Up to Grenville

Lennox adjusted his headset volume to be sure we could hear him in the back. He is a lovely man, chatty, profoundly polite, and knowledgeable. He has friends all over the island and a quick honk is always met with a grin and a wave. Every so often, his converstational tone would change and it would be clear that he was reciting “information of interest to the tourist”.

“Grenada is 30 miles long and about 7 miles wide. It has a population of 110,000,” he intoned. We learned its principal industry is agriculture, with nutmeg and cocoa being it’s major crops...until Ivan. Grenadian cocoa is considered the best in the world and it was the second largest producer after Ghana. Since Ivan, India has taken that laurel. Cocoa trees take five to seven years to start producing, so it will be a while before Grenada moves up from third place, but Lennox is sure it will happen.

Nutmeg production is huge on Grenada. The Gouyave Nutmeg Processing Cooperative alone produced over 3 million pounds of nutmeg each year. Nutmeg jam (made from the pericarp, not the nut) is delicious as is the island’s fabulous nutmeg ice cream. Like cocoa trees, nutmeg trees also require several years before they begin bearing, but already recovery is well under way.

It being Saturday, a number of places we would have liked to visit were closed. This included a spice garden on our route. These gardens are planted with all the herbs and spices that are grown on Grenada. Nutmeg (and the mace that envelopes it) and cocoa are just the beginning. Cinnamon, turmeric, bay leaves, ginger, cloves, mauby bark, star anise, thyme...all part of why Grenada calls itself the Isle of Spice.

Lennox, being the pleasant chap he is, had no objection to stopping at the oddest places so I could take photos. Once he’d figured out what I was after, he was tireless...cruising along looking for the perfect cocoa pod, the prettiest nutmeg.

The prettiest nutmeg

The prettiest cocoa

He drove us up past St. David’s in the southeast toward Grenville, Grenada’s second largest city, about midway up the Atlantic (east) coast. I was keen to visit the lively market there. The coastal road approaching Grenville passes through a number of small settlements where fishing is the way of life. Tiny, one-room shacks (reminiscent of the ice-fishing shacks of home) line the roadside and house entire families. Boats and nets bestrew the beach. A plant with long spikey fronds grows in abundance. It is harvested and the dried fronds are used to weave hats and baskets which are displayed for sale in doorways and windows. It looks a tough life, but there is a lot of energy, whooping children, and smiling to be seen.

In Grenville, Lennox dropped us off by the market and went to park. We wandered through the stalls, bought a couple of items, and took some photos.

Spices at the Grenville market

Grenville market

At one point, just as I was pressing the shutter, I saw that a woman in the frame had covered her face. “You should ask before taking a person’s photo,” Lennox told me later. “Some people don’t like it.”

Learn to ask permission before taking people's picture...

We waited at the roadside when we were done. People chatted with us. The heat and humidity were oppressive. Finally Lennox appeared beside us and escorted us back to the taxi. He had parked it beside the Grenville nutmeg processing plant, the largest in the country. Tours are available, Monday to Friday. Sigh.