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Canboulay, J’ouvert, Mas ~ Carriacou Carnival 2015

March 27, 2015 by Candi Licence 1 Comment

Huge speakers mounted on trucks and pounding out Soca or Calypso music, gyrating bodies covered in paint or used motor oil (!), costumed paraders dancing in the streets – day and night, local food, and fun, fun, fun.

One (!) of the trucks blasting Soca music on the streets day and nigh during Carnival — One (!) of the trucks blasting Soca music on the streets day and night during Carnival

One of the Mas dancers strutting her stuff

I’ve always been enticed by the costumes, color and music of Carnival. Trinidad has the region’s largest and most extravagant Carnival. It also sounds pretty rambunctious and overwhelming, attracting thousands from around the world. Grenada and many other islands celebrate Carnival in other months, a different time from the traditional pre-Easter celebration, to lure visitors that they might not be able to attract against Trinidad’s pageantry and extravagance ~ and it’s a great excuse to have multiple times of the year for a grand fete (party). The New Orleans Mardi Gras is the US equivalent of Carnival.

The Carnival Queen first runner up dancin' to the music in one of the Mas (parades) — The Carnival Queen first runner-up dancin’ to the music in one of the Mas (parades)

Carriacou, an island directly north and part of Grenada, celebrates Carnival in early March. Since we are here for an extended length of time this year, we decided to take a few days to experience Carnival. There is a long build-up to Carnival with events occurring over a couple of weeks. During this time, a Carnival queen is crowned and Soca and Calypso bands compete for the title of best band. The culmination of Carnival is a series of events including Canboulay – a traditional family and friends feast, J’ouvert – a huge early morning street party and a number of Mas (es) – costumed parades. Mas is short for masquerade.

I was late in planning our trip to Carriacou. I hadn’t see a rental that stood out and after seeing a 2+ week-long schedule, I wasn’t sure what days we should attend, and we didn’t want to leave Mick in Grenada for too long. When we got to Grenada, I kept asking people but didn’t get good information other than every rental was probably booked solid. Finally, I heard about Karen Stiell who runs Simply Carriacou, a tour service and rental agency. Karen knows everything a visitor would want to know about Carriacou.

I expected this charming shop to be serving rum but it is actually a custom made sandal shop

Fingers crossed, I contacted Karen and hoped she had an insider’s tip or could produce a miracle. Karen laughed when I told her we wanted to come to Carnival and were looking for a place to stay. She said, everything had been booked for months. Carriacou is a small island with about 7,000 residents and the population swells to about 14,000 for Carnival. (As we would find out, many Grenadians don’t even look for rooms and they just sleep on the beach.) HOWEVER, about an hour earlier she had received a cancellation of a nice 2 bedroom apartment right on the edge of town. It was $85 a night if we used one bedroom, double that if we used both bedrooms. I didn’t even ask for pictures, I just gave her my credit card number. Yahoo! We booked Saturday through Tuesday.

Diane, getting ginto Carnival mood with her hair "platted" (braided) by Nadica — Diane, getting into Carnival mood, with her hair “platted” (braided) by Nadica

Next I contacted our Connecticut friend Diane, who had threatened to come to Grenada, to let her know our schedule and she booked her trip to encompass those days. I made a quick call to Karen to secure the second bedroom and we were set. Our plan was to take the Osprey ferry, a large boat that carries about 150 people and takes between 1.5 to 2 hours, to go from St. George’s, Grenada to Hillsborough, Carriacou.

We bought our tickets in advance and got to the ferry dock around 8 AM to be sure we would get a seat on what would be a very crowded 9 AM boat (which didn’t leave until after 10 because so much cargo had to be loaded). Everyone was in a great mood and started the party right then and there. Diane and I went up top to the open air section so we could see all of Grenada pass by and Michael stayed downstairs because he thought it would be less rough lower in the boat. It’s been consistently very windy the whole time we’ve been in Grenada so the Caribbean Sea was very rough, with water splashing up over the sides and getting us wet on the top deck! The boat was rocking and rolling with the waves but most everyone was having a (wet) blast.

Sooo True. Grenada and Carriacou are filled with wonderful people.

The ferry dock. Can anything be more picturesque??

