7/22/05 My Arrival in Grenada!

As many of you know, at the beginning of the year I made the decision to take a year away from practice in the US to volunteer abroad. Through a friend of a friend of a friend my search led me to the Grenada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA). They have a website that is somewhat outdated but still has some good stuff on it: http://grenadaspca.org. I also want to bring your attention to another website for a group called the Pegasus Foundation who paid for my flight to Grenada: http://www.pegasusfoundation.org.

Thanks for checking out my blog. I thought this would be a good way to let everyone know how things were going for me and also get some of my pics on the web. I am also placing pics in some albums at this address: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/donschrank/my_photos.


I arrived on Grenada on July 19 after what I found out was the usual 2 hour delay in Puerto Rico. That is one of the first things that you come to realize when you come here. Things work on a completely different schedule than what we are used to in the United States. Peggy Cattan, the president of the Grenada SPCA, picked me up at the airport and on the way to her house we did have to stop at a bar to celebrate the beginning of this experience.


After a good night's sleep I decided see what I had gotten myself into for the next year, so I went for a swim! As I was walking on the dock I got my first glimpse of the local wildlife. To the left is a photo, a bit distorted looking from above the water, of a spotted cow fish. You can see one of his spines and his tail in the bottom of the photo.










This is the view from the end of Peggy's dock.










A view of St. George's University on the other side of the bay.






The view of Peggy's house from the end of the dock and the view from her living room. The bars are down to protect all those who sought refuge from flying projectiles from the last hurricane, Emily.









Peggy then took me into town for some lunch. The port is quite picturesque and the water is a stunning clear blue. In fact just looking over the breakwall I could see different sorts of tangs, butterfly fish, and several others darting around. For lunch I enjoyed a Roti, a common, simple meal. A roti is usually fish or chicken mixed with potatoes some veggies and lots of curry wrapped up in something like a tortilla. They're pretty good and very filling for cheap! But NOTHING beats a Bui "egg an' chee" at UPenn.









After lunch we went for a short tour of the city which consisted of going through an extremely narrow tunnel and then going up the even more narrow main street which goes directly up a hill at an angle of approximately 89 degrees. I believe that I said something to the effect of "I'd rather be dead (or be sitting in the Puerto Rico Airport for another 6 hours) than have to drive through this part of town!" Let us skip ahead several hours after I'd been left at my new home with my own automobile, a little 4 cylinder standard transmission Nissan with the steering wheel on the wrong side. I decided this would be the perfect time to get acquainted with my new surroundings. Well you may have guessed, but after a series of wrong turns I find myself on the middle of this f***ing hill, sweating bullets (no AC), and trying not to bounce anyone off the front of the car which is no small task because everyone prefers to walk in the street. The story has a somewhat anticlimactic ending as I made it back safely without injury to the public but a good workout for the old adrenal glands! I'll have to walk back there one day and take a photo.

So after the tour we went to the clinic. There is a large apartment above the clinic where I will be staying and have the use of the aforementioned vehicle. Love the window tinting and the rosary, gotta cover all you bases!









The view from the porch at the back of the apartment.









I put my stuff away, made a sandwich, then went for a completely ill-conceived drive. When I made it back to the safety of the apartment I thanked God that I made it to Grenada safely and didn't die on the streets of St. George's on my first day. Then I cracked open a cold one!