I am a stiff honky

Today we went scuba diving. It was fun, a bit of an ordeal and Jaana was super brave to face water on the face which she did greatly. As we passed the initial instructions I went on to swim 10.8 (to be exact, I would have said 12, but Jaana is sitting next to me) meters down under. THIS JUST iN: it was just 10.6 meters, shes trying to stop me from writing it but in the life of a reporter like myself ( in the lineage of TinTin) the turuth must be told. I will refrain from correcting the word turuth in the previous sentence because it looks funny.

When you dive you need to equalise the pressure all the time by pushing air outh through your blocked nose, and it worked allright although I am now suffering from water in my ears. We saw a stingray as we swam which was way cool. If I can sort this ear thing out I will dive again.

After diving we went onto the Tyrell Beach which is full of garbage, as nobody here cleans up after themselves. These people live in paradise but they put their shit on the beach, which sucks in my opinion. So we headed back to Paradise beach and had a Carib at the hardwood cafe again and swam a couple of times before catching a bus back to Hillsburough.

I removed some garbage here.

We have had a good time, but we almost always do. I am so grateful that I can have Jaana at my side all the time.

In the words of Bill and Ted: "BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER"

Tomorrow we will be flying a tiny airplane back to Grenada, spend some time there on a beach before flying back to the Urrrky Knastdom

Over and out amigos,

Henrik

The young couple and the sea

Hello guys!

We arrived yesterday at Carriacou, which is a tiny island just north of Grenada. To get here, you ned to go on the osprey Ferry, which is LEGENDARY for its turbulent journey, since it passes right over an underwater volcano, and has the full force waves of the atlantic ocean hitting right at it when it leaves the protection of the islands.

The trip is 90 minutes, and rumour has it that everyone must barf during the trip since it is so seasickness-inducing. I had my doubts about this, since 90 minutes seemed too short to really start feeling sick, but everyone kept telling us how terrible it was. Both online and in the flesh..

Mike gave us a ride down to the ferry, and after boarding Jaana took her travel sickness pills and offered me one.

"I don't think I need it"

"I wont feel sorry for you when you start throwing up!"

"I think it is exaggerated"

"Its your choice, but its gonna be bad!"

I hesitated, and then took the pill although I dont like drugs for silly things.
The ferry took off.

The sun was blazing, the tropical ocean glittering, and an LA filmcrew was sunbathing next to us, on their way to the next location shot. The sea was calm as a pool.

Jaana: "We'd better get under deck now, as we may not be able to walk with our rucksacks on soon"

Henrik "It is super nice here now! Lets stay for 5 minutes, if things start going bad, then we will go."

Jaana (slightly disapproving) "allright.."

45 minutes later...




The filmteam is drinking Heineken, and the rastamen are sunbathing on the deck. A gentle breeze provides a natural air conditioning. In the distance the grenadines pass by us. A dolphin jumps out of the sea as it travels alongside the ship.

The waves are on par with the Canal in Malmö.

Jaana: "We should go down now, soon we will leave the protection of the islands and then the waves will hit us with full force!"

Henrik: "If you go down now, I will come when it starts getting rocky, is that cool?"

She decides to stay.

Half an hour later the ship glides into the Carriacou harbour, and boy was I glad I had taken that travel sickness pill. I dont think I could have coped with so much luxury travelling otherwise.

Jaana: "Normally I think it is a really terrible trip."




After this nightmare we hooked up with a taximan who took us around the island, dropped our bags at the hotel and then headed for Paradise beach. We had some food and a drink at the hardwood cafe, then walked down the beach (no one there! There are just a handful of people on this island and we can get some peace here!)




We took a gentle swim, and walked onwards. A shed on the beach boasted "Banana Joes Restaurant Bar" and we had a drink with some rastamen. They were nice, but annoying in my eyes becase they could not stop talking. Obviously they were very stoned, and kept going on about how they respected us. Fair enough, but they don't know us, do they?