We passed a couple of deserted islands and finally pulled into Hillsborough harbor. We met up with Michael who ended up having a rougher trip than we did because he was up near the front of the boat and everyone was being literally tossed about, out of their seats. We grabbed our bags and started looking for Raphael, the apartment owner. He said we were easy to spot because he’d seen my photo on my email. Cool! We jumped into his vehicle and got a short tour of the town.

Hillsborough is basically 2 long streets that parallel the beach for about a mile and a half. Most of Carnival was going to take place near the ferry dock and our apartment was at the far end, right across from the beach. Raphael lives on the top floor of the house and has converted his lower floor into a sweet 2 bedroom apartment. It was clean, airy and perfect for our short stay with a lovely covered veranda in the front of the house which was great for liming and people watching. Raphael was a perfect host and we got to know him pretty well over the 4 days.

After settling in, walking to a grocery to get provisions and relaxing on the porch for a bit, we headed out to get some dinner. I was concerned about finding a place with room to eat so I had called ahead to make reservations at what appeared to be the largest restaurant in town. The woman was very nice but a little hesitant. Upon arriving, I realized we were probably the only people who had EVER made reservations! It was a buffet style set up where you ordered what you wanted, paid and then they gave you a number and they brought your food to the table. The woman who had taken our reservation also greeted us and guided us upstairs to a roof top deck. We were the only ones eating up there. She took our orders and served us like a regular restaurant. The local food was filling and good.

As we ate, more people came up and were looking over the railing to an open air dance club next door. The beat was pounding, everyone was moving to the music and when we looked over the rail, we saw that they had sprinklers high up in the air that would spray on the dancers below and it was called a Wet Fete (Party)! I thought about all the times I’ve danced in the heat and have gotten really sweaty and thought this was an excellent idea. Some of the women had shower caps on their hair so they would still look good later or the next day. It looked like a lot of fun.

“Official” Carnival wasn’t starting until Sunday night so, Sunday morning, we took at taxi to Paradise beach for the day and hung out on a large, secluded beach with good shade, lovely water, and gorgeous islands offshore. It was picture perfect and there were only a few people on the beach. We had a great, relaxing day. Canboulay is the first event and is where local families and friends come together and cook a huge feast on Sunday evening and eat together – usually starting around midnight. We were lucky and got invited to a Canboulay feast.

Just another day in Paradise - Paradise Beach, Carriacou — Just another day in Paradise – All the beaches in Carriacou are spectacular.

Before we headed out to Carriacou, Diane and I had an appointment to get our nails done at Nail Tee’s. Diane said she wanted to try Manicou (Mongoose) and the salon owner, Louise, invited us to her sister’s house for Canboulay because she always serves Manicou – And Mutton, And Iguana, And Chicken, And Pork, plus rice and peas – a literal feast. We were thrilled to join. When Sunday came around, Louise and a friend picked us up at the house at about 2:00 AM. Diane ended up backing out – she was just too tired. Michael and I had a good time – good music, good food, good company and killer rum – literally – a local brew that tasted like gasoline so I stuck with water.

About 3:30 AM, Michael and I walked home to grab some sleep before J’ouvert began. J’ouvert is an early morning street party that goes from about 5:00 AM until noon. Trucks with huge speakers drive throughout town, blasting music and “calling” people to follow the trucks and begin dancing. When they passed our house, there was no sleeping though it – the windows were vibrating hard from the volume of bass. The trucks all converge in the center of town and everyone has a big jump up (dance party). What makes J’ouvert special is that people get covered with paint. Karen and Louise both told us to bring one set of clothes to wear that we’d be willing to throw out after the party. It was controlled chaos.

J'ouvert Morning - pounding music, paint, dancing and fun! — J’ouvert Morning – pounding music, paint, dancing and fun!

What's with the fish!?! — What’s with the fish!?!

Michael took a chance with his good camera and got some fabulous shots. Overall, people were polite and didn’t get you covered with paint unless you wanted to be part of the action. Diane and I climbed up onto one of the rooftops to watch the craziness from there and got home relatively unscathed. At one point a bunch of men came through the crowd, completely covered with motor oil and horned helmets, representing the devil. They were so cool looking. After the party, the trucks drove to the beach with everyone following them (blaring music, of course) and everyone jumped into the water to rinse off. Then they headed back home to eat again and then slept until the first Mas (masquerade parade) begins. I didn’t see the sea water after the rinsing, but my image is of a rainbow of colors floating across the waves.

