Grenada

Walking the Plank ~ to Dinner

February 4, 2016 by Candi Licence 1 Comment

Saturday, January 30^th at exactly 8:43 AM the jackhammering began. We had already planned to be at the beach most of the day to watch the Sailing Festival but the noise and activity was a great impetus to get up and out early.

The start of the jack hammering. Check out the jackahmmer. Can you believe they are walking on top of the rebar? YIKES! — The jack hammering begins bright and early, dropping the rubble into the cistern below. Check out the jack hammer. Can you believe they are walking on top of the rebar? YIKES!

The living room floor is about 8 inches higher than the patio floor so as we move the wall to shorten the living room space, we need to lower the remaining floor to match the patio floor. The living room floor is tiled and underneath the tile is a water cistern that captures rain off the roof and stores it. Therefore, we need to jackhammer the tiles free, remove and then replace the “ceiling” of the cistern in order to lay down a new floor.

By removing the floor, we have effectively temporarily cut off access to the second master bedroom, as well as the patio.

As expected, the jack hammering ends up being an all-day process. There’s thick tile to cut through, heavy cement holding the tile in place, plus a cement floor underneath (or ceiling above, depending on your perspective) and lots of rebar. When I left a short while into the demolition, a medium sized hole had been created. This cut off the access to the second master bedroom and started to cut off access to the patio from the house.

All this rubble which is filling up the cistern needs to be lifted out, wheel barrowed away and then trucked away. — All the floor rubble completely filled up the cistern. It needs to be manually lifted out and then wheel barrowed away.

Since we spend most of our time on the patio, having no access would seriously cramp our lifestyle. The workers promised to build us a bridge to provide access to the patio while they work on recreating a new floor.

There is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done to accommodate this “small change” of moving the living room wall. We expect it will take 2 to 3 days to remove all the rebar and cement rubble that now resides at the bottom of the cistern. Then they need to put in new rebar that will reinforce the new floor, build a temporary wooden cistern “ceiling” under the rebar so they have a foundation on which to pour a new floor. The new cement floor will take 21 days to cure.

In the meantime, we have a “bridge” to the patio that is made out of the large rafters that were saved when the living room ceiling was removed. And if this doesn’t feel like I am walking the plank to get to the patio, I don’t know what would. The rafters are pretty solid, but it is a fairly long opening and remember the two floors are at different heights so there is a fair amount of flexing as I walk the plank. Doable, but you definitely want to be paying attention because each plank flexes independently!

Our "bridge" from the living room to the patio ~ hence the walk the plank feeling. — Our “bridge” from the living room to the patio ~ hence the “walk the plank” feeling.

The wooden frame hasd been designed to made a molding at the top of the roof line to nicely finish off the new wall. — The block wall has been completed to the peak. The cut out is for the louver which will be installed later. A wooden frame has been designed to made a molding at the top of the roof line to nicely finish off the new wall. I can’t wait to see it unveiled.

We’ve made a lot of progress this last week. Demolition is great because it’s so fast. Construction on the other hand can look almost the same, day to day, as internal infrastructure is created or shored up before new work is visible. The front wall has been completed – the ring beam has been poured, with lots of buckets of cement hoisted up to the peak filling in the concrete block, plus a mold has been poured to make the roofline look nicely finished. The back wall ring beam has also been poured and is curing.

This is the ring beam which will make the house more hurricane proof. It will be completely filled with cement and tied into the other wall's ring beams. — This is the ring beam which will make the house more hurricane proof. It will be completely filled with cement and tied into the other wall’s ring beams.

Here they are starting to build a wooden box around the ring beam that will be the form for the concrete. — Here they are building a wooden box around the ring beam that will be the form to hold the concrete.

Now most of the focus is on building the infrastructure to pour the floor. This is the critical path since there is a long curing period. While the floor cures, work will resume on the roof. And I’m hopeful that we will at least have the wooden ceiling in place by next week.

~ So long to the moonlit living room, hello to shelter.

Taking the Inside-Out Concept to the Extreme – No Roof ( … for now ….)

