Today is a great day for so many reasons! Today marks the one month anniversary of Mark and I moving to Grenada! And what a difference a month makes! I can now do laundry in my building, I know the best places and days to buy groceries, I can navigate the SGU and reggae buses, and I can cook just about anything in a frying pan!
Today is also our two month wedding anniversary! It hardly seems like two months have gone by, but it feels like it has been two years at the same time! Mark and I continue to be an unbeatable couple. Throw anything at us and we'll show you what we're talking about... Hey newly weds, move to a foreign country; one of you will lose all free time and the other will gain an abundance of it; live in a tiny (210 sq ft) studio apartment, with one working computer while you both are taking classes, take away hot water a few days, add in a hungry Mark all the time, and what do you get: the healthiest relationship EVER! We now have to work to make time together, and even when it's only 10 minutes a day, it's the most focused and fascinating 10 minutes of our day!
Today is also my dad's __th birthday! (censored) He isn't the best about making a big deal about his birthday (that must be where I get it...), but as long as he knows he is loved and appreciated and that today marks a day where we can measure his worldly wisdom, then all is well. But the cake and ice cream help, too! I'm very sad I can't be there, but I'm happy I got to be his last phone call at work today. at 5:38 today. on a Friday. on his BIRTHDAY! But I was glad to hear that he's not going to be out doing handyman work tonight; I guess that is treating himself! Make this year a great one, daddy!
Today was also a hike day! It started entirely too early (well, actually about the time I normally wake up, but it's always more difficult when I try to wake up at that time) by leaving to catch the 7:30 bus to the Texaco, but I actually grabbed a ride from Laura who had just dropped off her hubby for school and was headed back home! At the Texaco, I grabbed breakfast (a bread/muffin thing that lacked flavor, but Mark ate just a few minutes ago without any complaints!) and a few snacks for the trip (cheese-its, white cheddar cheese-its, and a chocolate rice crispy treat, all for less than $5ec or $2usd--maybe I should do my grocery shopping there!). Kat texted me and said she was coming, and we hopped on a bus to St. George's around 8:15. We arrived at the bus hub and preceded to find Amit, a guy neither of us had met before in the chaos that is Friday morning rush hour, but luckily, all us outsiders look like foreigners so it wasn't difficult... We got on the #6 bus, waited about 15 minutes for it to be full, and then took off to Grand Etang for some adventure time. I took note of the time as 9am. From there on, the time just sort of runs together!
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| The roof of our reggae bus had a spiffy paint job that almost made it feel like a convertible (but not really...luckily I had a window seat and thus I at least had an occasional breeze! |
At some point, we stepped off at the Grand Etang Forest Reserve!
We then proceeded to the grill/cafe/bar right at the bus stop so Kat could get a grilled ham sandwich as her breakfast, and Amit got a grilled cheese sandwich (they looked amazing and were fairly cheap!). I just snacked on some cheese-its. Kat and I then lead the way to the crater lake that we had gone to before; it was Amit's first time. On the way, we stopped to take photos of the flowers that we already had photos of from the first time. They are just so pretty!
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| Such a simple dock for such an ominous lake! |
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| "Mt. Qua Qua 1.5 hours each way" ...we think |
Then we started our hike! What we did with the
Grand Etang hike the first time, doesn't compare. Actually the previous hour-long hike to the breath-taking view, took us at most 10 minutes because it was just the three of us, not 200+. But then it was on to Mt. Qua Qua! This hike was difficult! Kat and Amit are more experienced hikers (Kat even had legit shoes!) and they agreed it was difficult! We went through lots of mud, some overgrown parts of the trail, and some really steep parts with foot-holes or make-shift steps.
When we finally got to the top, it was all worth it! The view was so pretty! We took some pictures, then tried to take it all in! The whole way up was misty and breezy and the top felt just as rewarding!
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| Metal statue at the top (we called it the victory statue...) |
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| A large rock, which is just cool by itself, but blocking most of our view... |
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| The view was better on the other side of the boulders, but the drop was straight down and quite scary! |
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Pushing the boulder off was not going to work.
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| So we climbed it! |
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| And then could see all the wonderful views! |
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| Including the lake where we started.... |
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| I had my mushed peanut butter and jelly (that's the best way to eat it!) |
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| I took my socks off to dry out a little. |
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| then discovered I have a panoramic setting on my camera! |
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| Took some photos, and just relaxed! |
The clouds had all cleared out of the valley from when we had arrived, and the breeze had sort of died away. Then it was time to head back down. This journey was probably quicker, though it seemed longer. When we were all the way back down, we tried to figure out how it was after 2pm! Kat pulled out her camera and discovered that she had take our first photo on the walk at about 10, the first photo at the top at 11:45 (almost made it in the hour and a half time frame!), our last photo at the top at 12:45 (it did not seem like we enjoyed a whole hour up there, but it was definitely worth it!), and then washing our feet in the lake at 2:15 (down in an hour and a half!). It is not like time flew or froze, it just sort of disappeared! It is crazy how we lost all track of time, and thanks to Kat's camera, we had some sort of reference! On our way walking back to the bus stop, I pulled out my camera to take a picture of some flowers...
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| Gorgeous hibiscus, right? |
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When Amit spotted the monkeys!
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| They were super cute! Kat has better photos on her camera, but they were definitely entertaining! |
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Then we caught the #6 bus (this is actually a bus--first one I've ever seen that was a city route!) to St. George's and then the normal #1 back to Grand Anse, and then the passing Grand View Inn Route SGU bus back to campus...where I ran into 4 different people, causing me to get home at 4:15, 15 minutes before Mark came home from classes (enough time to start the laundry and hide in the laundry room to surprise him...not enough time to get to showering)!
Lots of battle scars from the defensive plants--more pictures of that to come later! All in all, the hike was refreshingly invigorating! Even through the sweat and the slipping, the mud and the drizzle, there is something rewarding and addicting to hiking. |
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We then proceeded to the grill/cafe/bar right at the bus stop so Kat could get a grilled ham sandwich as her breakfast, and Amit got a grilled cheese sandwich (they looked amazing and were fairly cheap!). I just snacked on some cheese-its. Kat and I then lead the way to the crater lake that we had gone to before; it was Amit's first time. On the way, we stopped to take photos of the flowers that we already had photos of from the first time. They are just so pretty!