Carnival in Carriacou is a pretty laid back affair and it was hard to nail down what was happening, where events were occurring and at what time. Before we arrived the schedule kept changing, major changes – like events being moved between days.

I finally stopped trying to figure things out and decided we’d just go with the flow. For example, the first Mas was going to start – at the airport, at the playing field, on the main street, in the outdoor concert arena – all depending on who you asked. (And none of these locations were necessarily near each other.) And it was going to start at 2:30, or 3:30 or 4:30, (It started at 5:00), so there were a lot of people hanging around the streets comparing stories for quite a while. I thought I’d be smart and check at a couple of places where I knew the masqueraders were dressing but they didn’t have any better idea. It all kind of fell together in the late afternoon and the big trucks started around town again, each blaring their favorite music with costumed groups following them dancing. All in all, a very fun time.

It wasn't easy getting pictures of the night Mas but imagine a ton of people with day glo headdresses, necklaces and sparklers. It was stunning — It wasn’t easy getting pictures of the night Mas but imagine a ton of people with day glow headdresses, necklaces and sparklers. It was stunning.

Later in the evening, when we were sitting on our porch, an evening Mas came through and everyone had those glow-in-the-dark sticks as headdresses, torches, sparklers and necklaces. They were dancing down the street following yet another truck with huge, booming speakers with DJ’s on top whipping up the crowds into quite the frenzy. What a lot of energy! It was great seeing this gyrating crowd, moving to the music with the lights dancing.

Tuesday morning is the Shakespeare Mas and I didn’t completely understand this until it was over. It is a battle of wits using only lines from Shakespeare plays. It starts in a designated place in the country where costumed actors recite Shakespeare to each other, entertaining the crowd and sometimes whacking each other with sticks if the other person makes a mistake(!) They move onto the next spot (with the crowd following them), more costumed actors join and the spectacle continues.

The Shakespeare Mas. Fanciful costumed actors swapping wits via lines from the Bard's plays. — The Shakespeare Mas. Fanciful costumed actors swapping wits via lines from the Bard’s plays.

his Shakespearean character's job was to ring the bell loudly and vigorously if the other actors were going to stat hitting each other. I think it was to alert the crowd to back off so no one got hurt. Amazing! — This Shakespearean character’s job was to ring the bell loudly and vigorously if the other actors were going to start hitting each other. I think it was to alert the crowd to back off so no one got hurt. Amazing!

At some point, it kind of turns into staged fights with Shakespeare thrown in from time to time. I could not really understand what they were saying so it was mostly the costumes, the gestures and the enthusiasm that was intriguing. Everyone finally end up in the center of town. I’m glad we walked to one of the outer spots where it was fairly uncrowded so we could see. By the time they got to town, there were so many people watching, it was impossible to get close enough to really see anything.

The ridiculously fabulous view from the cafe where we ate breakfast and lunch most days. The extraordinary food matched the view.

After that, we grabbed a bite to eat at a lovely seaside restaurant, packed up and Raphael drove us to the ferry. After we left, there was one final Mas, late that afternoon, which was a repeat of the first Mas. The ferry trip home was much calmer – we were riding with the waves instead of against them, and a lot of people slept – a very different atmosphere from the trip up. All in all, a great time.

Now we are talking about going to Trinidad next year to see the spectacular extravaganza they put on if we can connect with a local to guide us.

“Eat Local” ~ John’s Oceanview Restaurant

February 11, 2015 by Candi Licence 1 Comment

“Hi John, it’s Candi. We’re coming to eat lunch on Saturday. How do we get to your place?”

“Turn right at the Laura Spice sign, make another right and then a left and go up.”

“OK, so after I take the right at Laura Spice, I take the next right ….”

“No, there’s a left first – call again on Saturday and I’ll give you better directions. Oh, and look for a bridge and a rum shop.”

Ah, yes, getting directions in Grenada is an adventure. Very few roads have any signage and each local person has very different definition of distance, what is considered a “turn”, or what constitutes a landmark, (not to mention what constitutes a road) but we are not worried. We no longer get lost, it’s just that sometimes it takes us longer than expected and we have to turn around a bunch of times … but we definitely are not lost.