February 1, 2016 by Candi Licence 1 Comment

(Inside-out is a design concept where your living space feels like you are outdoors)

Believe it or not, this is the view standing in the living room and looking up, between the rafters, at night. At the full moon, the moonlight was so bright, we didn't need any additional light to see. — Believe it or not, this is the view standing in the living room and looking up, between the rafters, at night. At the full moon, the moonlight was so bright, we didn’t need any additional light to see.

It’s all in the perspective, isn’t it? Dancing in the moonlight that filters through the rafters, feeling everything from sultry breezes to howling wind rushing through the living room space, loving the open space concept so much we shrink the living room length by a third and significantly expand the outdoor patio area OR complain that there’s too much dust, rain, disruption in our house and in our lives right now. What would you choose? I choose to dance.

After making the decision in October to raise the living room roof to facilitate more airflow, we hoped to complete the project before we arrived in early December. However, coordinating all the moving parts – design, engineering, figuring out demolition and actual construction times took longer than we anticipated. Therefore, we chose to wait until after the Christmas holiday to start the demolition and construction. I’m really glad we did.

Once the rafters were put into place, the side walls were built taller, the front wall was built up to meet the new peak and the old roof was removed. The team then demolished the complete back wall of the house so it could be rebuilt to accommodate a large opening (16 ft. by 10 ft.) as well as support a huge hurricane shutter. This now opened up the living room space from the front door all the way to the back patio railing – about 65 feet long. Dangerous activity – now we had a huge open space and I was loath to close it off again and wondering if was heading to divorce if I suggested we change our design plans.

This is a view of the front wall, all blocked up. The big opening at the top will have stationary louvers to let air flow through the room. The prevailing wond comes from the other direction so no concern about rain getting in. — This is a view of the front wall, all blocked up. The big opening at the top will have stationary louvers to let air flow through the room. The prevailing wind comes from the sea so no concern about rain.

Fortunately, Michael was thinking the same thing and when I merely mentioned that I hated the thought of closing up the space again, he suggested we rethink the design. Brilliant! One of the very best things I love about our relationship is how aligned we are in our thinking. Again and again, we navigate this fun and crazy life easily as we dip and turn through challenges and changes.

The original back wall of the house. — The original back wall of the house, shown here, had an 8 foot sliding glass door and two windows. The new wall will have a 16 foot opening plus two 3 foot doors allowing for a lot more air flow.

We had until early the next morning to make the decision because, in theory, the new wall construction would start the next day. Changing the design to make the outdoor space even larger is more challenging than you might think. Placing the back wall in a new spot was not a big deal but we would also need to lower the existing floor to match the patio floor height, try to find new stone to match the existing patio floor (the quarry is no longer in operation), work around an underfloor cistern and rethink electric sockets and lighting. And, of course, these changes would add more cost and construction time to the overall project. We bounced around a bunch of ideas, decided to sleep on it and decide in the morning.

Michael woke me up around 6 AM and we walked the space one more time, decided to bite the bullet, authorize the change and then figure out the final details later. Michael placed an urgent message into our Contractor, Antonio Fields, asked him to call us ASAP — “no problem, but a major change” – and to be sure to be in contact with us before his team arrived and started working. Antonio looked at his phone shortly after, saw Michael’s phone number pop up and wondered what Michael could possibly want that he was calling so early in the AM.

Here is a shot of the new wall going up. Everything on the other side will be added to the patio space. — Here is a shot of the new wall going up. The floor on the far side of the wall will be lowered to match the patio floor height. This will create a much larger outdoor living area.

Antonio arrived shortly after, Michael outlined our thoughts and they started to discuss options. The team arrived and his key workers added their thoughts to the discussion. Soon they had the cover off the cistern and were peering into its depths trying to figure out the underground configuration and its impact on our desires. At the end of the conversation, we had a new plan to shorten the living room by about 8 feet.

Most of the work here is done manually. All the cement is hand mixed, poured into buckets and moved by hand. By a smiling worker! To the left, painted ceiling panels covered by plastic and on the right construction rubble which is swept up and removed every day.

Since they had already built roofing rafters all the way to the “original” end of the room, we looked at keeping the original roof line intact which would now provide shade to the “new” part of the patio. Caribbean house roofs generally don’t overhang too much beyond the walls because it provides too easy a way for really heavy wind to tear off the roof. Generally, they rely on a secondary roof to extend out, under the original roof, which can be broken off under high winds without damaging the full structure. Once the wall is built and the hurricane shutter is installed, we’ll determine the best way to add the secondary roof to cover the rest of the patio and tie it into the house.