Personally my own index level 100 means I respect anyone until they start behaving badly, so there is not much need to talk about it. It's like if you keep wanting to tell people that you respect them, does it imply that there are loads of people you disrespect?




Anyway we managed to get out of their rasta-hand-shakes eventually, and went back to the hotel when we enjoyed the Swedish tropical lifestyle, which I will now let Jaana tell you about:

We had some really nice cocktails in the bar, and for dinner we teamed up with a Yorkshire couple who were also staying here. We avoided the mosquitos at night being enclosed in a mosquito net hanging over the bed, and it was weird to take in the feeling of being in the tropics surrounded by little Swedish things. Such as the "string" shelves above our bed, IKEA-towels, a "dalahäst" in the bathroom, and a Swedish coffee tray in the restaurant at breakfast, reading "Ta en kaka till!" And the Caribbean salad I had for dinner was flavoured with dill. Henrik thinks it is the Superior Lifestyle.

My Left Foot

Hi guys.



Today the sun hit us in a big way. Luckily my foot, which has been looking like it was about to rot and fall off is better. I scratched a mosquito bite until it burst and then accidentally got mosquito repellant in it and it hurt in another Big Way. I tried swimming with two plastic bags sealed to my foot but they took in water bigtime and I ended up dragging about 4 litres of salty water stinging my wound back up OUT OF the water with me and it was another two minutes before I could dislodge the salty contraption. The whole thing was really rather funny if it hadn't been for the cosmic pain of wound-trapped-in-bag-of-salt-pain.



We took a trip into Grenville and got a tour of a nutmeg factory today, which was pretty cool. All the factories here are like a trip back to the 1700's. All made of wood, and people still do most of the work manually. The guide yesterday excitedly told us about the electrical machine they now had that could peel the cocoa beans "All by itself" so now they do not have to dance on the beans for 2 hours a day anymore, although it sounds like fun to dance on the beans, I think it would get a bit long-wound if you had to do it every day. But of course Ganja grows wild here. Business models like this will have a hard time to compete internationally if they ever would like to build a functioning infra structure here though. But I am also thinking that they may not really NEED much of an infra structure since it is so warm and you can get an abundance of food for free in the forest.



From the city we went deep into the rain forest, and took a hike around a crater lake, which is a volcano that just filled up with rain. It was muddy. It was warm. There were invisible monkeys we could hear but not see. Lushness-a-plenty and greenery all over. Like living in a greenhouse. Like the guide yesterday said: "If you go into de fields, you will meet all de different kinds of mango". I like that he chose the word "meet" about fruit.



After the trek we went up to a cafe and had a very good cup of local tea and met a monkey who played really hard to get, even though he was begging for food. He was unimpressed with my offering of cheddar crisps and chose a banana peel instead, I guess he knows what is healthier.



Then we went back here to the Cabier and chilled in the afternoon, Rays hitting us with Force now. I had my final lecture with my Animation mentor who thought it was a lot of fun to have one of the pupils coming in live from the caribbean, live with palmtrees and waves in the background. More and more animation work is being done remotely so maybe I will be able to settle on a cheap island eventually and just work over the net. I hope so, since the charm of London is almost nonexistent unless you're a moneyman raking home the millions in the City. Then again those fool seem not to exit the game after they have accumulated the 5 millions needed to live a good life anywhere without working, but just live out their lives in Grayland without any real existential connection. Even more boring than political people in my humble opinion.

Anyway, I will let Jaana say a few words now:

Well, I don't know if there is a lot to add, other than that tonight is our last night at Cabier (and Grenada), since tomorrow we will be heading to the smaller island of Carriacou.



Considering how laid back Grenada is, it is really funny that everyone is saying that Carriacou is REALLY quiet. We will catch the ferry for Carriacou tomorrow, which apparently gets everyone seasick, since the route goes over an active underwater volcano by the name of "Kick 'em Jenny". Fortunately I brought some travel sickness pills. And when we get there, we will check in to the Green Roof Inn, a guesthouse owned by Swedes. So if their internet connection works as it should, we will report more tomorrow. Until then, take care everyone and please write a comment if you like!