I used to get stressed if we couldn’t find a place easily, now it happens less because we know the island so much better after coming for 25 years, but also I realize that getting there is part of the adventure and know to keep my eyes open along the way ~ for whatever.

This is John. He is always smiling. — This is John. He is always smiling and ready to make sure you have a good time.

John, a server at La Sagesse Restaurant, told us he has a side business cooking local foods in a shop at his home every Saturday and suggests that we stop by for lunch. So off we go, trying to find his house in the country. I know the sign for Laura Spice so we drive there, turn right and then I call John for the next steps. He says good, now turn right after Laura Spice and I realize, once again, how imprecise language can be. We’ve turned at the sign and now we come to another right turn to get to Laura Spice. John said turn right after Laura Spice – does this mean we should turn here, pass Laura Spice and then take another right OR does he mean we pass this right turn to Laura Spice and take the next right? You get the idea.

Of course we choose the wrong route. We turn right and head down a road that gets smaller and smaller. It’s not paved but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I fondly remember a magazine ad years ago for Land Rover or Range Rover that had a full page photo that showed their vehicle wading through a mucky road and small stream with the caption “In some parts of the world, this is not considered off road driving”. I love this ad and had it hanging in my office for years. We get to Laura Spice and see a man walking. He doesn’t know John (a definite clue we are not in the right place, because in Grenada everybody knows everybody who lives close by) and he says there is only one more house on the road, so back we go to the “main” road and continue on our way.

“Hi John, It’s Candi. We’ve passed the second turn for Laura Spice, now what?”

“Make a left turn, go over a bridge and look for a rum shop.”

We don’t see any left turns that I can identify but come to a small bridge so I mentally check off that landmark and start to look for a rum shop. A couple of miles in, there it is. We stop and I jump out of the car. Before I say hello, the owner says …. “John called, you are doing fine, just head up and to the left”. In Grenada, up means UP. We are headed deeper into the mountainous interior. We come to a shop that is cooking local food.

“Is this John’s,” I ask?

“Nope, keep going up and he’s on the left. Can’t miss him.

“Hmmmm……”

Actually he’s right. We go a bit more and there’s John waving us into his driveway. He’s got a lovely spot, high on a hill, beautiful view (and breezes) for his house and a small rum shop and restaurant. A bunch of local guys are “liming” (relaxing) in the shop and having a drink. Music is blaring (as it is in all Rum shops) and the guys are singing along. Fun! As we sit down at one of the two tables and order lunch, Michael takes pictures of the men who are hanging out and having fun. The Grenadian people are handsome (or beautiful) and always have a sweet smile on their face.

Nadica and me, at John's restaurant. One of the local guys is waving in the background. — Nadica and me, at John’s restaurant. One of the local guys is waving in the background.

“We” consists of Nadica (our very good Grenadian friend whom we’ve known since she was about 10 years old, now almost 29); her eight year old daughter, Mikiah (my Goddaughter); Michael and me. Nadica and Mikiah are coming to our house to spend the weekend and we’ve picked them up on our way to John’s so we can share lunch together.

Goat curry, Turkey and Manicou. Plus salad, rice and peas and local veggies.

Lunch today is curried Goat, Turkey and Possum. The Grenadian name for Possum is Manicou or Manicoo~ (I’m not really sure of the spelling). I love curried Goat and John’s recipe is delicious. The turkey is good, but I don’t particularly like the Manicou. I’m an adventurous eater so that’s not the problem, I just didn’t think it had a great taste, not bad though either – just not a favorite. (I’ve eaten Iguana here and that is very good.) John offers Michael a Carib, the great local beer, I’m having water, Nadica’s having Orange Juice and Mikiah is having an Arizona Watermelon drink. As with most Grenadian meals there’s fresh salad, pigeon peas with rice and wonderful local veggies on the plate. Garlic bread tops off the meal.

The lovely view from John's restaurant, high up in the mountains looking towards the Atlantic Ocean — The lovely view from John’s restaurant, high up in the mountains looking towards the Atlantic Ocean

It’s fun seeing John’s place and having lunch here. I love the Grenadian entrepreneurial spirit. John has taken a nice piece of land with a beautiful view and in addition to building his house, he’s created this bar and small restaurant. It’s obviously a gathering place for locals and John is enticing the more adventurous tourists to take a walk on the wild side by driving deep into the country for a totally enjoyable, local food experience. I love Grenada – beautiful country, great food, wonderful people and always fun adventures that turn into unforgettable memories.

