Long known for the sweet aromas and lush groves of its spice industry, the Southern Caribbean island of Grenada (gre-NAY-dah) was suddenly newsworthy for an altogether different reason when a Category Four hurricane made devastating landfall there in September 2004. Hurricane Ivan damaged 90 percent of Grenada's buildings, destroyed 85 percent of its nutmeg trees and left more than half the population homeless. Two and a half years later, Grenada’s natural beauty is slowly re-emerging. Signs of the storm do remain, particularly in rural areas – uprooted trees, damaged roofs, a few churches reduced to splintered wooden frames and rubble lying in undisturbed ruin – and in the faces of people who lost everything, and are gradually recovering, thanks to the tourist industry. The capital city of St. George's is as colorful and charming as ever, and the rainforests and mountains reflect that color as the magnificent flora returns. These are the attractions that keep the cruise ships coming.
Fort George, visible from the pier at St. George’s, is a relic of the 100 years that the French tried to keep the British from taking over Grenada. Today, the locals still speak English as well as Patoi, a creole blend of French spoken also in ancient parts of Haiti and southern Louisiana.
This country is known as the “Isle of Spice” because its main exports are cacao, mace, allspice, cloves, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and especially nutmeg. (If Columbus had bothered to make landfall here after ‘discovering’ the island in 1498, he could have successfully ended his mission to find exotic spices!) Grenadians are nothing if not resourceful with the spice. Nutmeg ice cream. Nutmeg cheesecake. Nutmeg sprinkled over rum punch. There’s even a nutmeg rub that’s supposed to cure the common cold. (Too bad what I’ve currently got is a little more severe…) Before the hurricane, Grenada was growing ONE-THIRD of the world’s nutmeg!
And indeed, the air is fragrant with these spices just about everywhere you go. And me being the big dessert-lover I am, I decided I just had to visit the Dougaldstone Spice Estate enjoined with the Gouyave Nutmeg Processing Station. Imagine my disappointment when I arrived to discover they’re closed on Sunday! Unfortunately, Grenada's famous nutmeg industry has been a bit slower to recover (the trees take seven years to grow mature enough to bear fruit), so they’re only open four days a week. However, there are hardy new varieties of nutmeg trees currently being planted – varieties that will hopefully survive the next big storm.
So, since nature never takes a day off, I decided to visit the Grand Etang Lake and Forest Reserve and the Annandale Falls. Inside the cruise terminal, I negotiated a good price with a taxi driver named Duffy, who agreed to give me the grand tour of Grenada, highlighting the two landmarks I was interested in.
Like Dominica, Grenada is an island formed from the explosion of volcanoes. Its terrain is steep, and the roads are winding. But Duffy still made very good time. It took us about 20 minutes to climb to 1910 feet above sea level, and the breathtaking view along the way was worth every twist and turn.
We reached the top of the extinct volcano which is covered with the Grand Etang Lake and Forest Reserve. This rainforest was completely devastated by Ivan, and still bears the scars. Splintered trees dot the landscape among the reappearing greenery, which is about 75% returned. In the center of the forest is a large indented space, the crater at the top of the volcano, in which now lies the Grand Etang Lake. There are plenty of fish here, but the wildlife preserve prohibits fishing. The silence is as beautiful as the countryside itself.
Not far below the entrance to the park, I spotted a lookout hiking trail and asked Duffy to stop for a moment. It’s called Beausejour (boo-SHAY-zhoor) Lookout, and the muddy steps were not exactly easy to navigate. Add that to the thin air of the high altitude, and the climb had me sweating bullets in about 10 minutes. But again, the view was unbeatable and so worth it.
Next, Duffy took me to “de leetle waterfall on de way.” A land covered in rainforest among so many mountains is bound to have plenty of waterfalls, so we stopped here at Constantine (CON-stan-tyne) Waterfall. The two gentlemen in the background are catching fish and cooking them on the spot for lunch!(Pssst! Another great dead picture here!)
Finally we reached the Annandale Falls, the biggest waterfall on the island. The water falls from a height of 35 feet into a pool which runs 15-20 feet deep in the current dry season. During wet season, the falls dump many more gallons, the pool rises up to 25-30 feet, and the falls appear much shorter.The park surrounding this waterfall was filled with all sorts of native flowers, beautiful and exotic. The chili peppers are small and (I’m told) extremely potent. The papaya is used as a meat tenderizer, and the elephant ears are about two and a half feet long. The lobster claws are so long and heavy that they fall over, and from this angle they sort of resemble cardinal heads and beaks – don’t you think?
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The falls were amazingly beautiful, and so peaceful. Nothing but the sound of rushing water – not even birds. It was so tempting not to want to just dive in and swim around for a bit, but alas… it was good enough just to get some postcard-worthy pictures to share with you.
After returning to the cruise pier, I did indulge in a bit of nutmeg ice cream before heading home. As we sailed away from St. George’s, it felt good to know that the island’s pristine beauty is fiercely protected by the government. Everywhere you look there are signs to “take only pictures, leave only footprints.” Islanders have learned from over-development in neighboring nations. A strict law here restricts buildings to the height of the tallest palm tree.
One more thing worthy to note. The price of gas here is $10.94 EC per gallon. At an exchange rate of $2.64 EC to $1.00 US, that’s about $4.14 per gallon! Makes $2.25 seem a little more reasonable, doesn’t it?......
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