Friday was our last full day in Grenada. C had decided that in order to get any good snorkeling in we should go in the morning, so the three of us (:R: wasn’t interested) put on sunblock and rented equipment. I was amazed at how easy it was - I’d expected it to be much more difficult to breathe, but when I was in the water I just swam around and looked at the coral and the fish. It was a really cool experience! My mask was pinching my face, though, so after a while I treaded water and tried to fix it…but ended up loosening it instead, and even holding onto A for support I couldn’t get it back together. I was getting very nervous and panicky, so A patiently followed me as I doggie-paddled back to land; I’m very grateful to her for not sending me off on my own. I got out and stood on the beach for a little while, then fiddled with my mask and decided to go back in. I swam around a bit more and took some pictures with C’s underwater camera, then decided I’d had enough. While trying to climb ashore, I slipped on the coral and immediately felt sharp pain in my left ankle. I screamed (A later told me I’d worried some people relaxing on the beach), and had no idea if I’d cut myself or broken something. C was right beside me and was telling me to get out of the water; I was in a lot of pain and insisted I couldn’t, but he told me I had to. So I finally swam/crawled/hobbled along, clutching my left ankle, and what do you think happened then? Bingo! I slipped and cut my right ankle. I bawled again and dragged myself out of the water, barely remembering to make sure my bikini top wasn’t too revealing - it’s illegal to go topless in Grenada. I stumbled back toward the dive shack to return my snorkeling equipment (it was halfway around the resort from where I’d come ashore), and on the way I managed to peer at my ankles. I’d really done a number on the left one, which was quite bloody but hadn’t yet dribbled onto my water shoes. I paused to dab at it, and when I got to the dive shack and handed in my gear I asked if they had a first aid kit. The guy gave me the biggest band-aid he had (it wasn’t big enough) and some spray-on Bactine, but I had no freshwater to rinse it with. I sat in a chair outside the dive shack and patted it dry the best I could, trying to push the dirt out of the way. As I was finishing up, one of the braid ladies came up and offered to do my hair. I had been planning to get some braids done before leaving, but right then all I wanted to do was go back to my room and rinse my cuts a little better, then raid C’s first aid kit. The woman was very aggressive, though, and I ended up having my hair done on the spot. She did more than I wanted to - I’d asked for five on each side, which at $2/each used up the $20 I’d budgeted for having my hair braided - and I wound up with eight braids on the left and six on the right, a total of 14 for which I was charged $25. She’d promised to make the right side even with the left, so she cheated me out of two braids, but at least she made them even so it wouldn’t be too obvious. For dinner we went to the Brown Sugar Restaurant (which provided free transportation), which was wonderful. The prices were all-inclusive, which meant you got an appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert. I chose callaloo soup for my appetizer and ate my salad, but by the time my pumpkin ravioli arrived I was too full to eat more than one of them! They were delicious, I wish I had the recipe. I had the rest boxed up, of course. For dessert I chose what sounded like a delightfully unique cheesecake, only to find that the only dessert they had left was a chocolate cake I could have anywhere. I was grumpy about that, but got them to give me a free drink instead; I had another “Your Business Brown” which I think came in a bigger glass than the one I’d had at the beginning of the meal.

On Thursday I really started to feel like time was running out. I had seen some shops mentioned in a tourist brochure, so I’d been wanting to visit their respective shopping centers. A agreed to go with me, and we got up around 9:45 to head to breakfast. To our dismay, the International Restaurant was already closed, but they told us to go over to Spicer’s instead. I’d seen on the daily activity list that Spicer’s was open from 10am on, so I figured this would be fine, and we went back across the resort and up the long stairs. What did we find when we got there? No food! Apparently they wouldn’t actually open until noon. A and I were amazed that a resort that purports to be all-inclusive there’s a two-hour period when you can’t get any food. (The employees at Spicer’s suggested room service, which we of course couldn’t afford.) While we were trying to figure out what to do next, C showed up - he never eats breakfast anyway. A and I hadn’t put on sunblock for the day, so the three of us went back and chit-chatted while slathering ourselves with SPF-50. By the time we were done it was almost 11:30, so we hung out for another half-hour before going back to Spicer’s. I ran into astonishing ignorance from the staff there, who had apparently never met a vegetarian before. The cashier didn’t know anything, and when we asked the manager about a vegetarian sandwich he said he’d have to ask the cook. There was a long pause before A finally said “well then can you ask the cook?!” He went into the back for a while, and finally said they could make a cheese salad sandwich for me. I’ve never heard of “cheese salad” before, so I asked for just a plain cheese sandwich. No, they could give me cheese salad - okay, fine, I missed breakfast, I’m hungry, gimme the damn cheese salad sandwich! When it was finally brought to the table, it turned out to be a very nice sandwich: a couple of different types of cheese, plus some lettuce, a tomato slice, and dressing I couldn’t identify (probably just mayo) between two innocent pieces of white bread. It was rather tasty. While we were eating, A and I told C about our plan to go shopping. He didn’t have any other plans, but I could tell he didn’t want to come along. He was nice, though, and sucked it up because I admitted I would enjoy his company. The three of us headed to the lobby and a cab came quickly. (They always do - I think they must be somewhere on the resort grounds or something.) We went to Spiceland Mall first, and I picked up some trinkety souvenirs because I knew I wouldn’t have another chance to get them. There was a supermarket in the mall, so we got snacks there, and C stopped in at a fabric store to buy a blanket for the picnic we were planning that night. We next walked across the street to the Le Marquis Complex, which was utterly boring; we could have walked a little up the road to the Grand Anse Shopping Centre but it was hot and we were all sweaty, so we found a cab and went back to the resort. A little later on I was browsing through the pictures already in my camera, and suddenly I noticed some that were very dark, as if the flash hadn’t been on in a dimly lit room. After that were pictures of people I didn’t know - the cab driver’s family had taken pictures of each other with my camera! It was amusing, but at the same time I felt vaguely violated. Then again, I know I’m lucky to have the camera back at all. C and I tried to go snorkeling, but his mask broke and I had a terrible time trying to swim with my eyes squinched shut, one hand pinching my nose, and another holding the snorkel - I gave up and just frolicked while C swam around with his goggles on. He decided it was too dark to see anything, so we went back inside. Our picnic went nicely; we set up our blanket on the beach after dark and lit citronella incense to stick in the sand around us. We had pizza delivered (I had to go to the lobby to get it, which I did barefoot despite the “dress code” that claimed I should wear shoes in public areas; if you carry yourself properly nobody notices your feet), and we ate some of the snacks we’d picked up at the grocery store earlier. The snacks, incidentally, included some British food - Cadbury candy bars and little cookies called Go Ahead, of which I’d picked the forest-fruit variety. The mosquito population left us alone while we drank the rum/eggnog :R: had bought at the distillery the day before; I didn’t like it and handed my glass off to C.