What to do when you cannot find a coffee maker.

As some of you may know, I like coffee. Grenadians, by and large, do not seem to share my love of a good cup of jo. Thus there are very few coffee makers to be found on the island and in Gouyave particularly. Having made do with instant coffee for the first few months, I thought that I would continue in that vein until April, when I can use my programmable wonder again. In fact, I was okay with that, I could handle instant coffee, I could even begin to like instant coffee. My plans changed when my wonderful in-laws sent some of Tim's finest down for Christmas. Once I opened that tin and inhaled that wonderful aroma (instant doesn't really seem to have any odour at all) I knew that I had to create my own percolator. The following pictures are the result of a little experimentation and a little collaboration with Kristy and Andrew. It brews a wonderful and quick cup of coffee, plus it can be affixed to almost any size of container.

Step One: Punch some holes in the lid of a can and one hole in the bottom of said can.

Step Two: Bend down the sides of the lid so as to raise the perforated lid off the bottom of your percolator.

Step Three: Insert coffee filter, fill with favourite blend and fill with hot water. Enjoy!

Mom and Dad Enns...part 2

During Mom and Dad's visit, although we/they did plenty of resting, we also managed to make it out to see a few sites. This first picture is from Anandale Falls. It is a very pretty location with some nice landscaping around the area and it is very easy to access from the parking lot. This means that when the cruise ships are in port it is pretty busy, but we were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves for our visit. We took a 'shortcut' back down a narrow, bumpy and occasionally dirt road through the interior. We actually quite enjoyed the ride and were again grateful that we made the decision to rent a vehicle instead of depending on public transportation. There are, as always a lot of scenic places in Grenada that we could show you photos of, but we will have to save something for when we return! By the way, that will be on April 17, our flight will arrive around 9:50 AM I think.




We were also invited to the GRENCODA staff party where mom and dad got to see first hand how much work it is to make Grenada's national dish Oildown. Dad even pitched in and peeled those tricky green bananas with the rest of the men.


Dad also picked up the Cricket bat and learned a few of the basics of Cricket, Grenada's most popular sport with football (soccer in North America) coming a close second. It helps that Grenada is one of the West Indian countries hosting the Cricket World Cup from April 10 - 20, so Cricket fever is running high.

Of course, that meant that he deservedly got a nice full plate of Oildown.

Most evenings, we sat down at the table to play some games. We seem to have gotten the "Settlers of Catan" bug well and fully instilled in mom and dad. For those of you who don't know the game, give us a call when we're back and we'll be glad to introduce you!

Enns' in Grenada

Mom sleeping in the sun. She didn't believe me that her legs would burn... Well, I guess she learned!

This is what mom and dad Enns looked like most mornings of their vacations! From the looks of it they hadn't slept at all during the last month! Someone back in Manitoba needs to make them take it easy once in a while.

We also did some beaching...checking out Grand Anse beach (shown here), Bathway Beach, and a beach at the south end of the island

Lobster at Fish Friday

All in all we had a very nice time with mom and dad. We played lots of games (Settlers of Catan), ate lots of food, slept, and saw a variety of parts of the island. We will post some pictures soon of the GRENCODA staff party that they got to attend. Dad played some cricket and we ate Grenada's national dish, Oildown.

Yep, they made it.

Dad popped by the GRENCODA office early on Monday morning. Mom took the opportunity to move into vacation mode and stay in bed.

Dad says, "Come to Grenada and lose your sinus headache." It seems that the warm humid air in Grenada is just the thing to counteract the effects of dry Manitoban winter air. It only took 1.5 hours after arrival for any sinus discomfort to clear up, that's pretty quick.

So now we are embarking on the activities for the rest of the week and of course photos will ensue.

Later for now,
Jason

Picture Time

Here are some random pictures for your viewing pleasure. I didn't feel like writing a post today, so this is what you get!

My sister Rita sent me a package with a variety of items, and included was this beautiful painting done by my niece Erin. Thanks Erin! (We got this package almost two months after it was sent. We were waiting for our notice to arrive from the post office that it was here, but finally just went to the office to inquire. Lo and Behold, the package was there...and it had been for almost a month and a half!!! It actually only took 9 days to arrive, but for some reason we never got the notice. The day after we picked it up we received a notice from the post office telling us that this was the second notice and any packages left unclaimed after 2 months would be returned to sender.)

Jason in his frog suit
The sign he is making means everything is O.K. A thumbs up isn't recommended to use as an O.K. because it means that it is time to ascend.

Al made a new friend in Kelci. She and Al played frisbee for a long time on our porch on the morning he was due to leave. She also really enjoyed working on a puzzle with us. She often asks me if I can't bring it out again so she can work on it!

This is what happens when you take out braids that have been in for over a week. Go 80's go!

20 points for anyone who can figure out what I'm holding. (Excluding Rita and Al of course, since you already know)

New Year Resolutions?

Just wondering if all our readers out there gave up commenting on blogs for their New Years Resolutions, or are your fingers just too frozen to type?