You can reach John at 473-406-6273 or Johng0067@gmail.com

Gourmet Grenadian ~ Boots Cuisine

February 5, 2015 by Candi Licence 4 Comments

Boots Cuisine serves gourmet Grenadian food and is a delightful restaurant in so many ways.

Michael and I love Grenadian food and like to try restaurants that specialize in local food. Last year, we discovered Boots Cuisine. I know I’ve written about how wonderful the Grenadian people are and Boots and his wife Ruby are fabulous examples of Grenadian graciousness. We were heading back from a photo shoot around 8:30 PM and were looking for a place to eat dinner. I called Boots Cuisine semi-expecting that a 9 PM arrival would be too late to be served and Ruby confirmed that yes it would be hard to give us a great meal so late and I said I’d call again. We called again on Sunday night and Boots answered the phone. When we asked if we could come to dinner, he said he was closed on Sundays but he would feed us if we were hungry and needed a place to eat. We laughed and said no, we would come back sometime when they were open. This is so typical of Grenadians – friendly, accommodating and sweet!

Boots and Ruby are the perfect restaurant couple. Boots is the chef extraordinaire and Ruby does all the behind the scenes work and is the hostess with the mostest!

Boots wielding his chef's knife for the camera. — Boots wielding his chef’s knife for the camera.

At the time, I didn’t realize that Boots is a master chef and prepares not just local food but gourmet local food so, of course he would need advance notice that we were coming. We made a reservation calling mid-afternoon and drove over for a fabulous dinner. If you are lucky, you might be the only guests there and have an unforgettable experience of a private dinner. Boots serves a five course dinner for 95 EC (Eastern Caribbean) dollars which is equivalent to about $35 per person. Dinner consists of a soup, a salad, an appetizer, homemade bread, 3 choices of entrees with lots of local vegetables and starches plus a desert. Boots serves some of the best local food on the island.

Lovely Ruby is the perfect server and does all the behind the scenes work so Boots can focus on his fabulous cooking. They are a great team. — Lovely Ruby is the perfect server and does all the behind the scenes work. She makes everything look easy.

We’ve been back to Boots Cuisine twice already this year and have plans for 2 or 3 more visits. We love to bring Grenadians to local restaurants that they haven’t dined at before and have some local friends we would like to delight. We will also have 2 or 3 sets of visitors coming on island and Boots Cuisine will be a must-do excursion. In many respects, Boots has a perfect restaurant. It is a small, intimate setting, set outside on a covered veranda with flowers all around, softly lit, has exceptional food (by Boots), beautiful presentation and gracious service (by Ruby). Boots and Ruby are so welcoming and fun to talk with, plus getting hugs when we arrive and leave (now that we are friends after being there once) is the proverbial icing on the cake that makes each visit special.

For our most recent visit, Boots served Callaloo Soup as a starter. Callaloo is somewhat similar to Spinach but shouldn’t be eaten raw. Cooked either as a vegetable or soup, it is wonderful ~ thick, creamy and delicious. Boots adds a little salt fish which adds a great seafood flavor. I’ve also had it spiced with Nutmeg and Butter which is also wonderful. After the soup, Ruby served Tettrie Fritters. Tettrie is a teeny, tiny fish that is eaten whole. Boots fries these up in a lovely batter and makes a wonderful dipping sauce. I’ve had these twice and have really loved them. After the fritters, Ruby serves a nice, fresh salad of local lettuces, sweet tomatoes, cucumbers and a homemade dressing. Grenadian tomatoes taste like how I remember sun ripened tomatoes tasting when I was growing up (before all the modifications to help them ship better, have longer shelf life but also less tasty and more mushy). They are small, sweet, firm and very flavorful. YUM!

The Tettrie fritters and special sauce were fabulous.

The delicious Callaloo soup - a personal favorite — The delicious Callaloo soup – a personal favorite

This is the Lobster entrée with Garlic Lime sauce ~ Fantastic!

