SPICY GRENADA!

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Grenada, West Indies

80+F, sunny

I was looking forward to reaching Grenada (pronounced Gruh nay duh) because in previous visits we could smell the spices as we stepped on the island. Today the smell was that of gas and oil. Perhaps one of the two cruise ships in port was refueling, but we could still smell the oil/gas on the waterfront and the water had an oily sheen in some places.

As we walked through the cruise terminal, a Girl Scout troop was standing patiently with nice big smiles. We later learned that they were going to tour the Sunshine.

We walked to the waterfront via a one way tunnel with no sidewalk—the alternative was climbing the hill with narrow steps—so we bravely dodged the cars.  The Sendall Tunnel, 350 feet long, was built in 1894 and is considered an engineering milestone for the island. Since Grenada is a volcanic island, I am imagining the hill is volcanic material-rock solid. Tim said the last time we were in Grenada we took the steps over the hill. I doubt it.

Dot’s Plaza Spice Shop, a shop we visited twice before on previous trips, was on the waterfront and I did buy boxes of spices for Denise and Coleen and a couple friends (and me too!).  Nutmeg, cinnamon, turmeric, and ginger are all cultivated on Grenada. This time Dot’s did not have cloves. The cloves that I buy stateside do not have long enough stems for pushing into our baked ham. The cashier told me to try the nearby grocery store. What a treat that was—I love going into local grocery stores with hardworking people bustling around as they find the special items on their grocery lists. There were no cloves in the grocery store either.

After visiting the House of Chocolate/Museum-Boutique Chocolaterie-Cafe (Grenada is also know for its cacao) on Young Street, we went back through the Sendall Tunnel to the cruise ship terminal. TK said the wi-fi was very fast there and I found some things for B1 and B2. I really miss them. I also found one bag of cloves. It must not be right season, or a bad year. 

Tonight at dinner one of the dessert choices was popcorn pot de crème. TK ordered it for all of us to try because that sounded quite unique. It turned out to be basically crème brulee with caramel popcorn on top---we won’t ever have to try that again. Good thing we ordered the blueberry pie too.

TK’s Takes: 1. TK was building up takes, so here they are. 2. The people on this ship do seem to be friendly. 3. The booth seating in the dining room is too close to the ground—difficult to get out of. 4. The ship’s time stays the same no matter the time zone—this is the first cruise where we did not have to change our watches for island time zones.  I hope TK does not think that this fulfills his obligation to provide “takes.”