Driving up the Caribbean Coast - 7 December 2015

December 7th-Monday

We both slept pretty well last night - turned off the TV before the end of the football game.

Pipe cactus near our hotel

Today Bob had his normal breakfast (bacon, oatmeal, grapefruit) and I had a banana. We found that the candy he brought had attracted ants, and so had the cookies which apparently had a hard trip as they were majorly crumbs. So we put most stuff in the fridge that we thought would be anty.

I thought we should get a start on the goals for the trip - all we had done so far was to fix the scooter and go to the grocery story. I thought we might photograph a lighthouse and some cemeteries, have lunch at a nice place and buy some spices like we had done on the cruise ship excursion in 2013.

I wanted to find a bank to get local cash but Bob insisted on driving fast as if he's commuting to work and the banks were all on the other side of the road with no parking visible.

Old outdoor movie theatre - probably not repaired after the hurricane

St George from the Careenage

First we tried to go to Fort George where there was a lighthouse to photograph,

but we ended up on a one way road at a dead end. We were in the correct place, but I still don't see how to get from where we were to where we wanted to be.

So we ended up driving all the way up the west coast road, passing several cemeteries that I wanted to stop at and through a whole bunch of road construction (people with shovels and heaps of asphalt to put in holes). A lot of he time we were following a truck with two phone poles on it.

road

Eventually we came to Gouyave. The roads were tight and a lady thought we had banged into her car She came shouting at us, but Bob said we hadn't touched her car and she went away. I'm not sure whether we did or not.

I saw the church and cemetery that I had seen when we were here before.

This was St. John's Parish Anglican Church.
Bob found a place to park, and got out my scooter. Bob went into the cemetery and I went into the church as the cemetery was inaccessible to me on the scooter.

But I could go up the ramp past the sleeping dog into the church

He took about 70 photos



Sir William Branch is buried there - he was the owner of Douglaston plantation where we went on our first visit.

Later we were told that when the socialist/communist regime took over, Sir William let Douglaston go so that the regime would not benefit. Apparently the plantation is just open now for ship tours like we had.
I took some pictures in the church

I went over to the church offices and talked to them and they pointed out the nutmeg coop and said that there was parking.

Catholic church steeple damaged in the hurricane.
Note: The original name that the English called Gouyave was Charlotte Town.
We tried to go to there, but did not see the parking.
So we continued to follow the road around-

Past Duquesne Bay

Duquesne Bay Petroglyphs sign

Road to St. Patricks - Saint Patrick

And trhough the parish of St. Patrick

Capitol of St. Patrick Parish - Sauteurs

My phone was pretty much useless with maps, but eventually I saw signs for Belmont Estate which I knew had lunch and a place to shop. So we did. (Stop, Eat and Shop). The lunch place was at the top of a very narrow single lane road. Bob unloaded me and then had to go down to park at the bottom of the road on the street. Very narrow roads like this make him nervous when he's driving a rental

They had a three course meal for $50.00 but Bob said immediately that he couldn't eat that much.

View from our table





We each had a chicken sandwich and I had mint ice cream, I used the rest room.

Bathroom sink at Belview

I also talked to a guide who was there (Edwin) and arranged for him to take us to more cemeteries on Thursday. I know where some of the big ones are, but the little ones parking is a problem.
and then I bought some stuff.

Belmont Estate Spice Plantation

Tree to Bar Cooperative sign

Step in chocolate shop

Chocolate shop

Bob buying chocolate

Spices for sale

souvenirs

Driving through Grenville - Grenville

East coast beach

We got lost on the way home, but arrived eventually and Bob had a nap and I did photos. Then we had dinner of the leftover KFC I have had some intestinal issues tonight which I hope will be gone tomorrow. I intend to go to one of the big cemeteries and maybe see some lighthouses.

I figured out that if I signed in to Google on my phone (meaning I had to remember the password), that it would remember where I wanted to go and also would get the items from my computer in Google maps. A-HA.

So I put in there two lighthouses (or a lighthouse and a light ship) and the Grand Anse Cemetery. I decided we could to that and get to a bank and get some local cash. I asked Bob to look in the phone book and see where a bank was, and he refused because he said he wouldn't know what the addresses meant. So I looked and there was a bank in the Spiceland Mall. So I put that on the list.

I had some crumbs from dinner so I got ants in my bed and didn't sleep that well as they kept biting me.