Another relaxing day...

Saturday, many shops and attractions close early. So we planned a beach day and a little shopping - apparently the fridge was getting a little bare!

We stopped at a local farmers roadside stand to pick up some fruits and vegies. We got almost everything we needed - including oranges and watermelon.

From there, we headed back to Morne Rouge - which I think has become our favorite beach. There are beach chairs to rent, bathrooms close by, ocean is calm, lots of beach, great little snackette and very few people - except as we found out - on the weekends. It was okay though - aside from a group of university students well on their way to a weekend of fun, for the most part, it was a few tourists and lots of local families.

We both really like how the Grenadians feel comfortable in sharing the beaches with visitors. In Cuba - we never saw that - and we have had a chance to talk to locals and interact with them. And as for vendors - I think we saw three the whole day - usually they are on Grand Anse - waiting for the cruise ship tourists! And the vendors are very polite - a simple 'no thank you' and they carry on.

After another tiring day on the beach, we headed back to Grand Anse to pick up a few more items - milk, eggs, etc. It is interesting that milk only comes in once or twice a week - and several times, there has been no milk in the stores. However, the shelves are filled with powdered milk and evaporated milk - for those of you who can stomach that - not me!!

We headed back to the apartment to put the groceries away and clean up - then headed into Grand Anse for a walk on the beach - it was a full moon tonight. It was so beautiful - the waves glowing in the moonlight, silhouettes of palm trees against the moon - we thought of Megan and how she would love to take some night shots with her new baby! 

We walked down the beach - then found a little restaurant. The tables were right on the beach - waves about 2 feet from our table, lanterns on the table, nice music (pop ballads from the 70's & 80's).We had a nice dinner -  then headed back down the beach. There were a few other people taking advantage of the moonlight - locals and visitors - it was really beautiful.

A series of fortunate coincidences...

Saturday, we planned to go to Gouyave again as they have a farmers' market - and unlike St.George's teeming with cruise ship tourists - the one in Gouyave is quieter. We woke up to a tropical rain storm, which didn't deter us - and set out to Gouyave - taking a different way than we had before.

Little did we know that we would find our way to several places we were hoping to visit during our trip - the Grand Etang Rainforest & Lake and the Spice Basket Cultural Centre. While the weather meant we didn't visit the rainforest (that will be this week), we did stop at the Cultural Centre on our way to Gouyave.

The Cultural Centre is brand new - and is set up very well, although the theatre for cultural performances is not finished. From what the staff said, the museum operator doesn't seem to have set hours yet. We browsed the gift shop and grounds (some beautiful flowers) and then had lunch on the deck. I had grilled fish (marlin) with rice & peas, vegies and salad with nutmeg dressing. Barry had the grilled chicken (nice thigh/drum and back piece) plus potato salad and salad - which started out as a vegetarian lunch - due to a slight miscommunication with our server Abigal.

 

We also shared a bowl of locally made pistachio ice cream -and managed to get the top-secret recipe for the nutmeg dressing). It was an unexpected find - and a great way to spend some time before heading off to Gouyave and the market - where we stopped in to see Lester again - who gave us some great oranges and grapefruit - fresh off the tree that morning. They were very good - sweet - Barry said it was the best orange he ever had!