All of Boots’ entrées sound fabulous. Here are some examples – Grilled Marlin, Garlic Lambi (Conch), Curried Chicken, Goat stew, Fried Fish in herb sauce, Boiled Lobster with Garlic Lime sauce. He offers three choices each evening and it is usually hard to decide which one to try because they all sound so great. The first visit this year, I had the Marlin and Michael had the Lambi ~ both were delicious. The second time we dined, we both had the Lobster and it was fabulous. Each entrée comes with a wide variety of small tastes of local vegetables and starches. Tastes may include Pumpkin (a local squash that is different from our Pumpkin), Dasheen, Coucou (similar to Polenta), Christophene (another squash that is great and a local favorite), Breadfruit, Plantain, Cassava, Pigeon Peas, etc. I love trying a taste of all these foods and seeing how Boots prepares them.

Our most recent dessert of Chocolate Mousse with fruit sauces and a sweet Pumpkin bread. Very decadent and good for you, I'm sure. — Our most recent dessert of Chocolate Mousse with fruit sauces and a sweet Pumpkin bread. Very decadent and good for you too, I’m sure.

Dessert is usually a sampler of 2 or 3 sweet things – could be a local ice cream, a sweet bread like Pumpkin bread or a Chocolate Mousse. As you should guess, each was delicious.

Oh, and I forgot their great Rum Punch. Ruby checked to see who was driving and said that person (me) could have two and Michael could have three. The drinks came in short glasses and I was thinking, only 2?, but after savoring both drinks, I realized Ruby was right. They packed a punch and I’m glad I didn’t have third. BUT, I may ask Michael to drive the next time ’cause they were so yummy!

Ruby loves orchids and grows a lovely selection of them and then makes beautiful centerpieces with them. — Ruby loves orchids, grows a lovely selection of them and then makes beautiful centerpieces with flowers from her garden.

Boots Cuisine is the kind of place I love to go with Michael alone for a wonderful, private dinner; to bring Grenadians who haven’t eaten there, to expose them to his great food and to bring our visitors so they can have a taste of Gourmet Grenadian food and experience first-hand the warmth of Boots and Ruby, unofficial ambassadors for the Grenadian people.

Making Home ~ Settling into our Villa in Woburn, Grenada

January 27, 2015 by Candi Licence 5 Comments

We are staying in Woburn this visit, a small fishing village on the southern coast of Grenada. I like Woburn. It’s big enough to have a couple of good local restaurants, small enough not to be too congested and well situated to be able to get into town or out to the country fairly quickly.

The entrance to Welcome Villa in the fishing village of Woburn, Grenada — The entrance to Welcome Villa, located in the fishing village of Woburn, Grenada. It truly is a welcoming home and I know we will be happy here.

The refreshing pool, with a wrap around deck, gazebo and the gorgeous view beyond. — The refreshing pool off the back porch, with a wrap around deck, a shaded gazebo and the gorgeous view beyond. Heavenly and a perfect place to ‘lime’!

We were looking for a nice house that had 3 bedrooms, a pool, air conditioning in the bedrooms, would accept a dog, hopefully have a good view and would fit our budget. Since we were coming to Grenada in high season, many of the places we’ve stayed at other times were out of our price range. Our good friend, Marion Pierre suggested we work with Terra Caribbean Realtors after my internet research and inquiries with a few local rental contacts came up short. Terra found two houses that met our criteria and financial range and, after getting more details, we decided on Welcome Villa. The pictures showed a clean, basic villa that had air conditioning in the master bedroom only, but should have good airflow. Depending on the temperature and how much wind there is, we often don’t use air conditioning down here anyway, but it’s a great backup if it gets really hot or still, especially for sleeping. A bonus is that the villa is fenced, so Mick has run of the house and yard anytime he wants.

The jaw dropping view from our back deck, looking west.

We arrived late Saturday night and woke up Sunday morning to this extraordinary view. YEAH! The house is actually bigger and better that we expected. The owners, a Brit couple, have done a good job. The house is nicely furnished with good couches and comfortable beds, has great appliances (which is NOT a given even, in high-end houses), and has all the basics that you’d need – a nice assortment of good towels, beach toys, coolers, etc. as well as spices and condiments, some liquor, suntan lotion, cleaning supplies, etc. The general rental rule is – if you use something then you replace it, which works fine. Having these basics makes it easy to settle in. Often, houses will be stripped of everything except one roll of toilet paper (even salt and pepper are missing) which means you must run out immediately to get every-little-thing to get settled. This allows us a little breathing room.