ANOTHER load of construction debris. Even with the workers saving a lot of wood, there is a huge amount of rubble that is getting trucked out on a regular basis. — ANOTHER load of construction debris. Even with the workers saving a lot of wood, there is a huge amount of wood and concrete rubble that is getting trucked out on a regular basis.

Now the “fun” begins as we blast out the living room floor tiles to see what is underneath, figure out how to reconstruct the cistern and decide how to pull together this new, larger outdoor space.

Confession: I’ve sort of been at loss about how to use the huge living room space since we first purchased the house. A 30 by 30 foot space is big and would be delightful in a traditional home, but we spend all our time outdoors, if possible. Even when it is raining, we generally are out on the patio that is covered. The only time I expect we would use the living room is if it is raining so hard (plus strong winds) that you’d get wet being outside, even if undercover.

The questions that had been running through my mind were – Do we basically leave the living room empty? Do we fully furnish it – (time, money and energy) when we expect to barely use it? Would we really ever use it as a dining space (probably only if a large dinner party had been scheduled and it rained hard) and, if so, wouldn’t we just carry the large dining table inside? Now it will be a much more manageable space, with just the essentials necessary for horrific, rainy day living. I’m going to keep count of the number of days between when we arrived in December and mid June, when we leave, that we need to stay inside due to overwhelming rain (zero so far).

Now the rainy season, July through December, might be another story but we plan to be traveling during that time.

And So It Begins ~ Raising the Roof, Literally!

January 26, 2016 by Candi Licence 5 Comments

We are going to salvage the heavy rafters to make a outdoor trellis. The new ceiling will be white (and peaked) — A “before” picture – Dark ceiling, slanting from 10 feet to about 8 feet over 30 foot span. We are going to salvage the heavy rafters to make an outdoor trellis. The new ceiling will be white (and peaked)

The New Year is here and so the workers are returning from a long holiday break to take off our roof. Our house is essentially three pavilions with separate but connected roofs. The living room is in the middle. Currently the living room walls are about 10 feet tall and there is a low, slanted roof that traps a lot of heat. The walls are going to be extended to 12 feet high, including a ring beam, which will make the whole structure much more hurricane proof. And then on top of the ring beam we will have a new, peaked ceiling with louvers on each end. This will make the house much cooler and allow many more breezes to flow through this large, 30 by 30 foot space.

Grenada is located 12 degrees north of the Equator and hurricanes typically form at 15 degrees and higher so we have a much lower chance of hurricanes occurring here than most Caribbean islands. In fact, Grenada is the first island where boaters can get insurance for their vessels. Every island north of Grenada is 15 degrees latitude or higher and no hurricane insurance is available for boaters. This is one reason Grenada has such an active marina business. Many boats dock here during hurricane season either for protection or to get repaired during this turbulent time.

As you may know, Grenada got hit by a fierce hurricane in 2004 – Ivan. The worst part was that the storm was tracking quite a bit north of Grenada, as would be expected, and turned suddenly – right as it aligned with Grenada and came south. People had less than 2 hours to prepare and it devastated much of the island with 98% of the buildings being damaged. Miraculously, only 2 people perished. The only buildings to pull through relatively unscathed were all newly constructed and had been built to hurricane standards – with ring beams, for example. Prior to Ivan, the last hurricane was Janet, in 1955.

Here we are trying out different colors so we can decide what to paint the ceiling and the rafters.

We debated a lot of options before deciding to raise the roof because of the cost and disruption to the house. Every other alternative that we explored would only partially address the heat issue – maybe – and we thought ultimately we would not be happy with the result so we just gulped and went for the “right” solution. Originally, we hoped to have the new roof completed before December but by the time we got a solid design, coordinated it with some patio work we wanted done and had an Engineer check everything out, we ran out of time to have it completed before we arrived.

The tricky part was connecting the three roofs so there would be no leaking in the future. The roof on the two side wings will be at a different height than the new ceiling roof. The timing concern was that the break for Christmas holiday would interfere and we’d be stopped mid project (with no roof) for a couple of additional weeks. Plus, the rainy season has been going later and later into December in recent years. I think it ended up being a good decision because it rained – a lot (multiple times, every day almost) in December.

