11/27/05 The Tour

So while the family is here we had to do the obligatory “Around the Island” tour. We went with a guide named Carl who was extremely personable and knowledgeable. Our first stop was Annondale Falls on the west coast. Personally, I enjoy water falls and “buena vistas” that require some work, i.e. hiking, to get to enjoy. These falls, while very pretty, were not much of a challenge to reach. We parked at the top, paid our 5 bucks to use the stairs, and got our photo ops.

Next stop was a Nutmeg Station in Guayave. I was surprised to learn that Grenada, “The Spice Isle,” was given its name in part because it produced 1/3 of the world’s supply of nutmeg. I was even more stunned to learn that the world supply of nutmeg was more than a handful of nuts. I thought that every kitchen had about three nutmegs that just sat in the cupboard only to be used once a year on top of eggnog! Grenada’s nutmeg farmers are still recovering from Hurricane Ivan which destroyed a large number of nutmeg trees but I was still impressed with the numbers of nuts at this station. Those racks are full of hundreds of pounds of drying, whole nutmegs.

We had lunch at the north end of the island in Sauters. What a view of the islands between Grenada and Carriacou!







After lunch, we needed a stiff drink so we went to the oldest operational rum distillery in the Caribbean. River’s Rum is an interesting place because they still make rum without the use of modern equipment. They use an original water wheel that was built in the 1800’s to crush local oganically grown sugar cane to produce a juice. This juice is boiled down and then allowed to sit open to the environment to ferment. The fermented wort is then distilled to a MINIMUM of 75% alcohol but usually upwards of 83%. This stuff is so flammable that they won’t even allow it on an aircraft. At the end of the tour we each got a sample. I think that some of the rum hit my tongue, but all of it evaporated in my mouth before it was able to reach my stomach. But I do know that some vapor went down my throat because I could feel the burn! Smooth indeed!!

Last stop, to cleanse the palate, we hit the Grenada Chocolate Factory. They use locally grown organic cocoa to make their organic dark chocolate. They make it in 60% and 71% cocoa bars of which I prefer the latter. You can see the roaster in the left of the photo.









On the way back to Grand Beach we passed through the old Pearls Airport on the east coast were we found out that my parents’ flight was going to be slightly delayed. Actually these planes were sitting on the runway when the American’s invaded in the early 1980’s and these planes were shot so they couldn’t take off. And there they stayed!