Food, glorious food

I imagine that this will be the first of a two part post, since it is only Tuesday as I am writing this and we usually make it to the internet café on the weekends. For once I beat Jason to it and will be the lucky author of a post.

At times it is difficult not to compare my experience here to the experience I had in Paraguay 6 years ago. It is easy to believe that experiences in one foreign, hot country will be reflected in another. In this vein there are aspects of life here that remind me of life in South America, such as the weather, language difficulties, and flora & fauna being different than that of Canada. The similarities end there. In the last (especially 2) days, we have been finding how Grenadians get a wide variety of foods outside of the market days. (In Paraguay we were cooked for, or bought other items at the grocery store or on the street corner). Today we have purchased 20 mangos, a 2 lb red snapper (which the man had freshly caught and graciously offered to fillet it for us too…good thing since we don’t have an adequate knife for the task), 5 green coconuts (apparently a rich source of iron), a popo (papaya) and some spice leaves (extremely fragrant leaves from the cinnamon tree). All this was purchased for a total of $23 EC, or about $9-10 Canadian and all from our front porch! The man we bought the mangos, coconuts, spice, and popo from was going crayfish hunting after he stopped by and promised that he would bring one by so we could see it (apparently they are as long as a person’s forearm!) He also agreed to take us ‘fishing’ for them sometime, and perhaps even hunting for ??? I forget the name! He said that he has 9 trained hunting dogs. Sounds like an experience.

It feels really good to feel like we are getting access to produce acquired through social networks. You are in good shape if you know the people who can get you what you want! It makes me feel like we are becoming more of a part of the community, though we are still being overcharged on some things. We are aware of the overcharge, but trust that the prices will come down as we establish relationships and are better able to find ways to mention the ‘white tax’ in a way that is friendly and not confrontational.

That’s it for now.

Kristy

Part II

This week just seemed to fly by. We had a holiday on Thursday (Oct. 19^th to remember the execution of Maurice Bishop) and so the week was broken up and now the weekend is here. Not much planned for this weekend, just breezin’ it with a little cleaning up around the house and the usual trip down to the internet café.

Friday was very slow at work and so I had time to get to know some of our co-workers a bit better. GRENCODA’s accountant is quite a fountain of local knowledge from a bit of herbal lore passed down from his grandparents to his opinions on government affairs to his fishing boat that he owns with his cousin. (Yes, I am working on trying to get him to take me out for some deep sea fishing.) I am really enjoying getting to know many different Grenadians and how their individual stories work into the thread of the Grenadian experience. I previously thought that with a smaller nation like Grenada, I might be able to discover a larger cross-section of lives and lifestyles but that is narrow-minded and erroneous. Grenada is as rich and diverse as any other nation and it will take some time to discover people’s stories. Something that really helps to draw out people’s stories are two major events of which most people have experienced at least one; the revolution in 1979 and US invasion four years later and hurricane Ivan. Most people are quite willing to share their personal stories regarding these events. I did some research on these specific events before arriving in Grenada but to hear the personal stories is powerful and everyone’s tale is different. So I try to remember the broad details of their stories and compile them into a journal when I get home every evening. That’s what has been keeping me busy this week, I am sure I will have something different to report next week.

Later,

Jason