Finally...Off the Island for a bit

As part of our tour guiding activities we took our family members off the island of Grenada and onto the nearby island of Carriacou, though it is still within Grenada's governing boundary. Heading out on the Saturday morning of Dec 30 we boarded the Osprey ferry, a high-speed shuttle to cross the 45 miles from southern Grenada to Carriacou. Carriacou is only 13 sq miles and not that far from Grenada but it has a very different feel to the place. Though we find Grenada to be quite laid back, Carriacou is much more laid back than Grenada. Grenadians describe it as one of the places in the Caribbean to experience the real West Indian lifestyle. Though we were on the island for just over 28 hours we did a lot of walking around and took in a two hour guided taxi tour of the northern half of the island. The scenery was great and the people were quite friendly though it seemed to me that many of them were more reserved and less gregarious than Grenadians. I would recommend the journey to all those that are interested but be warned that the ferry ride can be a little wild as the small ship braves some rather large waves during its voyage. (If you are riding on the open top of the ferry, you may get wet as the waves break over the front of the vessel.)

Al & Kristy enjoying the view and fresh air

Black-bellied sheep are raised all over Carriacou for meat.

Ship-building, though not as popular as it once was, still functions as a small industry. The wood is locally grown white cedar.

Just because you can build a boat doesn't mean you can move it. I don't know what these guys were thinking as they moved the boat down the road, sideways. Though, at the point in time when this picture was taken their progress was halted as they tried to untangle their engine (left side) from the trees and bushes.

We came upon these guys as we were headed back to our guest house. Our taxi driver bought two pounds of fish from them for fish broth. The guys said that they caught all those fish in two hours of spear-fishing.

Kristy's magic 28th

My magic birthday (turning 28 on the 28^th of Dec) took place on the magical isle of Grenada, complete with family, food and a beautiful beach. What more could a girl ask for? Jason amazed a number of Grenadians by taking onto his shoulders the preparation of Grenada’s National dish Oildown. He even traded in a few favours for one of the coveted breadfruit from the tree behind GRENCODA. If you had seen Ms. Williams when she talked about those breadfruit prior to Christmas (it was rumoured that she counted them daily!), you would understand the lengths Jason went through to make an authentic Oildown for my birthday. He borrowed a pot from a friend of our neighbours, since ours was too small. He got all the spices and supplies and put it all together. I didn’t have to do a thing! (Though I helped with the dumplings) After everything was prepared we went to the Chocolate Factory in Hermitage, and then down to Bathway Beach where we built a fire and cooked our huge pot full of food! The word spread all the way down the beach that there were some crazy foreigners cooking Oildown at the end of the beach. We met up with someone Jason works with from the cocoa association who told us that he, too, had heard about it. Had he realized that it was us there he would have come by, but as it was he just stopped by our neighbours fire to see if there was any cow head left! There wasn’t. He did probably get some under the counter rum, which our friendly neighbours brought over for us to try. Think rum filled with berrys and herbs and marinated for a good length of time. Personally I liked it, but I’m sure it wasn’t everyone’s favourite flavour. It was a slightly cooler, overcast day but I think we all had a good time. Thanks Jason for all you did to make this a special day!

Walking to the north end of bathway. Nice black sand.

Al & I beside the road broken by Hurricane Ivan, still not rebuilt.

Al eating watermelon while waiting for the fire to get going so we can put on the pot.

Delicious Yellow Watermelon we bought from a roadside vender on the way down to Bathway.

Just a quick note

I did it, I finally did it. After a few months of running in the hills of Grenada, I have managed to convince myself that I can actually run. I have never really considered myself a runner before but rather a cyclist who runs for cross-training in the off-season. But I realise that I like both activities and so this June, on consecutive weekends I will participate in the MCC Bike The Interlake (my fifth year of MCC rides), followed on the next weekend by the Manitoba Marathon (I will do a half-marathon for my first attempt).

The registrations are in and paid for and so I am committed to the task. Though I am feeling strong in the fact that I can run 9 miles with over half a mile of elevation change in Grenada. So the flat 13.1 miles in Winnipeg should be no problem.

Now the challenge goes out to all those out there, get active and enjoy some physical activity. And for those of you who are man enough or woman enough to rise to the challenge I encourage you to sign up for either the MCC Bike the Interlake or the Manitoba Marathon or both. The more the merrier and I would love to see you out.

Jason

Christmas in the Caribbean

Christmas was a blast. I have had the pleasure of playing in the surf once before on Christmas but that was a long time ago in Brazil. After opening a couple presents from home (Thanks to my parents-in-law for the thoughtful gift of Tim Hortons coffee, it is a great thing to get when the stores in Gouyave tend to have only instant coffee). We headed out to the beach for a bit of playing in the waves. Some of us stayed out a little too long and got sunburnt but we were not too worse for wear.

Steel Pan Procession during Gouyave Fish Friday Festival

Christmas Morning



Al Checking out the Surf on Christmas Day


Steel Pan Band (The Pan Wizards) Christmas Evening
They were excellent!

More posts to come.

Jason

A barrage of photos - be prepared

Whew! That was a very busy holiday season with many, many interesting things to report. The first order of business will be to organize the multitude of photos we took (a curse/bless of the digital camera) and type some reports of our excellent times over the holidays.

So, hang tight and we will be producing some wonderful posts over the next few days and weeks to let all of you know happened during our nearly 3 week blogging hiatus.

Jason

Can't Escape the Urge to make a snow(sand)man!

Don't Give a Cutlass to a Crazyman!