The Secret Beach

Today we were introduced to a "secret beach." Basically our married friends, Katie and Reed, discovered it by accident. It's a strip of beach about a half-mile long with super soft sand and clear water which allows for great snorkeling with no one else on the beach. It was both Tony and my first time snorkeling. If you have never been snorkeling it's something you have to train yourself to do: not freak out when you can only breathe through your mouth, know what to do when you do get water down your snorkel... it's not that bad, but it was just a new, exciting experience. We did see quite a few schools of tiny fish swimming around the rocks and coral. The other three people with us went out much farther and said they saw four eels. Scary, right?! But they said they were only about two feet long. Personally, I wouldn't go back in the water if I had seen them, so it's a good thing I didn't go out that far. Ha.

Here we have Dorothy, Katie and Reed. They are wonderful company to have.

Here is a little sea cave.

This weird thing is on the side of a rock near that sea cave. Any ideal what it is? Maybe a sea slug???

Bear LOVED running free and playing catch. He even braved the waves to retrieve his ball :)

This is my 30 week picture by the way. 10 more weeks left, what?!?!?!

This was definitely a place we'll be visiting in the future. Very private, relaxing, clean, and fun.

The Day of the Forts

26th of July 2014

I will start this post by explaining why we have a small gap in our days. Island life is kinda slow especially when I am not attending school so our days consist of eating, sleeping and going to the beach. So you can fill in any blanks with that image of us here. Cheers! ;)

Today, however, was a bit more eventful. We started the morning by meeting a girl down here named Dorothy at her house at 8:15 am. The 3 of us then caught a "Reggae" bus into St. Georges where we planned on spending the day exploring, getting lost and then hopefully finding ourselves again. They say that this is the only way to learn how to navigate downtown. It cost $ 2.50 EC each way, so less than $1.00 US. The buses all drop-off/start from a main terminal down town. It was at this bus terminal that we started our expedition.

We went first to the fish and meat markets. The fish market we later found out is best stocked in the late afternoons on Tuesday-Friday. This is because none of the fishermen work on Sunday, they are "still being lazy" on Monday and only really get going on Tuesday. Then by Saturday they are ready for Sunday already. It was a local "tour-guide" that told us that. *Laugh* The markets were not at all what we expected. We had expected them to be like China; huge, dirty, stinky, and sketchy. They were actually very small and quite nice. The selections at each were smaller than we had thought, but that may have just been the day and not the norm.

Next we went over to the fruit market. Dorothy knew a lady, Diane, who had a booth there, so we headed over to say hi and get some things. On the way there we ran into a guy that was selling hand carved pieces of black corral. He was one of those guys who you know is trying to scam the tourists, but you feel bad for him anyways because he is kinda disabled. This particular gentleman had a bad thumb, which later became a nuisance. When he first approached I was ready to shew him away, but he had some cool looking things so I decided to "shop". I bought a sea turtle necklace from him. He insisted on tying it a "special way" for me, but because of his bad thumb it ended up taking forever. When he finished we continued over to Diane's fruit stand and I bought some lemons. By this time Cher was feeling a little sick so she went to sit for a bit. This got some attention from a lady who ended up selling me some star-fruit dirt cheap. I think she felt bad for Cher. She may also have quoted me a price in US but I live here, I use EC and that's what she got. :)




To try and beat the heat we went to the Cruise Ship Mall where all the ships doc and the tourists get ripped off. It has A/C though, so that is nice. We walked around the shops and got a chocolate smoothie from a smoothie shop. That really helped reinvigorate us and we headed back out to the streets. There, we met a man who sold us some baking chocolate balls for hot cocoa or baking of course. We then went forward to cross the street. We were stopped by a man who asked what we were up to. We told him and he insisted that we let him show us Fort George. We should have know right away that he was gonna want to charge us for his services, but at least I did not. He took us up to the Fort which was quite the trek. Bridget did not like the strenuous exercise/heat combo and started causing Cher more problems, but these slowly subsided luckily. After walking around the Fort, literally around cause it was closed, we walked on the carinage. The Carinage is where the boats that are importing things come to dock. It is a pretty long port and pretty busy.

Finally we ended our journey at the Spice market. This is the market that Grenada is known for, but it is the most difficult to find. You have to ask just the right people or you will be lied to and taken advantage of. The being taken advantage of is kinda a constant thing, but the lies don't have to be. When we got there we looked around and it was awesome. Tons of spices and other island-y things. One kid tried to rip me off really bad but I just scoffed and him and walked away. Dumb kid trying to rip me off like I'm some newb. Please! I bargained in China son! We didn't buy any spices because we were well stocked due to our 2 weeks of life on the island prior to going to this paradise of spice. Cher did get a "wrap" they call it. It is basically a really big body scarf that you can wrap and wear in a bunch of ways. It will hopefully be something she can wear to stay cool over the next 2 years.

