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Lauriston Airport, Carriacou at 8 a.m.
Grenadian flag mural, Petite Martinique.
Sandy Island, off Carriacou, on the day of foot injuries and sunburn.
Sunset from Green Roof Inn. I can't figure out if this is the best or the kitschiest photo I've ever taken. Um, it's probably both.
Before I get completely sidetracked, I want to get in a quick post on Airport Inn in Piarco, Trinidad. Getting to Carriacou from New York required two plane changes—one in Trinidad and one in Grenada. We opted to overnight both coming and going in Trinidad. Because Port of Spain is quite a haul from the Trinidad airport and in light of our inbound itinerary (an evening arrival into Trinidad and a very early departure to Carriacou the next day) we researched hotels in the immediate vicinity of the airport.
We were lucky to come up with Airport Inn. Doubles run $90 (singles $70 and triples $105) and the rate includes airport transfer and breakfast. The inn is run by Sita Singh, a very friendly tourism industry veteran who is happy to share Trinidad tips and information. Rooms are super spotless, and the airport is a three-minute drive away. The route to the airport is even walkable, though the road wasn't designed with pedestrians in mind.
I'd recommend Airport Inn to anyone with an early morning flight from Piarco.
In the English-language travel and lifestyle media, Colombia doesn't get a lot of play. In fact, it's been regarded for years and years now as something of a no-go zone. You can go right ahead and blame violence and kidnapping.
Given this background, I was interested to note the splashy attention given Colombia in the April issues of both Monocle and Wallpaper. The former covers the property outlook in Cartagena's El Centro 'hood, while Wallpaper churns out a 14-page feature on Bogotá.
A coincidence, perhaps, but I'll be surprised if travel forecasting types don't chat a bit more about Colombia over the next year.
I've written about the incredible Green Roof Inn on Carriacou a few times over the past week. Located in Carriacou's Sea View district about a 10-minute walk north of Hillsborough, Green Roof overlooks the sea and is surrounded by a garden. Its aesthetic is simple and inviting. There are no televisions or telephones in rooms, but there are good firm beds and an appealing mix of modern and antique furniture pieces, as well as robust fans and mosquito nets. Also lovely are the inn's shared spaces, in particular the courtyard and the restaurant veranda, the latter offering stunning sunset views.
The hotel's rates are very affordable, with the one single going for $40 and doubles starting at $70. The hotel's restaurant is quite lovely (see my previous post for some food notes) though it's not exactly a bargain, with three courses running EC$98 ($37). There are also two quaint cottages on the property, which go for $120 per night. Grenadian taxes are low by regional standards at just 8 percent.
The hotel is operated by a Swedish family who were actually on holiday for most of our stay. The permanent local staff were friendly and helpful and full of interesting bits of information about Carriacou. And lastly—I'll admit that I haven't really worked this formula out—there's also something to be said for the effects of good will among guests at a small hotel. I loved chatting in particular with the Grenadian-British family whose visit at Green Roof Inn overlapped with ours.
Green Roof Inn is refreshing because it offers clean, attractive rooms at rates that are manageable for a great many travelers. It's perfect for visitors who love the Caribbean but find nightly hotel rate averages throughout much of the region to be terrifying. In short, Green Roof Inn is a budget traveler's dream.
I always feel melancholy when it's time to leave a beautiful place, especially a beautiful island. Today is no exception. It's almost time to gather our things and make our way to the Carriacou airport. We'll fly first to Grenada and then to Trinidad, where we'll overnight before returning to New York tomorrow.
Yesterday we took a water taxi to Sandy Island, an arc of perfect beach not far offshore from Hillsborough. The sea has been turbulent these last few days and our six hours on Sandy Island were a bit wild. To begin with, the waves were hyperactive and unpredictable. In addition, the sloped beach was covered with rocks that moved violently with each wave. This made getting into the water a bruising affair. We soon mastered the art of careful entries and quick exits in order to avoid foot and ankle injuries, but the whole thing was a bit more extreme than we'd expected.
On Thursday we journeyed to Petite Martinique, an island presented by guidebooks as an idyllic backwater. In truth, it's not the most interesting place for a day trip from Carriacou. The beach is a working one, devoted to boatbuilding, and the town is very small. If we had a few weeks on Carriacou, Petite Martinique would have been an obvious excursion. But given the five nights we had here, it was probably not the best use of our time. It's all relative, of course.
