St. Vincent --> Bequia

Friday, Day 21 

(I'm so far behind on keeping this blog updated.  So, short version with pictures for now:)

5:45am alarm
breakfast
catch bus to Kingstown



no one would sit by white girl - so weird
gospel music blaring, likely to try and calm you down from the madness of flying through streets with blind curves, just honking the entire way
last stop in Kingstown, couple of blocks walk to ferry terminal


ferry looks rough - really rough
decide to ask, next one down leaves sooner and looks nicer
not bad ride, really -- didn't take Dramamine and didn't get sick

beautiful rainbow as we left St. Vincent

walk to coffee shop in Bequia for wifi and end up with banana smoothie

walk to dive shop, 2:30 dive option, but don't want to go that late

walk to next dive shop, 11:30 dive - sounds better
walk to beaches - lots of british and italians

walk back to dive shop for dive
suited up, never asked about names or checked paid numbers
didn't check gear or try anything on - not impressed with safety



3 minute boat ride out to dive spot
warn guide I am not a good diver and get nervous
jump in, cold water, best equalizing yet, made rest of dive smoother
water was cold, but so many fish and great coral
saw two turtles and an eel
ferry went over us and it was SO loud - wasn't sure what was going on
40 minute dive, longest yet, so cold teeth were chattering with TWO wetsuits on
drift dive - had to swim against current back, current so strong knocking regulator out of mouth

boat ride back, rinsed off in rain water bucket, warmed up in sun



went next door for lunch - curried fish - edible but not great

taxi up to hike peggy peak to get a view of both sides of island
dropped off at road - straight up - and said the trail would be at end of road
no trail found, just a water tower
looked like trail?  maybe?  pretty sure it was a draining ditch, but crawled up anyways
stuck a few times, literally crawled - no walking

30 minutes later, not to the top and no great view
started running on trail - which I found at the top - and hardly got the view I wanted, but it was still a nice view of the bay

literally ran back down, on the trail, which was much easier
down to road just in time for driver to pull back up

drove to town, back to coffee shop for wifi and another smoothie



4:30 ferry back to Kingstwon in St. Vincent

Allie was right there waiting at ferry terminal - she had a dr. appt in town that afternoon so waited
walked to Masseys grocery store where I ate a bag of chips while she shopped
have you ever seen a lemon look like this?



walked to main bus stop - complete madness
everyone trying to get out of town on Friday - all busses were full - waited almost an hour for one an had to squeeze in very back of bus

5 people in my row
21 people in a mini-van, no joke
wish I had a picture
or better yet a video of the driving
felt like on a bad disney ride or a video game - loud music, head hitting speakers, hot jostling back and forth



walked back to Allie's apartment with the flashlight on my phone
showered and packed up while she made tacos from "soy chunks" that tasted like meat - she's vegetarian
made own tortillas - so delicious - i need to learn to cook more



washed dishes and went to bed around 10pm

St. Vincent: Montreal Gardens

Thursday, Day 20

After the super late night and not much sleep (the pillows are so big and hard!), I didn't get out of bed until about 8:30 when I heard Allie up and moving around.  I wanted to at least spend a few minutes with her before she left for work at 8:45.  I got a little more of a feel for the island and more specifically, the local area, and her apartment.  Made some plans for today and tomorrow, and then she was out the door.

I tried to go back to bed, but I couldn't sleep.  Once I'm up, I'm up.  So I ate some granola and looked at some stuff online.  Just relaxed on the couch.  Didn't feel like getting out and about yet.  Here is what the place looks like:

 

Eventually, I cleaned up and made it out the door around 11.  I had to lock the apartment and take the keys up to Allie at her school, which was just around the corner.  She showed me the short-cut...through a drainage ditch.

Of course all the kids freaked out when another white person walked in.  I tried to not be a distraction, but all the kids screamed in every single class room I passed, haha!

Dropped the keys off with Allie and went back to the main junction in Richland Park (where she lives), and caught a mini-van in to town.  That is there main form of transportation here, like a local bus.  It's just a van with loud music.  And it gets packed, I quickly learned.  There is a guy yelling out the window just shoveling people in constantly.  Until you literally can't move.

KFC is everywhere!!

I was going to go all the way in to the main town on St. Vincent, Kingstown -- a 45 minute ride.  But in Arnos Vale - only 30 minutes away (that's where the airport is, too) I saw a Masseys supermarket right on the side of the road.  The driver was stopping to let someone else out there, so we hopped out, too.  The other Massey's we went to in Trinidad was super nice and had everything we needed, and this one looked nice, too.

Got everything I needed, including a bag of chips.  Which I opened immediately, while I waited for another "bus" to come back the other way.

Dropped the groceries off at the apartment (Allie was home for lunch), made a quick pbj for lunch, and started the hike up to Montreal Gardens.

The taxi driver last night said it was amazing, and since its as already getting kind of late (that's what happens when your day doesn't start until 11), it just made sense to do that.  Allie said it was a 45 minute hike up.  Like, straight up.  I figured it wouldn't be so bad, and surely wouldn't be 45 minutes.

It was every bit of 45 minutes...and definitely was up up up and up.  I was a hot sweaty mess by the time we reached the Montreal Gardens.  But it was so high up that the weather changed and it was actually cool and windy up there -- which wasn't cool on the sweaty skin.  Got cold quick!

A little over half way up, a guy walked out of the fields carrying a machete and was heading towards me. I just smiled and kept walking as he passed me, but then like two seconds later I was like, "Oh my goodness, that was a dude with a machete!  I'm in the middle of nowhere!  I should be freaking out!"  - but I didn't even think twice about it.  So that made me feel good.  I don't want one bad incident in Grenada to affect my outlook, and apparently it didn't.

Anyways, man, the gardens were just beautiful.  I mean better than some of the ones in the US.  Perfectly manicured, gorgeous flowers and trees. I just couldn't believe that kind of spot was up in the middle of nowhere!  (Also, I took way too many pictures that don't do it justice at all!)

 

The hike back down sucked.  I always like the up hill better than the down hill.  The constant pounding is hard!  OH, and it rained.  I brought my rain jacket though, so no big deal.

Allie made it back to the apartment right about the same time we did, and we decided to go out for a walk around the village and take some pictures.  She is a musician and brought her guitar and ukulele for some new head shots.

I made dinner at the apartment (really, I did!):  quinoa, steamed sweet potato, carrots, yellow pepper and broccoli, and fruit for dessert (apple, grape, banana, strawberry).  SEE!  I can cook!   It was good, too!  I forgot to take pictures though...so no proof. ;)

Anyways, we just sat around and talked after dinner.  I think Allie really loves having another American around.  It's a quiet, sleepy little village so not much to do.  I would assume it gets boring and lonely.

OH and Allie has a washing machine.  I got to do laundry!  And I took a shower and washed my hair, too.  Feels so good to be clean -- and have clean clothes!

Plan tomorrow is to take an early morning ferry (again!) to another island:  Bequia.  Supposed to be just gorgeous!