Jaana Time

Today's blogger: Jaana

So we woke up today to the sound of pouring rain, which lasted for about an hour, and which made Henrik think of catching a plane back to London, since we are obviously cursed getting snow in the Death Valley and nothing but grey skies and rain in the Caribbean. A bit later it stopped though, and we sat outside experiencing the weird fact of seeing shadows on the ground and getting tanned with the sun still being behind the clouds.



After lunch we joined the girls we met here in their rental jeep for a trip to Grenada Chocolate Company. We stopped on the way in Grenville, which is the largest "town" on the east coast, to exchange some money and to have something to eat.



Then we headed for the chocolate company, but asking for directions, it all got mixed up with the cocoa station, which is something completely different. Fortunately we had a good map, since there are almost no road signs and the road can suddenly look really confusing so you don't know where to go. All the locals however are extremely friendly and helpful, and if you look lost they just do their best to try and help you. Driving in Grenada would actually require a whole chapter of its own, with different types of hand signs and beeping when you overtake, getting a beep in return from the car you overtake etc. The busses (which are minibusses in any colour) all have extremely funny names, such as: "Humble", "Full participation", "Rolling 2 a higher level" and so on.

When we finally reached our destination, the chocolate company was closed for construction work, but instead we took a tour of nearby Belmont estate, which is where the chocolate company get their cocoa beans from. The estate buys cocoa beans from the farmers, and then ferment them, dry them, separate the bean from the shell, and sell them on.



Tonight we are going to have a spice bath under the stars (or probably the cloudy skies) with a rumpunch and some music.

Blow me!

Hi guys,

It is warm here. I have never really experienced a strong wind that is not call before. As usual we get rain and cloudy skies, which we manage to get if we go into the desert or anywhere, but at lest here it is the Tropics so it is more normal. It doesnt really matter that much since it is so warm though.

The guesthouse is lovely, and we've hooked up with some lovely girls here and rented a Jeep together and have been travelling around the island.

People here are loitering. Some think it is very charming, and there is definetley that side to it, specially after I nearly worked myself to death in London just before we left, but it is also a bit miserable. It is because they are like this they could easily be colonized by neurotic europeans. Truth may lie somewhere inbetween, the balanced state is neither chillin' from '93 to infinitee nor Rule Britannia.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Blog? Yes, Blog!

Calypso Medley



Well it's not actually a tour, just a couple of days on three islands in the south of the Caribbean. Namely, the plan (who knows what will really happen in the future anyway?) is to fly into Grenada on the 25th, spend some days there, then by small plane or ferry to go on to small Carriacou for a couple of days, then out to tiny Sandy Island (which is cool because it is uninhabited, and probably sandy) then back to Grenada again before we need to get back home to the Underacheiving Kingdom.

Now, I have put a ton of links in below:

Here is a link to a Google Map of Grenada and Carriacou. And here is your Wikipedia link for Grenada & Carriacou. And here is a pretty funny clip of a really keen guide to Grenada. They have electricity! And cable TV!

On Grenada we will be staying in the Cabier Lodge, which is very isolated, on the eastern side of the island. Which is perfect since we both want this holiday to be a rehab from London.

On Carriacou we will be staying in a place called the Green Roof Inn, which is run by Swedes, so that immediatly indicates quality. They asked us to bring some candles, as they ran out. Seems they have more rum than wax on the island, which seems a fair trade.








We're hoping to do some scuba diving which we've have never done though Henrik has meant to try it for the past 10 years. And Jaana has just decided to combat the fear of water-on-face (aqua-vultus-phobia?) not to miss out on the coral reefs.

I hope to try the Barracuda at the Green Roof restaurant. Check out this review by the Times!

Apart from this we do not intend to do much at all apart from practicing zazen, and sampling the rum.

We hope to keep you posted here with fresh pictures, videos and other content-rich experiences as the days go by. Please drop us a line in the comments section, as it is so much fun to hear from you guys!

Uh-uh, 4 real. You don't fuck around at getting killed!

Over and out