In a marina, you meet people from all walks of life. Our new neighbors are from Trinidad. Early in the week, they invited us over for a small gathering with their local friends for a “small bit of soup”. First thing in the morning, our neighbor brought out a cauldron and placed it on a special burner he had set up on the deck. The cauldron was easily 2 feet across and 2 feet deep. On a boat, there is very limited space so we are always having to choose between want and need. Want to bake cookies in the oven…need gas to cook dinner for the month. Want a 25hp dingy motor…need to be able to lift the dinghy out of the water without a broken back. Want a lobster trap…need a place to store the extra anchor. Evidently, a cauldron large enough to start a soup kitchen is a need on a boat from Trinidad. After smelling the soup simmer all day on the deck, we were definitely ready for a taste. We made our way over to their boat and were greeted by their friends. We were amazed at the different heritages of Trini people. They explained that their heritage included Scots, Irish, Indian (both from India and local natives), Chinese and African. At one time or another, all their ancestors had been brought to Trinidad as slaves or as convicts and over the years the cultures had blended into modern day Trinidad. It was fascinating to listen to their stories and we look forward to getting to Trinidad next year. The soup had been worth the wait and was filled with vegetables, all parts of pig and what the locals call “provisions” (high starch foods such as casaba, potatoes and squash). One of the Trinis explained that this type of meal was what the field hands ate after a hard day’s work. It was followed by rum cake that we all decided was actually an entire bottle of rum with a little cake thrown in for soaking purposes. At the end of the evening, our host scooped up bowls full of the leftover soup for everyone to take home and I’m pretty sure the magic cauldron could have still competed with loaves and fishes to feed the masses. We were very glad that a giant soup cauldron was a necessity on a boat from Trinidad!
By Wednesday, we were tired of being on the boat and even more tired of the fuel tank project. We took a vote and decided it was time for some fun! Our first stop was two forts that sat up on the hill above St. Georges, Fort Matthew and Fort Frederick. We parked the car and made our way up the hill to Fort Matthew only to find the gate locked and the fort closed “due to Covid”. The guard pointed us back down the hill to Fort Frederick where Covid obviously did not live because it was open. Ah, the logic of it all! After the forts, we drove to Annandale Falls. Compared to other falls we have seen, Annandale Falls was small but at least it did not involve a muddy hike through bug infested forest! We walked down a lovely paved path, through a bar and out to the falls. The water was crisp and refreshing and swimming under a waterfall is always a great day! Next stop, Grand Etang lake. Grand Etang was a lake that formed in the cone of the island volcano. While the lake was pretty, it did not hold much excitement….until we met the monkeys! They are Mona monkeys and were brought to Grenada from Ghana via slave ships in the 1800s. There was a “monkey man” who called the monkeys using a special sound and the monkeys came hopping through the trees in search of the goodies they knew we would have. In order to get the monkeys to come to me, I had to hold my right arm straight out with my palm facing down and hold my left arm straight out with a banana lying in my left hand. As soon as that banana hit my hand, the monkey jumped on my right arm and scurried up to my neck where he sat eyeing the banana and posing for his photo op. It took him about 2 seconds to decide the banana was safe and it took him even less time to grab the banana and drop the peel at my feet. They were very curious and the monkey man told us to never wear sunglasses or shiny earrings around them because we would never see them again. After the excitement of the monkeys, we made our way over to the town of Sauteurs to the Petite Anse Hotel. We were the only guests at the resort for the night so we had very personalized service. The highlight of the night was getting to actually eat dinner while sitting in the restaurant instead of having to take our order to go. It’s the small things in life these days! When we ventured out of our casita to go to dinner, there was a cat waiting for us at the door. Our hostess said his name was Tommy. From that moment on, Tommy followed us everywhere we went. I never thought I would find a cat that lived a more spoiled life than my mother’s cat but Tommy lives the good life. When we sat down for dinner, he jumped on my lap and proceeded to make me scratch his neck with not one hand, but both hands. Then, when our food arrived, he sat at Bill’s feet staring longingly until Bill fed him some of our tuna. We soon found out that Tommy would eat anything except for tomatoes. The next morning, Tommy sat with us at breakfast and ate more of my waffle and yogurt than I did. My dad has always said that when he dies, he hopes that reincarnation is true because he wants to come back as my mother’s cat. I am thinking that Tommy’s life at a resort by the beach is sounding like a good option as well! The following morning, we headed out to find the Crayfish Chocolate Factory. A couple we met the night before told us that we needed to go in search of this oddity and ask for “Kim, the British hippie”. Intrigued, we managed to locate the property and as a man with long gray hair wearing cargo pants and no shoes emerged from the trees, Bill stated, “You must be Kim the British hippie?” Laughing, the man confirmed that he was indeed Kim the British Hippie. Sensing that he may have found a captive audience for the day, Kim invited us to have a seat on his porch and the fun began. When Bill asked him how he came to be in Grenada growing chocolate, the response was, “Ah, I have lived a kaleidoscope of a life!” His tale started at the age of 16 in Britain in the 1960s when he “hit the road with four dollars in one pocket and a bunch of LSD in the other pocket”. From there, he hitchhiked his way to India and back. When he “settled down” he married and raised his kids on the road. In Kim’s words, he “never had worked a job” a day in his life. He traded skills and bartered his way around the world. When life on the road became too difficult due to “government nonsense”, he and his family bought a boat and sailed to Venezuela. He then proceeded to load his boat with over 12 tons of rum which he smuggled to Carriacou, Grenada. When the local customs guys offered to buy all 12 tons of the rum instead of arresting him, he knew he had found his home at last. When he moved to mainland Grenada, he bought a piece of property that was “nothing but overgrown cocoa plants”. It took him six years to clean up the property and then he decided that he could figure out how to make chocolate. Again, through his own ingenuity, bartering and the kindness of others, he pieced together the equipment needed to make chocolate and “that was that”. When we asked to buy some chocolate, he brought out a huge one pound bar of chocolate that represented Kim perfectly….simple, straightforward and bigger than life! Having regained some of our sanity during our time away from the boat, we returned to find that the window guys had completed the window project so that was one project done! I finished my bathroom paint job and Bill replaced several outlets and fixed my bathroom light so we felt quite accomplished. The fuel tank project is what it is at the moment. Until next week, may your life be a kaleidoscope! ***More pics on the Pictures Tab
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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