November 9,2003
It's a real, live, gray, rainy day here--the first on record since my arrival in August. I woke up this morning about 5 am to the rain. Not just the sound but the feel of it as the wind was blowing my bedroom window curtain out and letting raindrops drift in. I pushed my cardboard box night stand away from the window to avoid drenching my books and rolled over to go back to sleep, content with the sound of the rain and the cool breeze coming in my room. When I awoke later, I was bummed by the realization that my laundry was still on the line from the afternoon before and my recently muddied shoes were out drying (or not drying as the case may be). As of 1:00 this afternoon the laundry is still out there, having weathered another attack of Caribbean rain. It's a tough choice...take it in the apartment to dry on your furniture or leave it out and just wait it out until the sun inevitably comes back out. Because it is perfect weather for a lazy Sunday, I'm choosing to just let it wait on the line. There's not room on my couch for me, my book and my wet laundry. Sara's comfort, 1, laundry, 0.
Friday was a rainy day on and off as well which really wouldn't have been a problem except that the bus I was taking into St. George's got a flat tire. Thump, thump, thump, thump. We pull over near a bus shelter and the driver runs out of the bus to the shelter, avoiding the rain, to check out the situation. Meanwhile, 18 people are packed into the bus with all the windows shut, getting progressively steamier and steamier. Have I mentioned before how Grenadians hate the rain? Well, life pretty much stops when the clouds burst open. After a few minutes, the driver runs to the back to get out a jack and we all pile out of the steamy bus and take shelter with the driver who is waiting out the rain to get to work. It finally slows down and he sets up the jack when it begins to pour again. The driver scurries back to shelter and gives us this look as if it say "What do you expect? It's raining!". After about 5 minutes, I'm getting annoyed and almost offer to go stand over him with my umbrella when an empty bus comes by and the crew packs in that. Ahhh...the joys and perils of precipitation.
On Saturday, one of the other volunteers, Amy, and I decided to go do a hike in the Grand Etang Forest. I hadn't been truly hiking since I arrived in Grenada and about 2 minutes on the trail, I remembered exactly why I love it. It was beautiful. We started up at about 1900' (over 3000' lower than Denver!) and I was shocked at how much cooler and windier it was up there. It was a beautiful hike and we got some great views of the pristine rain forest the Grand Etang lake (a volcanic crater lake). Because of all the rain on Friday, we got pretty muddy (hence my attempting-to-dry shoes outside) but had a really good time. I got some good photos along the way.
Last night I went into Grenville to see a play. It was a monologue called "David's Story" that was written, directed and acted by a local man who is a friend of Liz's. The monologue was different scenes from the life of a young Grenadian man that ultimately ended with his imprisonment. The writer came out afterwards and talked a bit about how Grenadian society needs to recognize the crisis that young men in Grenada are going through--often growing up in broken homes (or homes where the Dads are unknown and the mother has gone to the States, as in this case), lacking good education, support systems and love. As a result of these factors and others there's a rise in young (lower class) men unemployed, unhappy and in many cases, imprisoned. Hmmm...where I have I heard this before? Universal struggles.
Alright, that's all for today. If all goes well, next week I'll be writing about my weekend trip to Carriacou (one of the Grenadine Islands that is part of Grenada) to celebrate the 28th anniversary of my birth (yikes!!!).