Now it is January and the work has begun. The first couple of days were slow as everyone figured out how to do this major construction without completely removing the roof since we are living here during construction. Fortunately the walls are cement and the floor has heavy tiles so we should not have any floor damage from water. We were wondering how level the floor really is and how much water would stay in the room after each rain. The courtyard, kitchen and bedroom entrances to the living room are all 2 steps up so we knew the rest of the house would be protected and there is a straight out exit to the pool and patio and we were hoping, fingers crossed, that the water would run right out the big sliding glass doorway to the patio.

Another "before" picture - you can see the tiled floor, concrete walls and the step up to a bedroom - all good things for a room that will not have a roof for a couple of weeks.. — Another “before” picture – you can see the tiled floor, concrete walls and the steps up to a bedroom – all good things for a room that will not have a roof for a couple of weeks.

Here you can see the roof cut away so they can extend the walls to 12 feet, capped with a ring beam to make the structure more hurricane proof.

The first major piece of work was removing the asphalt tiles from the roof and removing about 4 feet of roof off either side so the side walls could be made taller. If it rained, we’d get minimal leakage over the bulk of the roof and the room was only totally exposed the length of the room on the 2 sides. Piece of cake, right? We had a small rainstorm on Friday afternoon and there was only a little standing water after it was over – no problem.

Saturday evening was a different story. We were out on the covered patio having dinner with Nadica and Mikiah, my best Grenadian friend and her daughter (my Goddaughter), when a big storm blew in. I jumped up to close our bedroom windows and started laughing as I approached the living room. As predicted, there was only dripping throughout most of the living room as rain came in between the cracks in the planks but the 2 sides where there was no roof, the rain was pouring in. Plus, because the 2 roofs for the other pavilions are already peaked, all the rain was running down those slopes into the living room on either side. This meant that to get into the bedroom wing I had to walk through the waterfall that was so beautifully cascading into the living room. I was soaked and laughing. Caribbean rain is warm so it is an entirely different feeling to get wet here – no problem.

Most of the water did run out the doorway as we had hoped, but there were a few low spots that collected a good bit of water. Of course one low spot was right in front of the bedroom wing doorway so we had to slog through about 3 inches of water before we reached the steps up. This gave plenty of time for Mick’s webbed feet to soak up a ton of water that could then be dripped everywhere – first order of business for week two was making a platform that would cover any water. This worked perfectly for us but Mick just walked around the platform and through the water to approach from the side. HMMMM. Ultimately, we were worried about having the standing water sit for any length of time because of potential damage to the floor, so we ended up just sweeping out the low spots. Problem solved. Fortunately the rainy season has ended and we have and very little rain since then.

Lots to see in this picture - temporary door so we can lock it at night (since living room is no longer secure), the platform that was built to cover the low spot in the floor (that collects water), clean up every day (so the house is livable during construction). — Lots to see in this picture – temporary door to the bedroom wing (on the left) so we can lock it at night (since living room is temporarily not secure), the platform that was built to cover the low spot in the floor by bedroom wing door (that collects water), and daily clean up so the house is livable during construction.

Construction is such messy work. Lots of breaking up of concrete which means lots of little pieces of rock lying all over and dust everywhere. I hadn’t processed that in order to make the walls higher, they would have to pull off a little of the roofs on either side pavilion so we have had openings into the kitchen and both master bedrooms that lets in rocks, dust and mosquitos. Delightful! The mosquitos this year have been the fiercest I’ve ever seen and I’m hoping as the area dries out, they will die or head elsewhere. In the meantime, we’ve been camping out in our air conditioned office during the day that does not abut the living room so all 4 walls and roof are intact.

The workers have been really diligent in cleaning up the site every day. Everything is carted off, stacked up and swept before they leave each day. I was thanking one man about the clean up one day and he said something interesting … He said of course they were cleaning up so it would be as nice as possible for us but, even if we weren’t on island, they would do it anyway because it was much more motivating to arrive at a clean job site each morning. Makes sense to me AND I really appreciate it.