You can see Grenada's prison in the distance. It's the yellowish building near the top.

Port Carinage (care-i-NAWge): Grenada's main port where most imports and brought in.

The government building and the Catholic church.

Very old police station that was turned into a hotel until it was finally condemned.

The Presbyterian church that was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan. The roof was completely ripped off as well as the siding.

The Christ of the Deep. An Italian ship sank just outside of the Carinage Port and Grenadian fishermen were able to save all but maybe 5 out of hundreds from the ship. The locals then housed, fed, and cared for the Italians until they were able to get back home. This statue reflects the gratuity of the Italians and reminds everyone, local and foreign, how Grenadians can and should act.

As we headed back to the bus stop our "guide" said that he knew we were gonna tip him for his help. We offered him some money and he rejected it saying it was not enough. The 3 of us ended up paying him 70 EC or 26 US. Now this actually isn't bad for a 2+ hour tour, but still. When you don't ask for a tour it is annoying to have to pay for one. We then boarded that buses and headed home. That ended our day events and we rested until the evening when we visited 2 of the other forts on the island.

Cherish here:
 So Saturday night we went and visited Fort Matthew. It was the one the US bombed way back in the day. After the initial war it was turned into the mental institution. We went up there because the group we went with said there was a place to eat up there and the view was really cool.

This was part of the restaurant... The actual restaurant was beneath the rooftop.

We had to have a re-cap of doing tai-kwon-do on the Great Wall.

We got up there, and yes, it was definitely a fantastic view. We were allowed to explore the grounds and go into the passages below the top grounds. The locals called them caves because that's honestly what they look like. I HATED it. The millipedes there were twice/three times the size that we have around our apartment and very active. Then the "caves" were low, probably 6 feet high.... maybe.... but it was very dark, dank, and just overall creepy in there. Then, of course, my beautiful imagination saw the schizos, druggies, and overall insane people sitting, crouching, and lurking behind every corner. I'm sure it wasn't that bad but in my mind I was ready to go home.

We ordered the food from a small counter. Honestly, we still don't know where they cooked the food for the "restaurant." It definitely was not near that bar area. There were two tables in the whole restaurant, so from what we assumed, that area is a more drinking/party scene where tables are not needed and food is not ordered often. Overall, with about 20 people, it took an hour and a half to get all of the food out. I had ordered a fish and chips which ended up tasting like chicken- Tony liked it much more than I did, even saying he wouldn't mind having another. He had ordered a burger, which I ended liking much more than he, so it worked out :)

I think the part that stuck most with me though were the company we were with. There were 4 "single" people- those without their spouses, or actually single, 3 families with kids, and 2 couples married with no kids (us included). The families all sat around the table with their kids and planned a party just for them right in front of everyone. It was extremely rude and annoying. It made everyone that was not part of that clique feel very isolated, ignored, and unwanted. The worst part is that the other married, no kids couple and a single girl said those women do that sort of thing all the time! They'll say hi, and then just start planning something while that other person is there, not inviting them at all, just ignoring them until the conversation is over. So rude. These are supposed to be the "nice families" that will "help you with anything that you need..." yeah right. If I get invited to those parties I don't even think I'll attend just because they acted so superior to anyone in the group. Judgemental? Sure. But I can handle that. They shouldn't be so inconsiderate with other people around, especially when they're in the middle of the actual room where people are obviously sitting right behind them.
Tony's disclaimer: I'm not mad for the same reasons Cher is. I can handle if people don't want to invite me to stuff. I dont know them well enough to even want to be there friends at this point. What bothers me is that they did this kind of crap in front of the new people who don't have friends yet and need to be invited to stuff. In this case, Dorothy and Cher and I were completely disregarded/over-looked. Not cool.

"Our house... in the middle of the street"(ish)

This is less of a story and more of a informative piece about our place.

So... we are living in Lance Aux Epines (pronounced Lance Eh-peens). It is one of the "nicer" places here on the island. A lot of students live here.

Wanna see it? Google maps. Its on the south west part of the island.

Our place is just behind the U.S. Embassy on a small quiet road. 

It's a 4-plex. 

Here is what half of it looks like. Just mirror this half to see what the other side looks like.

Our yard is pretty much non-existent. The front is all driveway and the back is very steep. That being said, it is terribly beautiful still.

