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Feb.9: Hillsborough
I made myself breakfast and then walked up to the road to catch the bus into Hillsborough; the ride isn’t long and they drop you off at the terminal in the center of town. I wanted to check on the departure time for Mondays ferry from Grenada but the office was closed, I figured I could ask one of the crew when the ferry arrived. It was early so I walked around a while until the boat arrived. After finishing with the ferry I walked down the beach to find a place to spend the afternoon and do some swimming. I found a nice spot near an old building, there are some small shell fragments at the surf line but other than that the bottom is sandy and drops off at a gentle slope.



The beach just outside Hillsborough

The Carnival celebrations in town are going strong, and the music from the large speakers can be heard on the beach; in the spirit of Carnival I had a few nips from my flask between dips. About mid afternoon I packed up and headed back to town for some lunch; a place I stopped at for fresh juice in the morning had oil down on the menu and an old woman cooking in the back, so I knew it was for me. The oil down was delicious it had a lot of callalou and was made with chicken wings and pig tails; I thought I also tasted some saltfish in there. The main road was full of people enjoying the music that came from places up and down the street. A group of workers were building make shift stands for the weekends festivities, they look as though a strong wind would blow the whole row over. I picked up a bottle of Rivers rum and then walked over to the Laurena bar and restaurant to have some beers and use the wifi; Curtis from Off the Hook was there so we had a beer and chatted a bit. I grabbed another bus back to the hotel and talked to Kim to go over her travel arrangements. She has to fly Buffalo-Chicago-Miami-GND, get a taxi to the hotel, arrange for it to come and get her in the morning, and then pickup her ticket at the ferry dock for the trip to Carriacou, well this will be a good primer for her for next year. I went over to Off the Hook to upload some photos on Facebook, yeah I know it’s not right when your friends are saying they were lucky with the storm and “only got 8 inches of snow”, but I can’t resist.

All you gotta do is hop on a plane and leave the snow behind

I was sitting at the bar when someone recognized me from TTOL, it was Bob and Debby that DannyP mentioned in the other days post, they did get the part they were waiting for but are staying on a little longer for the dingy sailing. They are working their way up the island chain and plan to be in Antigua in May. If you’ve ever wondered what someone who spends a good part of the winter in the Caribbean dreams of doing, that is it. I had a drink at the bar then put dropped off my netbook and walked over to the Banana Bar and Merit Museum which is next door. I had one there and talked to Joe, who runs it then went back to Off the Hook. I had intended to have some Under the Counter, a homemade blend they have; when I first had it I thought it was a spice rum, but it didn’t have much spice in it just roots, leaves, bark, and centipedes about three inches long. When I noticed it was only 7:30 I opted for a beer instead. It was another gorgeous night so I sat on the beach listening to the music from the bar and looking at the stars. After returning to the hotel, I brought out the bottle of rum punch I made for Mondays party and had a couple on the beach before turning in.