The workers also worked Saturday to keep the project moving. All the rafters went up in one day. YEAH! — The workers also worked last Saturday to keep the project moving. At 9 AM the first rafter was lifted into place. By 4 PM, all the rafters were completed. (Note the “staircase” erected so workers could get to the top of the peak). YIKES!

Work has steadily progressed and after a few days of lots of activity, but not much visible change, we are now seeing the skeleton of the new roof going up through the peak holes of the roof. YEAH! It’s really exciting to see the progress.

The Calm Before the Storm ~ Christmas Season in Grenada

January 15, 2016 by Candi Licence 1 Comment

Late December is a quiet time in Grenada. Many people start their holiday the Friday before Christmas (this year on December 18^th) and don’t return to work until the Monday after New Year’s (January 4^th). Businesses, banks, etc. stay open but often with limited hours approaching both holidays. Interestingly though, the shops in town stay open Christmas Eve until midnight and there is a real party atmosphere with people doing their last minute Christmas shopping and generally having a night on the town.

And don’t forget Boxing Day, the holiday that happens the day after Christmas. The name Boxing Day came from the UK tradition of servants or tradesmen (who worked on Christmas to support their employers on the holiday) getting the following day off as a holiday. In addition to their day off, they received gifts that they called their Christmas “box” and this day became known as Boxing Day. It is still celebrated throughout England and her former colonies, Grenada included.

Christmas is huge in Grenada. I think in any country that is essentially poor and where there is not a lot of activities beyond the everyday life of work, providing for your family and Church that any cause for celebration is eagerly looked forward to and relished. Plus, Grenada is a very religious country (primarily Christian) so Christmas is a big celebration of Christ’s birth. And because there is not a lot of disposable cash, Christmas has not been commercialized anywhere close to what we experience in the US. It is a time for families and friends to gather together, enjoy each other’s company, eat good food and exchange token presents. Independence Day, Easter, Carnival, Thanksgiving (Grenada’s celebration of the US intervention which stopped Cuba’s takeover of Grenada) are other examples of big celebrations in Grenada, some that last multiple days, and break up the normal work routine.

It is not unusual for people to wish you a Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year, starting in early December all the way through the first couple of weeks in January. There is genuine enthusiasm and it is a very intentional wish rather than a fleeting greeting that is mentioned kind of as an afterthought – even if you don’t know the person that is wishing you well. I like it. It gives me the opportunity to stop for a moment, be thankful for my full life and sincerely wish the other person, and their family, health and happiness.

This was the tree that was displayed in our local grocery, pretty cool! — This is the tree that was displayed in our local grocery, pretty cool!

Christmas decorations are also really big here. It’s very different from the US in that the displays are not excessive. Again I think cost is a large factor, but everyone who can, has a little something sparkling in their window. Even the grocery store has a tree beautifully decorated. I’m starting to get used to all the artificial trees that are lovingly trimmed and stand proud into January. I’m always loath to put away holiday decorations and I think they are too!

I didn’t do any decorating this year because we knew the roof was coming off shortly and we were still unboxing, unboxing, unboxing into the New Year, but I have 4 box boxes of my favorite decorations that I stored when we left Jacksonville. It’s going to be great next year when I open them up and rediscover these treasures. Right now, I’m resisting the thought of getting an artificial tree but haven’t come up with a good alternative yet. Stay tuned for the unveiling of … something … next December.

We had a quiet Christmas morning. The house is our present to each other. We went to a delightful party in the afternoon and early evening. Our Attorney, and friend, had a dinner for about 40 (!) friends. She invited us because she didn’t want us to be alone on Christmas when it is such a family holiday. So sweet and typical Grenadian hospitality. We had a great time seeing friends and met many new people, some I’m sure will become good friends. The food was great and everyone had a fun time dancing. I think this is the first time Michael has danced since his knee surgery. We left around 8:30, there were still people arriving and the next wave of food was just being set out. I’m sure if we drove by again at midnight the party would have still been going strong.

Right after we had accepted the party invitation, I saw our neighbor from across the street in his yard. I waved and walked over to introduce myself and laughed when we got close because his name is Spencer and we met him years ago when we were trying to build the resort. The next day, he called and invited us over for Christmas dinner with his family. I love Grenadian hospitality and can’t wait to begin reciprocating.