Since we were arriving so late on Saturday, Marion had the house stocked with basics like eggs, bread, some ham, cheese, butter, milk and a six-pack of Carib (the local beer) so we’d have food for breakfast and lunch the first day. We really appreciated Marion doing this for us as a special favor. This Caribbean custom of pre-stocking the house for the cost of the food is one I have really appreciated over the years and makes you feel at home right away (but usually is not done by a friend – thanks Marion). The first place we stayed at in 1986 even provided homemade rum punch – and that began my romance with Grenadian spiced rum.

After unpacking and taking a quick survey of the house and its contents, we headed out to Windsor Forest to pick up the five boxes of items we store with our friend, Philomena. They hold things like good knives, good wine glasses, basic cutlery and kitchen utensils, ice-cube trays, hand towels, a pack, beach towels, a hammock, a good reading light, UK to US power adapters, battery pack for camera equipment, rope, and other similar items. These are things that might not be in houses we rent or their alternatives are not adequate. These familiar items also help to make each house feel like home.

We had lunch at La Sagesse, a delightful, small resort near our property and were treated to their consistently excellent food in their beachside restaurant and got so see some good friends who have worked there for years. John, the server, told us he is cooking at his house on weekends so we will definitely stop by and try out his local food. We also stopped by a roadside stand that is run by Patsy and stocked up on local fruits and vegetables. A sweet bonus is that since this is a third world country, there is little fertilizer or insecticide used on plants so food is naturally organic.

We stopped for a quick dinner at La Boulangerie a very casual and excellent Italian restaurant. Businesses here depend on each other and can very cooperative. My favorite example is the trio of La Boulangerie, Carib Sushi and the Tortuga Italian Wine Bar restaurants. They sit, side by side, in a small shopping complex and work together to provide a great experience for diners. You can sit in one restaurant and still order from any of the restaurants. This means if I want Sushi and Michael wants Italian, no problem. And if we want a special wine, we can saunter over to Tortuga and order a bottle from there that they will deliver it to the table with glasses. And after dinner, you just settle up with each entrepreneur. LOVELY.

Last, we made a quick run to the grocery across the street from the restaurants to round out what we needed and we’re complete. Next will be a nice relax on the deck to savor the day’s accomplishments.

Grenada Sunset 2015 01 13 - 0003 — I love being able to look out over a number of peninsulas and bays while savoring a delicious sunset.

We really lucked out – in addition to a great view from our house deck, the deck faces west so we’ll have more great sunset views. YUM!

Canine Captain ~ Mick’s Travel Adventure

January 23, 2015 by Candi Licence

As you may know, Mick is a rescue dog and is still wary of new people. So, we weren’t sure how he’d do in a crowded airport and in a confined space on the plane where he couldn’t get away from the hustle of the crowd. Bottom line, he exceeded all our expectations.

Mick loves to be with Michael and will put up with most anything to be by his side. He loves me, but Michael is THE ONE. We tried to do everything to make his trip as stress free as possible and he did everything he could to be the best traveler.

Mick and Michael hamming it up in the cockpit

Mick “got into the mood” of being around a lot of moving people when we were in and out of the Sofitel lobby on Friday and Saturday. Everyone thought he was so gorgeous and he planted himself right by our sides and looked regal. As long as he could see Michael he was fine – cautious and alert, but fine. When we were leaving for the airport, we got onto the airport shuttle first so he could be in the back and would be able to see people approaching. We got to the airport 3 hours before our flight to be sure there would be no issues checking us all in and we would have time to walk Mick before he got on the plane for a 3.5 hour flight.

Upon arriving at the airport, Michael and Mick stayed at the curb with our 6 checkable bags and 4 carry on’s while I tried to find a porter. We knew we would have to check-in inside the terminal because of Mick (curbside check in wasn’t an option) but there was no way we could manage all the luggage and Mick. I found a great porter who had a lovely accent and great attitude who managed our mountain of luggage and took us to the front of the line to get checked through. He was from Haiti and we had a good conversation about life while waiting for the agent to free up. We had all our necessary paperwork – Mick’s current health certificate, vaccination records and import permit for Grenada – in addition to our passports, tickets and clearance to take Mick on the plane. There was a slight delay as they checked to see if we needed a USDA seal but it got sorted right out and we were on our way to security.

