Today we decided to explore some more of Grenada, so headed off along the coast road that winds along the south coast and then up the east side of the island. In Grenada it takes a very long time to travel a fairly short distance because the roads are very narrow and continually twist in and out as they snake along the coast and wind in and out of the hillsides. A lot of the roads further away from the capital of St George’s are also quite rough and potholed, which makes for a rather bumpy ride at times!

The route weaved through one little village after another. These villages usually have a couple of wooden shack mini-marts and bars, a church, sometimes a school and the occasional small business repairing tyres or selling car parts. There are people out walking down the roads, dogs trying to find patches of shade or food, school children playing on their way home, the occasional tethered goat and a gentle trickle of activity as you drive through.

Our destination was Grenville, the main town in the parish of St Andrew’s, the largest producer of Grenada’s main export crops – cocoa, nutmeg and bananas, as well as spices, vegetables, coconuts, fruit and flowers. Last time we visited Grenada (in 1999) we visited the nutmeg station here and had a tour of the factory where the nutmegs and mace (outer covering of a nutmeg that is also used as a spice) are purchased, separated, dried and prepared for shipment.

Grenville (pictured above) is a bustling old town and was particularly busy when we arrived as school had finished for the day, so the roads and pavements were full of schoolchildren. Here all children wear very traditional, smart school uniforms, even the older pupils. The small girls look particularly cute in their little red and white checked dresses with their hair plaited neatly with big white ribbons.

We parked up in the centre of Grenville and had a walk around in the heat of the baking sun. The strangest thing was being the only two white people we saw in all the crowds of people going about their daily lives in the town. There is no problem with safety as everyone is very friendly. It just makes you feel really self-conscious that you can’t blend into the background and that you are so clearly the odd ones out!

We bought some delicious bags of peanuts from a street seller who was roasting them in honey and spices over an open grill. I’ve never tasted peanuts as delicious as those…and at only 20p per bag they were a total bargain too. We also went into quite a few little shops selling a whole variety of items from homewares to clothes to toys. They are all quite dark inside as they have no windows so that the sun is kept out.

I saw some pretty skirts in one shop and we went in to find out how much they were. They were hanging up on the ceiling and the lady had to get a big stick to get down the one I liked. She asked if I’d like to try it on, so I said that would be a good idea, and she took me to a very unique changing room. There was a make-shift wooden door along the back wall of the shop and she opened it up for me to go inside. Once in there I could hardly move…it was smaller than our cupboard at home where we keep the vacuum cleaner! “Good job I’m not on the large size” I thought. There was a mirror in there but due to the fact it was completely dark (apart from the light coming over the top of the door) it was a bit difficult to tell what the skirt looked like, but at least I could tell it fitted before reversing back out of the tiny partition and at £9 it was a bargain too.

By now we were melting in the heat and stopped off at a bar down a side street for a cold drink. It was a typical street bar, with a lino floor, a few wooden tables covered with flowery plastic tablecloths and plastic potted plants on top. It actually seemed hotter than outside as there was no breeze in there, but a couple of ceiling fans slowly rotated, moving the heavy warmth around a bit. A handful of people were watching American Football on the TV, which seems to have quite a big following here. I did try to use the “washroom” but finding that, like the changing room, it had no source of light, I decided that whilst I could just about manage to put a skirt on in complete darkness, I’d rather not try and use a tiny cramped toilet in the same circumstances!

After we got back in the car we tried to find the alternative route back, through the interior rainforest of the country instead of along the coast. However this proved very difficult due to the problems of navigating in Grenada. Having a map is only a certain amount of help on the island because there are no signs anywhere! This means that the roads have no names, there are no signs saying what each village is called, and there are no road signs pointing out which direction you are heading! Add this to the fact that there are no obvious main roads - just lots of narrow windy lanes with varying amounts of potholes – and you can end up hopelessly lost!

In the end, after half an hour of weaving up and down steep tracks, we found our way back to the sea and decided to just stick with going back the way we had come. At least if you keep near the sea you only need to worry about whether it is on your right or your left! After an hour we were back in the capital of St George’s, a distance of about 20 miles. We stopped of at a supermarket for some meat, flour and bread and then headed home for a rest.

Tomorrow we are going to spend the day mainly in the villa relaxing and swimming in the pool, as we will have a busy day on Thursday since we have to move all our stuff to the nearby apartment we are renting for next week. The following week we will be moving back to the villa for the last 2 weeks of our stay here. It’s certainly going to take a bit of work packing up everything as we now have a fridge and cupboards full of food!

It is 8.30pm here and I’m typing this outside on the terrace. The tree frogs are cheeping their hearts out, the mosquitoes are making their regular evening attempts to munch me and I’m going to go and have a swim in the pool now to cool off! Byeeeeeeeeeee!