For New Year’s, we went to the NNP celebration. NNP (New National Party) is the controlling political power in Grenada right now and would be comparable to the Republican or Democratic Party in the US. The celebration was held at the former Governor General’s house (Sir Danny Williams) which is situated high up on a hill and has a commanding view of the sea. It’s a house made for entertaining with a large covered pavilion that can (and did) hold hundreds of people dancing and eating. It was kind of fascinating seeing the Prime Minister and his cabinet of Ministers being an integral part of the event and dancing the night away. The only downside, if you could call it that, was that the music was so loud you couldn’t really have a conversation so we spent a lot of time smiling, waving at people and politely yelling that we’d chat with them another time. Keith Mitchell, the current Prime Minister, came over and introduced himself and we talked for a short bit but unfortunately we couldn’t have a long discussion.

We stood right under some great fireworks at midnight ~ a little intimidating from a safety point of view but spectacular and in the end totally safe because the explosions were so high up in air. Fireworks are another big Grenadian New Year’s tradition with most of the hotels shooting off big displays. There are a lot of places in Grenada that you can go and see series of fireworks from multiple locations lighting up the sky across the island. The old forts are ideal – they are high up above the shoreline and have expansive views. I’ve heard the Rex Grenadian Hotel has the best fireworks and we may try going to the party there next year.

When we were leaving the NNP party, a gentleman flagged us down in the driveway and asked if he could have a ride to Calivigny where he had parked his car. Since it was right on our way, we said “No problem” and had a nice conversation with him during the ride. Turns out he is one of the Ministers of Finance. You never know who you will meet!

All in all a very nice, if quiet, holiday for us. I’m looking forward to next year when we can open up our house for a big party and thank everyone who has made us feel so welcome over the years. This holiday, once again, showcased the Grenadian’s hospitality and generosity. It makes me so happy that we are calling this lovely island our home.

Free at Last ~ Clearing our Container through Customs

December 26, 2015 by Candi Licence 6 Comments

Our container was supposed to arrive last Wednesday, but didn’t. This is not unusual. Freighters have a loose schedule. Ports or times may change as freighters make their way through their planned itinerary and possibly pick up a new load or get a stop added. We called around noon on Thursday and the ship still hadn’t docked. Later, we found out it docked late in the afternoon but our Customs Agent hadn’t been able to make contact with the port. YEAH! Our stuff is in Grenada.

I think this is our freighter, being loaded to go back to Jacksonville — The port is a ‘sea’ of brown containers and I wonder how long it will take us to find ours.

We called our Customs Agent contact bright and early on Friday and they still hadn’t made contact. This is a crazy time of year at the port. Businesses are getting extra materials and ‘stuff’, lots of people are sending down barrels of food and presents for family and more food is coming in for the holiday buying spree. We hung around on Friday, watched the rain, and wished for a phone call to tell us to come to the port to claim our goods, but it never came.

A portion of the line of people waiting to get into the port to retrieve barrels or containers.

The port is closed on Saturdays and Sundays so our next possible date was Monday. Now I’m getting anxious because Christmas is a BIG holiday in Grenada and many people take off at least the whole week before Christmas and often the week after as well. Our construction crew left on Friday (Dec. 18^th) and wished us both a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We won’t see them again until January 4^th!

We got the call around 9:30 Monday morning to come to the port. We are working with a Customs Agent whose job is to work with the port to get the container placed on the ground and in an area where it can be unpacked, provide a port contact to walk us through every part of the process, provide man power to unpack the container and load everything onto trucks, then deliver everything to our house and unload it a second time, into our house. We met the owner and he reviewed all our paperwork before we went into the port to be sure we had everything in order and told us we’d be working with his onsite contact, Kurt.

Standing in line .... — Standing in line while Kurt arranged for expedited access.

Kurt got us expedited access into the port which was great because there was a huge line waiting to get pedestrian access passes. This is similar to paying airline porters to smooth the way through check in. Once we got cleared, we met with the Customs Officer. He reviewed our paperwork and assigned a Customs Inspector to supervise the opening and unloading of the container. Meanwhile, Kurt has gone to find our container and he met us as we were coming out of the customs office.

