So I set my cell phone alarm this morning for 8:40…and it never went off. It was still set when they announced we were docking at 9:18. Whoops, so I guess I suck at setting my alarm too, although I don’t really know what the issue is. I tried to call Dave, but none of our cell phones have service. We were supposed to have met people for breakfast at 9, so I got ready quickly and then waited for Jean to finish and we went up to the 15th floor. Breakfast…kind of sucks, not gonna lie. I guess I don’t really like breakfast foods anyway, but at least they could have some home fries or something. Jean and I were going to go explore by ourselves today so we went to get coffees on the 4th floor then left for the pier. Grenada, scenery-wise, was exactly like St. Kitts except you could tell that it wasn’t as rich. After passing through security (I thought we could have had our passports stamped, but that really wasn’t the case), we put on sunscreen and stepped into the town. It was completely different than everywhere we had been so far. There were carts set up like the other places with people selling the same exact things, but the island itself was dirt poor. It was worse than SE Asia, hands down, perhaps because there was such a contrast between the beautifully rich landscapes and the poverty stricken buildings and streets. Like all 3rd world countries, I think, that corrugated aluminum was everywhere and marketplaces were constructed out of scrap pieces of building materials. At least the food they were selling was mostly fruit, so it wasn’t completely disgusting. Rasta (sp?) guys were hanging out everywhere smoking weed and listening to calypso music. Jean wanted to smoke with the rastas just to get a good picture but I really don’t think that would have been worth it. After checking out some of the local spices (all that Grenada is famous for is spices – especially nutmeg), we decided to check out this waterfall that every taxi driver in town had been offering to take us to. We got quotes of $40 and bargained down and between drivers and got them down to $20. I still thought it was too much, but I guess a $10 day isn’t too bad. We got in this toyota van all by ourselves with the rasta driver (left side of road, steering wheel on right) and headed quickly out of the town and through the island. The mountains were amazing! It’s also a volcanic island, like St. Kitts, and somehow it just feels like that. I guess maybe because it’s like Hawaii or something. The driver pointed out things along the way and told us facts about the island. Apparently in 2005, hurricane Ivan destroyed the place. Indeed, most homes looked like they had been hit by a hurricane – only maybe more like last week and not 2.5 years ago. Jean took pictures with the fancy camera because her window opened and mine did not so it was impossible to take pics. It took about 15-20 minutes but we finally arrived at the waterfall – Annandale’s Waterfalls. The driver told us to walk up a bit, first up a steep road and then through these lush tropical plants. I picked some birds of paradise and put it in my hair, which has been my tradition on this trip. Pink, then purple, now orange. The waterfall was pretty cool! I mean, it wasn’t Niagra, just different, more like a tropical rainforrest. We took so many pictures there and watched as some tourist jumped over the falls. It was something you paid for, he’s fine 😉 Actually, I really wished I had my bathing suit on because I think I would have done it! Really, it looked very scary, but when would I ever be allowed to jump over a waterfall? Now THAT is a story. So Jean and I settled for pictures and after a little which we headed back to the van. The trip back was the same until the end, when we drove a different way and he stopped along the road so Jean could take some pictures. Back by the pier, we bought some gifts for people and postcards and went back to the ship.
Jean wanted to show me the spa so we went there and hung out on these cool chairs that were made of stone and heated. It was really relaxing, and I wasn’t supposed to be there because I hadn’t paid, but no one asked. We explored some private pool area that had plush lounge chairs and special food that you had to pay $20/day to use. I don’t understand it really, there are a lot of places and things to do on this ship that still cost money. I thought cruises were supposed to be all inclusive. Next we got some lunch and met Sarah, Katie, Chris, Liz and Claudia by the pool. We also all got mojotos which were really nice. Katie told us about mini golf on the top deck (19) so we went up there to play as we were pulling away from Granada. Wow it’s hard to play golf on a ship! Like, really hard. Sarah won and I came in 2nd, and we all had a good time. Bingo was at 3:45 but apparently you need to buy cards early before they sell out (?) so we went to do that. Again with the money, so I didn’t play but Sarah bought $80 worth of cards for everyone. It was only 3, so we agreed to meet at 3:30 to play so I went back to the room to catch up on writing. I’m sitting at bingo now, no one in our party has won, and I’m not playing because I’m approximately 60 years too young. Dinner is tropical themed and Katie said the food is Italian (because really, that goes together), so more tonight.
So dinner was pretty good, I sat with Liz, Claudia, Ruth and Rich. The conversation was entertaining, Ruth is a riot and has been pretty much completely smashed on this entire trip. Rich ordered wine, and we also had lemoncello shots before dinner too. Nick has been speaking Portuguese with the captain, so we all got calamari and shrimp with maranara, which wasn’t even on the menu. I got 4 appetizers too – perscuitto and cantaloupe, minestrone soup, bellini cold soup with peach and prosecco, and a salad with pine nuts. For an entree I got shrimp fra diavlo. For some reason that came with rice and the sauce wasn’t spicy enough, but the appetizers were really good. For dessert I had lemon sorbetto. After dinner we all went to the Mazzilli bar for some drinks – we have an obscene amount of alcohol left over and are trying to take care of that. I tried jager and red bull (pretty good) and then a shot of absolut ruby red. Yuck. We had some laughs and good times and then went to the casino to try to find the Mazzilli parents. We didn’t find them, but we found Ruthie instead playing roulette. She was doing well and Jean tried too but didn’t do so well. We left there and went down to the 4th floor to get a table and play Apples to Apples. That was fun for a while and then we decided to go hang out on the lido deck where there was some dance party going on. Yea, there was a conga line, which I wasn’t down with so Jean and I stayed far far away. I really wasn’t into this scene, it was complete cruise nonsense. Luckily we decided to go dancing next at this Skywalkers Club on the 19th deck. They were playing pretty good music and Katie, Chris, Jean and I danced for a while. Like, actually a really long time. We had a good time and I think Claudia was being recruited into a threesome. This couple kept pulling her close to them and then she would have to be rescued by Jean and me. It was SO shady so we danced just with each other. We stayed there until around 1:30 and pretty much passed out back in the room. Bonaire tomorrow!