This little guy is hanging around. He showed up one morning after a storm with a hurt wing I believe. Hopefully he heals up and takes off soon.

Our house is a little retro, but not bad. It came completely furnished and is quite cozy.

Bear seems to be warming up to it as well.

The bedrooms are simple and small, but they get the job done. Each room came with a closet, a full size bed, a small dresser, an A/C unit and a desk. The A/C units in the bedrooms are the only units in the house. This is okay though because A/C is far too expensive to be used to cool the whole house.

The bathroom isn't the biggest either, but we have a bathtub which is nearly unheard of here.

Out back we have a washer and drier which the 4-plex shares. No pictures included because... come on, its a washer and drier. Its not that cool.

And that's about it. If you want any specifics feel free to hit me up for more info.

The Private Hospital and Two Beaches

First thing Monday morning we set out on the quest to check out the private hospital. We left in the later morning and successfully  found our way up the roads to the somewhat secluded hospital. It takes about a 15 minute drive from our house, and hopefully Tony can remember the turns. Upon arriving at SAM's (St. Augustine's Medical) we found the window to the driver's side window once again stuck and not rolling back up... yayyyyy.... We would call Shawn again later today. We went in to the hospital and found the lobby completely full of people, all foreigners from what I could tell. We approached the information desk and they nicely asked us to fill out a form with our information required for registration and that someone would come to talk to us.

After less than 5 minutes, a lady approached us and invited us back into her office. Well, really it was a patient room- she said there was a meeting taking place in her office, but there was AC and the room looked clean. She patiently talked to us about everything on the form and asked us questions about our OB and possible pediatrician options. She was from the UK but highly recommended 5 pediatricians that all frequented the hospital for births. The administrator was a very knowledgeable lady that was very helpful and patient with all of our questions. In fact, she highly recommended the SGU insurance because they will cover everything except $250 USD. Can you imagine?! Only $250 to have a baby... Wow that will help out a lot.

After the initial meeting, she showed us the second floor of the hospital where the maternity ward was. There was one delivery room which was air conditioned and had a shower and tub available. There was also, from what I saw, only one operation room available as well. I guess when you're that small of a hospital you only need one. Ha. Then she showed us the shared rooms. They each had a TV and air conditioning unit. Yayyy A/C. I cannot tell you how happy that made me. They cover the bed sheets and hospital gown, but everything else I have to bring (which I previously knew from contacting that girl that had a baby on the island). There was also a bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet, again it all looked clean.

When we left the hospital we felt pretty good. The visit had made us feel comfortable and valued. Sure things are different than that in the US, but we knew they would be. They don't have the massive corridors or loud-speakers with doctors and nurses busting their butts off, but that's because they didn't have anything going on at that time. 

I think with all of our research, all of our doubts and worries, all of our prayers and asking for comfort, we were finally able to feel excited to have our baby here. No, it won't have a NICU, but we knew that. No, the hospital won't give you all of the pain meds and comforts like those available in the US, but we knew that too. It does however, provide a safe environment where you really are the only one the staff is taking care of. Now as long as this pregnancy goes smoothly, like we feel it will, our daughter will be able to have a safe entry into this world. Any and all prayers are still welcomed though ;)

After the hospital we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. When we got out, our car was dead. Yes, once again the IGA mysteriously killed our car. Tony called the mechanic, as previously planned, and explained the now worse situation. Shawn showed up in 5 minutes and discovered the battery wires weren't hooked all of the way on. Whew at least it was an easy fix, but he did take our car again later that night to work on the window and air conditioning. We went to the SGU clubhouse pool though for about 3 hours that afternoon to cool down.

Tony made an Ariel bra.

Tuesday day was pretty uneventful except that we checked out the Grand Anse beach, just beside the IGA. It's about a 5 minute drive from our house. It's the beach that puts Grenada on the map with one of the world's top beaches.

We eventually drug Bear all the way into the water. It was a little upsetting for him, but I think he secretly liked it.

That night we hung out with friends, Reed and Katie. It was nice company with a great home-cooked meal.  The really fun part was getting home. We started walking (we're about a 5 minute walk), and it started sprinkling. Oooh, we better hurry we thought. It ended up downpouring on us, much similar to the first downpour I experienced when I went to China. There were buckets of rain falling accompanied by wind so that you couldn't see where you going and had to cover your face with your hands so that you just see your feet. Even if we had had umbrellas the wind would have broken them. Don't worry, the rain ended just as we were coming up our driveway. Haha. We were completely soaked to the bone. It was actually a lot of fun though just because we knew it had to happen sometime.

We were really lucky to get before and after shots haha.