The port is huge and BUSY. There are trucks coming into the port to drop off goods to be shipped, lots of trucks leaving the port with goods being delivered all over the island, there are huge cranes moving containers around and lots of people walking everywhere – Freight Handlers, Customs Agents, Inspectors, people receiving their goods, truckers, loaders, etc. As an outsider, there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason but everything made perfect sense to Kurt who was able to locate our container quickly in a huge mass of containers that mostly looked exactly alike and confirmed that it was ‘on the ground’. This means it was the bottom container and didn’t need to be moved before we could begin unloading.

Kurt cutting the port lock. Even with the huge bolt cutters it took a few tries to cut through the lock.

The container was secured with our personal lock, a special numbered seal and a port lock which needed to be removed, in our presence. Kurt came back with a huge pair of bolt cutters and after a few tries, got the port lock removed. Michael cut the seal and opened our lock. Michael and Kurt unlatched both doors and swung them open wide. I was holding my breath, and yipped with joy as the interior of the container filled with light.

Michael cutting the seal and unlocking our personal lock.

Everything was exactly as we had packed it. This is amazing to me – the container had been craned onto a ship, traveled over a rolling sea for 8 days, then craned off and moved, probably multiple times, within the yard. Michael’s braces held perfectly, it didn’t look like ANYTHING shifted and there was no visible damage to any of the boxes. YAHOO!

Within 3 minutes, three trucks arrived with about 6 guys and they began unpacking the container and loading their trucks. Michael guided them, pointing out things that were really heavy or fragile etc.

Checking off the inventory as it is being unloaded.

First truck loaded and ready to go! — First truck is loaded and ready to go! Tarps being pulled over the load to protect it from rain.

I worked with the Customs Inspector checking off each box against my master list. It was invaluable having a really organized inventory – it made everyone think we knew what we were doing and added a lot of credibility. I had everything organized in a formal notebook with tabs for the detailed inventory, the appraisal for our owned goods and Michael’s photography equipment, plus all the invoices for all the new goods. These invoices and the appraisal were cross referenced to the master inventory. In addition to numbering the boxes, I had written the main items in each box which, of course, matched the detailed inventory. After really inspecting the first few boxes as they came off the container, reading the contents listed on the box and then marking the box on the master inventory, the Customs Inspector relaxed and actually let me do the checking off box by box and just helped by calling out numbers. After a while, he even left to oversee the unpacking of another container that was nearby.

At one point, it began raining. Tarps were quickly produced and our belongings were covered while we all took a rain break in the container. We are at the very end of the rainy season and it is still raining on and off every day. Showers are fairly short 10-20 minutes but they are fierce. This was our biggest concern – particularly for the art. We had packed most of the art at the front of the container and planned to transfer it last so it would have the shortest amount of time to be exposed to the fickle weather. By noon, all three trucks were loaded and Kurt escorted us back to the Customs Officer.

The Customs Officer relooked at all our paperwork, conferred with the Inspector who oversaw the unloading of our container, made some calculations and completed some official looking paperwork. Duty is comprised of 4 parts, the duty assigned to each new item, the weight of the shipment, the amount of insurance paid and 15% VAT. He said our detailed paperwork made his job easy and dismissed us.

Mr. George, patiently calculating all the duty, while helping other customers on the phone. He never slowed down and rarely looked at the customs book for prices. Amazing!

Kurt now took us back to his office and his boss, Mr. George, grumbled that the Customs Officer hadn’t calced any of the duty on the individual items in our 106 boxes of new items. It took him probably another hour to calc all the duty. He has a book 3 inches thick that details each item. He rarely looked at it but when he did, he opened the book to within 2-3 pages of what he needed and quickly found the information he was looking for. It was very impressive watching him work, but it was tedious. After he was done, he had 45 categories of items that are all taxed differently. IE – candlesticks that are metal are taxed differently than if they were glass. Black tea is taxed differently than green tea. The amount of detail was dizzying. Finally, all the calculations were done and we knew our number and could head back to the port to pay the duty and get our trucks released.

