Last night’s dinner was Indian food out of a shipping container and it was so good. The Container Park is close to the college and a 10 minute walk from our place. That said, the prices were the highest we’ve seen yet. I guess these college students have bigger budgets than Nathan and I did at that age.
During dinner, Nathan and I planned our next steps. We wanted to go see Grand Etang, which is the national park, and there were a few other places we could tack onto an itinerary that might make for a fun and memorable day trip.
We started to contact drivers to ask about tours and prices and we also looked into prearranged group tours. None of the group tours went to all three places that were on our list, and most were all day affairs that crammed in sights we weren’t interested in.
The two drivers I contacted quoted me either $35 per hour or $350 for the day…in USD. Yikes. We’ve arranged for a private snorkel tour before in Ecuador, and if memory serves it was only $125 for the whole day.
We couldn’t justify the expense so we worked out another option for the day.
We got up around 6 am or so, and prepped for the day’s outing. Nathan made sandwiches, and we each packed a light beach bag. We are leaving our shade tent and snorkel gear at home because that will just be a lot to carry on the front side of this adventure.
By 8 am we had eaten breakfast and were out the door. We walked down our drive and onto the highway and before you know it, a bus going the opposite direction has tooted at us and is trying to get us on board. We protested initially because they were going in the wrong direction, but they convinced us to get on board, and away we went. Had they been kidnappers, we would have been easy, gullible prey.
But they weren’t kidnappers, and we were delighted by the early morning bus ride. Little kids in their school uniform and hair braids got on board. So cute.
We rode all the way to the bus terminal at St Georges. From there we transferred to a #6 bus to Grand Etang. Buses departing from the main terminal only depart when full, so we had the misfortune of finding an empty #6 bus. We got on board, and it took roughly 30 minutes for the bus to fill up and we were off.
The ride up to the park took about 20 or 25 minutes. I was watching on Google Maps so I knew when to get off, but you know they don’t forget about the tourists on the bus. The bus pulled over, we hopped out at the park entrance, paid the driver, and bought our entrance tickets.
We walked up to the Visitor Center, and then down the road to the Grand Etang Lake. Grand Etang Lake is a crater lake from an extinct volcano located at 1800 feet in elevation. The park has hiking trails and the four highest peaks in Grenada, but we did not bring shoes for hiking.
Immediately, where the road ties into the highway, there is a ticket booth, and a few men hanging around outside. They tear our tickets, and then coax us into posing for photos with the Mona monkeys.
There wasn’t much coaxing necessary, and the men (Leon the trainer, Michael & Ron) take photos and videos of us with our camera. The monkeys names were Jumper and Lovey. One of them peed on me, and Leon was trying to keep me from freaking out, and perhaps hurting the monkey. “It’s a blessing” he said. Dude, blessing or not, I’m now covered in monkey pee. And I put deodorant on this morning…I was not planning to wash this shirt.
Thankfully, post-COVID, we travel with alcohol hand wipes, so I wiped the pee off my hands and arms, no harm, no foul…except for maybe my shirt.
From there we walked down to Grand Etang Lake, looked at the fishes, hiked a little ways up a muddy trail, and then came back the same way we arrived. By now, there are many tourists and tour groups trying to get photos with the monkeys, so we lucked out being early and on our own.
We hiked up to the main highway and waited for a #6 going back to St Georges. A very full bus arrived after about 10 or 15 minutes, the driver jammed us in, and back down to St Georges we went.
Once we were back at the main terminal, we decided to walk around St Georges, and walk through the Sendall Tunnel and down the Carenage before heading back on the #1 bus to Grand Anse beach. At some point during our bus rides this morning, we discovered that Nathan had made our sandwiches and left them in the fridge, so we had a small snack on the boardwalk before walking to the bus stop.
We waited just a moment or two before an already full bus heading towards Grand Anse picked us up and squeezed us in. Nathan was in the way back and I was in the conductor’s jump seat, with the conductor standing right over me.
The buses here are a cultural experience that I can’t quite express in words. The stereo is bumping reggae music, the driver is assertive, borderline aggressive, the conductor is hanging out the window drumming up business and stopping traffic where necessary, making change and dictating seating assignments. The bus patrons are quietly seated and taking it all in. If you want out, you rap your knuckles on the metal frame of the bus. Or if you are white and a tourist, they ask you where you are going. We are still waiting for the chance to rap our knuckles. Maybe tomorrow. Today they were making sure we got where we needed to go. As with every other ride, we were the only non-locals.
The whole Grand Etang via bus experience: $11.10 USD in bus fare plus $4 in entrance fees.
Once at the beach, we went to a beach restaurant for lunch and shared a sandwich. The prices were in USD, so not cheap. Nathan inquired how much a sun bed cost for the day and we decided against it. It was so hot, the thermometer on Nathan’s backpack said 102 in the shade, that after lunch we put our towels down and headed for the water.
Once we were done in the water, we packed up, and walked down the beach to head home. I’ve figured out how to catch a bus on the return trip now, and within moments we’re crammed into a full bus heading towards the True Blue roundabout. Me in the front seat with the driver and another passenger, and Nathan in the way back.
At home at an early hour for once, we made a rum punch and sat out on our deck with the mosquito coil and fan. Our downstairs neighbors showed up, introduced themselves as Stephen and Shawnna from Canada, and invited us down for a drink.
Nathan’s not one to turn down a social invite, so I quickly showered and we headed downstairs for a drink and a chat before heading out to dinner.