Going to Grenada- Installment 1, the broader view.

4600 miles to Grenada and back this week for an other-worldly experience of sun and clear blue water. It seems impossible to come home and have the same dessicated lemons on the counter, right where I left them. Logic says "Of course they're still there, you ninny." But for three days I was a bathing-suited sea nymph instead of a bundled-up tundra mouse, and those poor lemons had no transformation atall- atall. I think I understand wrinkles in the time-space continuum at long last.

When Huz asked me if I cared to accompany him to a meeting in Grenada in February, I didn't exactly leap at the prospect. I wasn't wholly sure what or where Grenada was, and last January he went to Montana( beautiful in it's own right, but more appealing to me in the confines of summer), so I answered "Yes" then quickly made my way to Google to see to what I had committed. I mean, I had heard of Grenada- wasn't there some war or coup or invasion or somesuch when I was in high school? But I was woefully ignorant otherwise.

So, for those of you who are better informed/better traveled/ less ignorant...skip. If you're like me,here is a not technically detailed version; Grenada is a small island about 200 miles off the coast of Venezuela. The original inhabitants of the island were killed off by the Spanish, then the French, then the English, and those that weren't killed by the invaders eventually jumped off a cliff instead of becoming enslaved. So, the Europeans kidnapped Africans to be their plantation slaves. Those African ancestors are the native Grenadians now. Grenada is a mountainous tropical rainforest encircled by white sand beaches and clear bright water. We brought bug spray (yes, yummy smelling herbal- Ava Anderson via representative Christy Pence) but really didn't need it. We slept with our doors and windows open and listened to the night birds. That being said, they do have Chikungunya- a nasty mosquito bourne ill- but Huz learned at his meeting that those mosquitoes are daytime biters, and I didn't see a one the whole visit.(Incidentally, he also learned that there are actual scientific reasons why a glass of wine cures PMS- we all knew this, but now know why.) Grenada is famous not just for military issues in the 1980's, and being walloped by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, but for it's spices. They grow nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, mace-  all the previously mysterious and important spices for making speculaas cookies, or spice cookies. I know more about these now. They use Eastern Caribbean Dollars, and the exchange rate for us while there was 2.65. So...I'm also naturally dense about these things....this means if I exchange $100 US dollars, I received $265 EC Dollars. Many prices are stated in EC, but many are in US, so each time you ask a price, clarify which one. The Grenadians are quick to transfer between the two, and each time I did the math, they weren't cheating. More about the Grenadian personality later. Grenada is one hour ahead of US Eastern Standard Time. The largest town is St. George's. That's my broad 411.

This is the harbor of St. George's proper. You can see the main road through Grenada skirts the water in the harbor. It looked so pretty from there that I decided to hoof it up to the top of the rim to get a photo. Awfully charming, no?

 Huz was there as the representative from Ohio State U. College of Vet Med to meet the rising senior students at the Saint George's Veterinary College. The Veterinary School hosts these reps beautifully for the trip. Yes, on this little island dot of paradise is a Veterinary School. It is a three year program that then farms it's senior students to other 4 year program schools to have their last year of clinical rotations. Representatives from 4 year programs go and chat with the students, and then they get matched up with a program that works for their desired training. Like speed dating to finish Vet School. Fortunately, he had a free day to play as well.