Yeah for TSA Precheck. As you can imagine, the security lines for American Airlines in Miami are huge. American is the airport’s largest airline and takes up 2 terminals and 70 gates. We waltzed right up to the Precheck “line” and there was no one in front of us. We got our tickets and passports reviewed right away and then breezed through to the monitor screening. With TSA Precheck you do not need to take out liquids, you can keep your shoes on and computers can stay in your carry-on luggage – YES! Michael buzzed when he went through the screening machine, as was expected, because of his knee replacement. Mick and I sailed through and I just needed a quick swipe on my hands to be cleared.

Next we headed to the gate to drop our bags and to figure out where we could walk Mick. The airport has a few pet relief areas but most are not fenced and are in extremely high traffic areas (people and cars). I thought Mick would be too “alert” to relax and do his business while being kept on a short leash. There was one fenced-in area two terminals away, between Terminals E and F. We were at Gate D9 and had to pass 20 more gates just to get to the beginning of the next terminal. Talking with airport personnel we figured it would take 15-20 minutes each way, plus whatever time Mick needed to go to the bathroom – it was 3:10 and our flight was leaving at 5:00. I left Michael at the gate with all our carry-on luggage and power-walked Mick through the terminals. We were moving!

The funky (and fabulous) pet relief area at the Miami airport

The pet relief area was on the island between the commercial and passenger vehicle lanes so traffic was zipping by on both sides. The space was about 20 feet wide at one end slivering down to 5 feet at the other end and 30ish feet long – small! It had a fence that was about 2 feet tall, no double security gate, part of it was paved and part had some grass, trees and plants. Not ideal, but I was thrilled to find it and to be able to let Mick off the leash and roam about. Mick relieved himself and we wouldn’t need to worry about him being uncomfortable while on the plane. We power-walked back. Mick was panting and I was sweating, but mission accomplished!

Checking the view out the front window was part of Mick's pre flight procedure — Checking the view out the front window was part of Mick’s pre flight safety check procedure

Our great friend, Dan Carey, is an American Airlines pilot and he contacted the pilot flying our plane to let him know we would be on board. As we were being paged by the pilot, Dan’s wife Alison called and said she was just a few gates away and would stop by. I was astonished. Dan and Alison live in New York, not Miami. Dan had flown into Miami the night before and was on a layover before flying to Europe. Alison flew down to meet him for dinner and was on stand-by trying to get back to NYC. Wild! It was so great to see Al – she and Dan are wonderful friends and this really made the trip extra fun.

Mick checking out the captain's seat — Mick checking out the Captain’s seat

We met the pilot and he invited Mick into the cock pit. He was so excited and said he’d had a lot of kids in his seat but this was the first dog. Mick made himself right at home. I’m not sure what the other passengers thought as they boarded the flight. After his photo-op, Mick settled right down into the bulkhead floor space and cautiously watched everyone board, but seemed quite relaxed overall.

We had a great dinner in Business class, with real silver. YUM!

The flight was great – We were flying Business Class in order to get the bulkhead seat with extra leg room so Mick could lie in front of us and not spill into the aisle. The bonus was we got to check 6 bags, they fed us a real meal (!) and had Sapphire Gin and tonic for Michael, good wine for me, all at no extra charge – we were living large!

Since we were in the first row, we were off the plane first which worked well for Mick. In Grenada, you need to walk down stairs and cross the tarmac to get to the terminal. We got right through immigration, got our bags and then got on line for customs. We were in the red line because we needed to declare Mick. It was a long wait because all the students were coming back from the holiday break and needed to also get their electronics checked through. Mick’s paperwork checked out fine and we just needed to pay a one-time VAT tax to get him into the country.

Mick's executive seating on the bulkhead floor — Mick’s executive seating on the bulkhead floor

We were out the door, into the sweet Grenada air and jumped into a king cab pickup truck driven by Marcus Gabriel, the gentleman we are renting our 4 wheel drive from, to be driven to our new home in Woburn. We got to the house around 11:30 PM and were on the pool deck by midnight, just in time to see spectacular fireworks for Sir Royston’s 70^th birthday (the owner of the fabulous Spice Island Beach Resort). We joked that it was staged for our benefit and it was a wonderful way to be welcomed home to Grenada.