This is gonna be a long one . . . and it's only part one.
My brothers Chris, Jordan, and Tim came to visit us on July 4. When they arrived, I demanded that they change into their swimming suits and we went to BBC beach. On the way over, a spring above one of our car tires broke, so we had to drive on it as little as possible for the rest of the week while our mechanic tried to find the right part to fix it. Oh, Grenada. Thanks for keeping me on my toes . . . always. At the beach, we snorkeled around a bit and found a starfish. We went back home and had a 4th of July dinner of burgers, watermelon jello, and ice cream sandwiches.
Meanwhile, my parents were at West Point, singing their hearts out (my dad's in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) and watching probably the coolest firework show ever over that gorgeous river. Way to one-up us, Mom and Dad. You're the cool ones, we get it.
The next day, we all went to church together. We got to hear from lots of locals and have a very humid experience. Gotta love that church view, though.
We also went for a little walk and made a video for our parents. The sound didn't work, so we did some pretty weird voice-overs. We're hilarious.
That evening, we took a super sketchy taxi ride to the north side of the island to see a sea turtle lay her eggs. The taxi ride was probably one of the highlights of the week for my brothers, but for me, it was mostly just one continuous prayer that we wouldn't die. It was definitely one of those Grenadian experiences I'll never forget! Crazy speeds on narrow, winding roads, up through the rain-forest.
Seeing the sea turtle was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. Leatherback sea turtles are really big and really heavy. The one we saw laid 107 eggs, and then took an hour to bury them and make her way back out to sea. Our tour guide let us touch her and everything. Once she finally made her way out to sea, we turned to go back to our taxi, but all of a sudden we were surrounded on all sides by tiny, adorable, freshly hatched baby sea turtles from a different nest making their way out to sea, too! We just stood there without moving for 15 minutes while they scrambled around us so we wouldn't accidentally crush any. Ah, the circle of life. That was on our anniversary, and it was unforgettable.
The next day, we took a taxi bus downtown to the spice market (I think--the days kind of blur together)
Straight off the taxi, a sneaky Grenadian named Randy started walking with and talking to us, all friendly like. I knew what he was up to, so I asked for his number and said if we ever wanted a tour we'd let him know, but for now we had plans. He smiled and nodded, and then just kept walking with us. Next thing we knew, we were being given a tour of downtown. It was enlightening, but after like an hour of that, I tipped him and we kind of ran away so we could do our own thing and buy some spices and souvenirs. On our way home, I lost my phone in a city taxi. TIG.
That evening, we tricked Jared into hanging out with us at Grand Anse beach (he mostly sulked on the side while we played because he forgot to bring his study materials with him--poor baby), and then we got some dinner at Umbrella's.
