Beaches, Stampedes, and Family Visit Day 5 (Part 2)

After having fun at the Belmont (Chocolate) Estate, we were ready for some lunch. We stopped at Bathway Beach for a picnic lunch since we were all pretty hungry. We had some visitors too. :)



The water is pretty rough, so we didn't go swimming. Ali and I stretched out and started to nap (happens to be a habit of mine at this beach), but decided to head over to Lavera before it got too late.



Lavera is my favorite beach on the whole island. Maybe because it's like a unicorn beach. Rare and beautiful. I've only been to the beach three times, which I think makes it more special.

Ali and I wore matching shirts on accident, and it pretty much made my day. I was pretty excited that she wasn't mad about it. Twwwiiinns! :D

Next up is a little gem that Ross and I found over Christmas break. I knew that the fam would like it, especially since Dad had packed his binoculars.

We had fun checking out the mangrove but before long we headed back through Grand Etang. It was already Thursday and we had yet to see a waterfall, so we decided it was time to fix that. As we started to pay for our tickets (you know I got us a discount), we see a hoard of Germans flowing like a geyser straight down the trail. No sleep til waterfall! 




Panicked, I madly dug through my purse for coins and told everyone "goooooooo!!!"



Lucky for us all they decided to go on the nature trail before heading to the waterfall. It was nice to enjoy a few peaceful minutes by the falls before they came down.

I've never been to Annandale with no one else there. It was really serene.

As much as this country gets on my nerves, it has been weird to think that this is the last time I will ever see these sights. It's been good to take my family around and get to do all these things once more. 

Maybe because it's like slow steady closure. I know I have been here for less than 2 years, but it's still been a trip (mean that in more ways than one).

For dinner mom and dad wanted to treat us to some place nice. It's pretty sad but I had no idea where to go. Ross and I never eat out, and I think we have forced ourselves into a mentality of not being allowed to even think about it. We decided on a nice place, Sangria. Ross and I went there for our anniversary last year and loved it. Cass, it has an amazing "atmosphere" if you know what I mean.

The family got to learn about getting your food on Caribbean time (= forever & 1/2). But we just relaxed and hung out. It was definitely worth the wait. My seafood alfredo was amazing, but my parents' Catch of the Day swordfish plate was absolutely incredible. It was a fun way to end the day - fat and happy.

Royal Mt. Carmel Waterfalls (Day 2 with Rissa)

Tuesday, December 24th 2013

Merry Christmas Eve. I can't believe that it is already Christmas Eve. And guess what... Rissa is still here! And she is still having fun... I think. I'm still having fun having her here at least! :D

Tuesday our tentative plan was go along the south side of the island to Laura's Spice Garden, Royal Mt. Carmel Waterfalls, and then La Sagesse. All I can say is, good thing it was tentative. Because it didn't exactly play out like that. TIG.

The drive down the south side is very beautiful. The road is for the most part, a decent size with less cliffs you could potentially drop off of if, heaven forbid, something bigger than two golf carts need to drive in opposite directions (I'm look at you Grand Etang Road).

Rissa took these pics during the drive.

Lots and lots of green, which I am sure is different from the lots and lots of snow that Rissa is used to seeing this time of year.

Although we navigated there well, Laura's Spice Garden was closed. I had a feeling it might be, because public holidays are more like Public Halt-days in Grenada. Don't get me wrong, I think it is way cool that the country respects holidays in that way.

So we moved on to Royal Mt. Carmel Waterfalls. I guess the Christmas Spirit is all around because usually I am greeted by at least a couple very enthusiastic entrepreneurs when I roll up to Mt. Carmel "trailhead." This time we got off scott-free. No gate use fees, no car watching fees, no water spigot fees. Which of course, just made me want to give him more of my money, funny how that works.



I've been to Mt. Carmel numerous times, once of which I blogged about here, almost exactly a year ago. The hike consists of two different waterfall spots. I don't know if they are all Mt. Carmel waterfalls or what.



It's a fun, short hike, but pretty muddy. And of course, even the most inexperienced nature scout can see some wildlife.

Aaand, sometimes it does take a keener eye.

 The first waterfall you come to is pretty large.

 We did some climbing around and Rissa went swimming in the crystal clear pool at the bottom of the waterfall.

 Then we hiked down and across the river to get to the bottom falls.

No matter how many times I slide down the lower falls, it is still pretty fun. The first time I was a little apprehensive, but the pool is deep enough, the rock is smooth, it's not very tall, and the water isn't very fast.

It's pretty fun! So we all went down a few times. We had a picnic lunch in the beautiful scenery before we started the hike back.

Taking a few pics along the way of course.


















You have to cross this sketch little bridge. Ali, I'm sure you don't approve of the structural soundness of this.

As we were cleaning off our sandals at that convenient little spigot I asked the Spigot Master if there were any cocoa fruits in season. He grabbed a cutlass and headed back into the jungle to grab us some. He showed Rissa how to smash it on the curb to get it open and eat the delicious fruit from the inside. It still blows my mind every time how that is where chocolate comes from! 

Mt. Carmel (Christmas Break 2012)

For an outdoors lover like me Grenada is awesome.

Like I mentioned, I remember without fondness where I have been in past Januaries. And I would rather be loving "winter" Grenada weather than scratching ice off my car in sub degree weather!

Our next adventure was to Mt. Carmel. I have also been to Mt. Carmel, earlier last term.
Mt. Carmel involves a short-ish hike, a big waterfall (not jump-able), and a natural rock water slide!

The trail was an absolute sloppy mess. It was insanely muddy and the best tactic in some portions was to give up and slide.

I took this picture from my friend Nicole. I love little Baby Leia hanging on for dear life. Sean is a trooper.



First we hiked to the huge, gorgeous waterfall.

