Paradise…More, More, More.

I am a creature of habit…. I have the same thing for breakfast for months on end, only occasionally having something different, whereas, Mike likes something different every morning… At home, every morning, Mike makes a joke of asking what’s for breakfast? My reply is always the same…..Overnight Oats for me do you want the same? No … doesn’t like oats, yoghurt, blueberries/ raspberries and strawberries mixed together and left overnight. Mike has never tried it!

I had studied the menu before we arrived and picked out the granola as something close to my normal but since arriving here I’m told they don’t have any yoghurt so I stopped asking after the third day….. but now I’m craving my Overnight Oats so we decided to leave the resort and walked up the road for a while to see the lay of the land.

9.30 am and very hot!

After visiting a nearby chemist and checking out Sugar Shack, somewhere we could walk to for possible take aways later in the week. We eventually caught a bus to the supermarket we’d visited earlier in the week.

Don’t ask what happened because I don’t know! I purchased Oats, Farine, strawberries, low fat yoghurt and frozen blueberries, which were a lot cheaper than fresh blueberries. We got a taxi back, unpacked and later in the day realised we were missing the oats and Farine.

I am beginning to wonder if I’m loosing my marbles!

Not deterred I picked up granola from the on site bakery and thought I’d try their yoghurt…. spent the rest of the day in and out of the pool to keep cool. I have to be careful in the sun as I have fair skin so I don’t sit in the sun for long periods.

On the way to an early dinner, a group of Americans were enjoying the late sun and having cocktails by the Decompression Chamber ( the creatively named bar between the infinity pool and the Aquanauts diving centre). Nearby, a small tree is full of large stripy caterpillars some of which are nearly as long as my hand.

We are told the caterpillars bite so I Googled them ….Pseudosphinx commonly known as Frangipani Hawkmoth, ( frangipani is a type of tree) beautiful looking caterpillars which turn into dull looking moths. They can consume 3 leaves a day and if all the leaves on the tree are eaten will go on to eat the bark.

Continuing to the Dodgy Dock for dinner…. I’d love a Pina Colada but had to replace it with a Daiquiri as the resort had run out of one of the ingredients. Okay…but not something I would have again.

Chicken Fajitas for me, stewed chicken, rice n peas and macaroni pie for Mike. As dusk nears thunder and lightning and then the first spots of rain….so we took our ice cream to go… back to the pod before the heavy rain arrived.

The sky is heavy with rain now, we are quite happy in our little pod but we have an umbrella if needed. Mike is listening to music and playing games on his iPad. After writing this I’ll get back to my book….. Life is sweet!

The rain ceased soon after breakfast and it was a lot cooler, the air was fresh with a cool breeze. We made our way to the Sugar Shack, a 10 minute walk, for lunch. It was a very new building at the bottom of the road which led up to St George’s University. The menu was limited because of shortages of staff and some food stuff. Guess what we had…. Roti. Think Mike would eat here every day!

We walked down the road nearer to St George’s University to have a nosy and found a collection of restaurants we may want to visit next week, I wanted to visit St Georges so we hopped onto a university bus which took us to the shopping mall at Grand Anse, Mike hitting his head as he boarded….. ouch! …. a short walk to the bus stop to catch a No 1 to St George’s, Mike hitting his head again…….he just can’t seem to judge the distance right!! We got off the bus at the harbour and started walking in search of shops, by this time it was stifling hot, everywhere was very busy.

Lots of boats by the waters edge being unloaded, a couple were selling their fish catch. We went in search of a cold diet drink but it appears diet drinks are not popular here and we couldn’t find any. All roads leading off the harbour are up hill, I don’t remember this from the first time we visited in 2014, it is hot and the streets look shabby, buildings uncared for, traffic everywhere!

Suppose I had an idealised memory of the place but now I’m seven years older and not enjoying the trip. Everyone is wearing a mask! But wearing the mask all the time I am very hot but don’t take it off as there are a lot of people in close quarters here. Mike eventually chose a carton of cold pineapple juice to buy and I suggested we go home. We asked a police officer where we could catch the bus and he walked with us for a spell up the road until we got closer to the bus station.

The bus back to Grand Anse was chocked full, 16 people in a little transit, windows open, sweaty bodies practically sitting on top of each other, all wearing mask. Mike hit his head again whilst getting on the bus and then had his knee bashed by the seat in front of him when someone sat down so when we got off at Grand Anse he was having difficulty walking.

We went into the air conditioned shopping mall and Mike sat down for a rest whilst I checked out a designer clothes shop, window shopping! Rejuvenated by the pineapple juice and rest, we went in search of a taxi back to True Blue. Called in at the resort bakery, as it’s by the entrance to the resort, for ice cream mmmmmmm.

Finally back inside our air conditioned, freshly serviced, pod… Heaven!

Katie Crunch