very very hot which made it a little uncomfortable all day, but I hopefully will just get used to looking like a sweaty mess all the time. As we walked along I noticed that there were a number of street vendors selling things like grilled corn, spices, and watermelon. But, I was really surprised at how kind they all were. I’m so used to vendors from the US and Europe being very pushy to get you to buy what they are selling, but it is as if Grenadians take a softer approach.

One of the first things that we did when we got to the center of town was to stop for lunch. The place had a nice buffet where we could choose many different foods, and the lady gave me a whole plate of things like curried rice, pineapple chicken, and pasta bake. There was seating at the restaurant that overlooked the ocean, and the food was absolutely delicious. You could really taste all of the spices that were used to cook the food, down to the nutmeg in the pasta bake. I can’t even explain how flavorful the food was that I ate for lunch today. Americans don’t know good food!

Then we spent the day walking around the tiny center, stopping at some places to pick up things including the local market which sold fresh produce and spices. Right when we reached the market there was a little bit of commotion and Mac announced to us that the Prime Minister of Grenada was actually there! We got to each shake hands with him and take a picture, all for publicity of course but still pretty cool. I went in and bought some fresh tomatoes, garlic, and onions from one lady, and then Maggie and I went to one guy to buy fresh coconuts. It was my first time eating a coconut; we had to first sip all of the juice out, then the guy took a machete and cut it in a way that made two spoons to eat the rest of the coconut flesh. It was so refreshing especially after being so hot all day.

So far my initial impression of the Grenadian people are that they are a very welcoming and extremely curious about us as tourists. I’m not sure if we are more of spectacle for them or if they actually want to learn more about us or not. But, after all that is said and done, I’m going to go relax with my fellow classmates and enjoy some authentic Caribbean rum.