Did I mention that it was really muddy? The water was pretty muddy too.

Next we hiked to the water slides! It was fun, the water was just a little muddier and pretty cold. Ross loved it. I think he could've stayed in all day.

To get to the top of the slides you have to hike up the trail a little bit and over. Because there were so many of us going back and forth the trail turned into such a mess. The only hope we had was to grab on to random vines and roots hoping that they wouldn't snap prematurely. Haha. I thought it was hilarious and tons of fun but others, I guess not so much.

Fortunately much of the trail got some good sun and had dried a little. The trail is that really thick clay type mud.

On this hike you can see the ocean peaking out every once and a while!

Once again I am so grateful for friends who give us rides to have fun adventures like this. Living in the Caribbean Ross and I have a once in a lifetime adventure, we just have to make the most of the short time we have.

Seven Sisters Waterfalls (Christmas Break 2012)

Holy smokes!

I think I forgot of everything I crammed into Ross's month off from school. Hang in there, we are almost there.

One day Ross and I went with some friends to the absolutely gorgeous Seven Sisters waterfalls. I have been here before, and absolutely loved the hike. It just somehow slipped through my "add this to your blog radar." I haven't been on a ton of hikes in Grenada, but of those I have been on, this is my favorite.

Here is hiking Barbie Kristen.

Due to the insane amount of rain this country has been getting the path was pretty muddy. The entrance fee you pay for the hike includes a fabulous walking stick as modeled by yours truly in the picture above. The walking stick is a must. It really helps out.

You get to hike down then back up and out. This is my favorite part of the actual hike. It involves Spiderman-esque maneuvers to scale.

Also some mud steps with bamboo supports. Ali, engineering marvel, this is for you.

The cool thing about the hike is there are open valleys with small homes and farms then all of a sudden you are in the middle of the jungle, and crossing tiny streams.

Vines galore! It never ceases to amaze me the sheer amount of green there is in this country. Flora and fauna every where you look.

The Seven Sisters Waterfalls are seven waterfalls, ranging in size with the largest one stacking up to 35 feet!

If you look for my man Super Butterfly he will take you to the top of them and help you cross/ jump them all. But don't worry your pretty little head about finding Super Butterfly, he will pop out of the jungle when you least expect it.
Some of our friends decided to jump them all and they said the hike up was pretty crazy because the water was so much faster and higher than usual (again because of the rain).

Super Butterfly tells you exactly how and where to jump in hopes that you don't kill yourself. One guess which guy is Super Butterfly...



Here is one of the guys in our group jumping the 35 footer!



The tricky thing is in order to see the first 5 waterfalls, you HAVE to jump the 35 foot one, there is no wimping out. The pictures don't do it justice. Imagine for a second how TALL 35 feet is.
...

Now how many votes do I get for me to do it next time? Eh? Eh?

While waiting I took this cool photo with my amazing zoom.

Ross and I at the last two of the Seven Sisters Waterfalls.

On our way back we saw a wild growing pineapple. I wish there were more growing here! I don't see it very often at the markets, and they don't grow very big.

And beautiful bright flowers.

Concord Falls Hike

-October 8-12th-
Ross's midterm week was the absolute worst. I was on a downward slump and slipping deeper into the pit of boredom and despair (ya know, while Ross was gone having fun stressing and studying). With Ross being gone all the time with the computer (aka midterm week) rolled around, the situation was exacerbated. Amazing how no internet or computer makes you feel so cut off and medieval.

I love adventure. I am not a daredevil, but I love trying new things and going new places.
Imagine my glee when my friend Mindy called me one Wednesday morning and said her and some other girls were going to take a quick trip up to hike Concord Falls!

I was so happy to have something to do, somewhere to go, and someone to hang out with.
Before long four of us plus a baby were crammed in Mindy's car driving up north to what was for me, uncharted territory.

I got some great pictures but I wasn't fast enough to snap one of the man we saw dressed as a woman -in a pink dress with a matching hair kerchief and full on beard nonetheless. Lovely.

But up a tiny windy road...we made it!

I don't know that it is much of a "resort," but here it is....

We hired a guide to help us navigate up to the waterfall. His name is Sandy and he was great. He pointed out a mandarin tree, and cut us some guava. I guess since it is the rainy season not many people have been up this way in a while so he had his fair share of cutting almost a new path for us.

Long story short, Patty didn't have her baby carrier so Sandy just picked up the little one and hiked with her! He was legit -a machete and no shoes, definitely a tough guy.

It was a pretty easy hike, and we were kind of in a rush to get back so we made it quick.
On the hike you could see some farms along the hillside.

Mindy wanted to get some pumpkins for Halloween decorations, so she asked Sandy where she might find some. Of course Sandy's stepfather has a farm with pumpkins. This is another thing I love about Grenada -ask and ye shall receive. Chances are, some one knows someone who can help you out with what you need -for a price.

 

One of my favorite parts was just seeing all the tropical flowers. I learned about heliconia (left) and anthurium (right) in a class I took in college, and here they are just growing wild in the forest.

Our hike ended at this beautiful waterfall! I had to get in, the water was so cool and nice.
 

Here I am with Kim, braving the icy water!

It was a really fun hike and I know there are bigger and better waterfalls and hikes but I still had a fun time hiking, swimming, and laughing with friends.

At the end of our hike Sandy cut up some sugarcane for us and also gave us this cocoa pod/plant. I had no idea this is what it looks like. Along that main core are seeds and you pull them off and suck on them.

They taste gooey and actually pretty good! They use the seed/pod part to make cocoa or rather chocolate! It is weird that the outside looks like a gourd, the inside tastes fruity, and the seeds are used for chocolate.

On the way home we all snacked on sugarcane and cocoa fruit/plant thing. It was great. :)