It’s now 2:30 and we get a look at the line to pay duty. It’s really long so Kurt tries to see if he can work some back room magic but there are no duty cashiers on break that could help us. Kurt then takes me to another office about a block away and there is only one person at the window. Success !?! Or not …. I get to the window and this agent doesn’t have a credit card machine. We really want to pay via credit card because we get 2% cash back and this is a large charge (although much less than we feared). Since we never carry a balance, this is a no brainer discount each time we use our card. We now go to another office around the corner and get on the line there – only 5 people in front of me. The sky is darkening and I’m hoping the tarps will keep things dry if it starts raining again. Once again, Kurt is sweet talking the agents, trying to get us through, but every system is in use and the network speed is really slow with the heavy load.

Michael had called our credit card company to let them know the charge was coming through so they wouldn’t decline it because it was a large, overseas charge. (They know we are in Grenada but the system has arbitrary blocks that trigger from time to time). So when I finally get to the window at about 3:15, I confidently hand over my card. Declined. UGH! Try again, please? Declined. I ask if I can just step aside while this gets straightened out so I don’t have to go the end of the line (about 12 people deep). They agree. I call Michael who is still inside the port and ask him to call Capital One again. He does and finds out they approved his card, but mine has a different number and that is why it was declined. They do some magic and say try again. This time everything goes as planned and I get a magic piece of paper that will allow is to release the trucks …. after one more hurdle.

The trucks, all lined up to pass through the final check point before we can leave the port, FINALLY!

We go back to the main port just as it starts to pour rain and head to the Yard Office. This is where they match the duty paperwork up with the trucks and provide THE piece of paper that will allow the trucks to pass through the gate. It is 4:30. We headed out before we ate breakfast and haven’t had time for lunch. I’m starving and worried about our belongings getting drenched. Fortunately, the truck workers have placed two more layers of tarps over our goods.

The Blue Monster truck I rode in to get to our house. Check out the door!

I get into one of the trucks to guide them to our house. Michael heads out in advance to open the gates, unlock the house and secure Mick. I’m in a large workingman’s flatbed truck – nothing pretty about it – it’s huge, no upholstery, hole in the floor, dented up, shifts horribly, rumbles down the road and I realize I’m on the “other side” of traffic. What I mean by this is – I’m the big, rumbling truck that is hogging more than half the road, with a blaring horn, running yellow lights and making everyone else scatter. Amazing. Between honking for friends, pretty women and other cars, plus grinding gears every several hundred feet we make quite the racket as we lumber down the road.

All three trucks, in the driveway, getting ready to unload. Not much clearance for the red truck and it is the smallest of the three.

I’m trying to figure out how we are going to get these big trucks up our skinny, winding driveway that I cautiously navigate each day and the driver just tears up the driveway – no problem. He knows the dimensions of the truck, exactly, and the only potential casualty is a branch of Frangipani that is hanging too far into the driveway and gets brushed aside by the huge mirrors. Now the unloading can begin.

This is the garage when it was abut half full, more unloading to follow.

It’s getting really dark again and we know the rain will be coming, fast and furious, shortly. We unload the Art and furniture truck first. All this will be stored in the garage until the living room is complete and it’s unloaded fast. The workers are efficient and moving quickly but are also really careful with anything that is remotely fragile. I’m impressed and pleased. They have been a complete joy to work with.

One view of our Office. The other view is piled just as high. Computers, electronics and photography equipment is being stored here. — One view of our Office. The other view is piled just as high. Photography equipment, computers and electronics are being stored here.

The second truck pulls into position and again unloading begins. I’m at the truck directing where boxes are to go – garage, kitchen, bedroom or office and Michael is everywhere else making sure things are ending up in the right place and are stacked well.

As the third truck pulls into place and we begin to unload, the rain starts. Serious rain is pouring down and the wind is howling. Luckily for us, the wind is whipping from the water and the house is protecting the garage opening from getting wet and we’ve got the truck as close to the door as possible. We are now moving everything into the garage as fast as we can and then organizing the boxes in groups to be moved to the right location. Soon everything is sorted out, moved to the correct location and the workers leave with money in their hands and smiles on their faces. A job very well done.

Michael and I collapse on the patio with sandwiches that Nadica has made for us and big glasses of water. We relax, review the day and start thinking about the huge job of unboxing everything that lies ahead. We are so thankful everything appears to have made the trip brilliantly and they are in our possession once again. Next, unpacking, unpacking, unpacking.