Almost Half Way

Half started or half way finished, I’m sure that I do not know but this week will mark the middle of my adventure here. The past week has been all about immersing myself in local living and fully embracing the Grenadian Lifestyle.

Last Sunday, I made my way to Bathway Beach to hang out with Aggie, indulge in her delicious Breadfruit Balls and soak up some sun. There was a small street festival going on so upon realizing that it was far too hot to just sit on the sand (seriously….sadly, I burned the bottoms of my feet just walking on it!), I elected to sit with her and her family doing something totally Grenadian: just watching. Yup, for hours, we just sat and watched the people of Bathway sell their wares, dance and try to put up a volleyball net (it still wasn’t up by the time I left). It was a moment for me that proved the importance of simply stopping. Just stopping and enjoying what’s around you without external interruptions and constant notifications from your phone, alerting you that someone liked your photo or commented on your post or a client needs work or a new, state-of-the-art thingamajigger is on sale for half price if you just click this or that link. It was AWESOME. And I must say, Aggie’s commentary is entertainment gold!

Monday and Tuesday meant that the painter would be here painting the roofs so I remained on the property all day just in case he needed anything. I managed to get a little work done (yay for the internet working on a day I had scheduled to work!) and a lot of reading done while I became hypnotized my the rhythmic sounds above of the paint brush moving back and forth. Once he was finished, I drove into town and picked up a few things from the market and to exchange a propane tank for the stove…I can now eat more than just protein shakes, cereal and hard-boiled egg whites, yes! On Friday I woke up with a fever and when I could not get it to break by ‘sweating it out’, I got in the car (which has AC) and drove into town for some medicine. Let me tell ya, I have never ever in my life missed Air Conditioning so much. I’ve done just fine without it these past five and half weeks but man, when that fever hit, I would have given just about anything for that cool, manufactured air.

Thankfully, the fever broke by Saturday morning so I headed upstairs to do a little food prepping. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s basically cooking a bunch of food at once so you can grab a meal easily and quickly throughout the upcoming days. Body Builders and Fitness Athletes use it to maintain dietary caloric and nutrient intake…I use it because I’m lazy and if something healthy isn’t readily available, I’ll grab a candy bar or bag of chips (which, lets face it, is not conducive to living life in a bathing suit). I packaged up all my newly cooked meals and put them in the fridge before heading down to the beach for some Vitamin Sea.

Yesterday, I made my way through St. George’s into Grand Anse and oh, happy day, look who I found. THE MANDALAY! I immediately turned the car around, pulled up as near to the ship as I could, put the car and park, got out and yelled “Hey Mandalay” at the top of my lungs until someone heard me and came to see who the crazy person was. I asked For Capt. Sly who promptly made his way to the aft to say hello. It’s a totally normal thing here to have whole conversations yelling across something (a road, a harbor…whatever) and not absolutely necessary to be within normal conversational distance and I was surprised at how not weird I felt about the whole thing. Anyway, we got caught up, exchanged numbers and talked about how much we were looking forward to sailing again at the end of September. Man, I just really love the Windjammer folks.

I arrived at Rocky’s and got myself set up on the sand (this time the sand was just right and did not cause any bodily harm). As I lay there taking turns reading and watching the local children play a little beach soccer, I noticed a young couple Stand Up Paddle Boarding. It being an absolutely perfect day for such an activity I walked down the beach and found a little bar where they were renting SUPs. I paid $50EC and started making my way out towards the horizon. I was alone and it was quiet and peaceful. For an hour I just paddled around the rocks, looking for starfish and sea urchins and silently giving thanks for all my blessings. It has happened many times since I’ve been here but once again, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of appreciation. As I stood there looking out over the crystal clear water, feeling the sun warm my skin and the breeze gently cool it off again, I felt a feeling of total freeness and happiness wash over me.

So it was another magical week here on the Island. This week will be filled with projects and exploration as I prepare for my friend Kaz to come spend a week with me for some much-needed girl time!