Forgive the lack of organization in this post. We've eaten well here on Carriacou. At a shack along the beach near the Hillsborough jetty, Cuthbert Snagg served us lobster one night and kingfish on another night, both incredible, and in a gorgeous lantern-lighted setting, to boot. (Snagg also ferried us to both Anse La Roche and Sandy Island.) Sea Wave Restaurant in the heart of Hillsborough also served us some good hearty meals, including roti, and delicious nutmeg ice cream. At Green Roof Inn, where we've been staying, the breakfasts have been lovely, the coffee strong, and the dinners delicate and wonderful. Last night's gravad kingfish in dill mustard sauce was especially delicious. And I can't neglect to mention Patty's Deli. The deli packed us a great picnic lunch yesterday for our Sandy Island adventure.
under your skin, and others don't. Carriacou is turning out to be one of the former for me. The beaches (Paradise Beach near the airport and Anse La Roche on the northern end, to which we traveled in a water taxi) are outstanding. People are initially reserved yet very friendly. We've had great grub, lots of fresh chicken and some roti and lobster. Green Roof Inn is my favorite type of hotel. It's simple and gorgeous with singles starting at $40 and doubles at $70, located just north of Hillsborough, Carriacou's capital.
Today we're headed to Petite Martinique, an even smaller island north of Carriacou that grazes the maritime border with SVG.
After a short night at a fantastic little inn near the airport in Piarco, Trinidad (about which more later), we took two prop planes to Carriacou (via Grenada) for our five-night idyll. We're staying at the Green Roof Inn, a breezy, casual, friendly place on the edge of Hillsborough. I feel like a "live blogging" dork so I'll stop, but I will say that Carriacou is a quiet island with all sorts of quaint, atmospheric corners. And also the breeze at this exact moment is gorgeous. We're about to leave for a beautiful beach south of Hillsborough for a lazy day and (hopefully) some roti from a beachside shack. Wish us luck.
1. Is it just me or does Ryanair appear to be in constant sale mode? Last weekend I eyed the airline's midnight Monday deadline for "free" flights, then watched as the airline hawked a fare sale ending midnight Thursday. Now we've got another free fare sale to contend with, this one finishing up on Monday at midnight.
2. Is it just me or is Alphabeat the best band ever? The Danish seven-member band are rocking the UK right now with their song "Fascination," which reminds me of the Go-Gos, or of what might have happened in 1984 if a bunch of Brits had tried to merge the Go-Gos' California vibe with some synthesizer action. I like "Boyfriend," another of Alphabeat's songs, even more than their current UK single.
3. I'll be on a true holiday this Sunday through next, in Trinidad and Grenada, though I am hoping that a publication or two will emerge from the jaunt. I will make a sincere effort to crank a few blog posts out next week but I might just be too relaxed to force myself to sit in front of a screen before returning home.
Sometimes my exciting friends do exciting things. My friend Staffan Martikainen, with whom I've exchanged emails on various subjects for years now, is one such friend; Porcupine, the business he jointly runs, is one such thing.
Porcupine is an online shop selling home furnishings and other beautiful items, most of which come from West Africa. For those, like me, who have had little exposure to contemporary designs and objects from the countries in question, the items for sale are an aesthetic revelation. Some stand-out items for sale on Porcupine include game boards from Ethiopia, baskets from Mali, papier-mâché bowls from South Africa, plastic mats and beach bags from Senegal, and wooden frames from Togo. Products from Ethiopia, Mali, and Senegal are particularly well represented on the site.
Porcupine operates out of Brussels, where company co-owners Martikainen, a translator, and Jarmo Pikkujämsä, a doctoral student in African Literature, live. Both have spent a great deal of time traveling and establishing friendship networks in Africa, particularly in West Africa. The two observed how few of the beautiful objects they came across on their travels could be found outside Africa. After exhausting their friends' appetites for souvenirs, they set up Porcupine.
Most of the objects sold on the site are sourced directly from the craftspeople or producers themselves. "Basically, we try to avoid too many intermediaries," Martikainen tells me, "and in most cases we pay without haggling, unlike most resellers." The company is very small. Accordingly, obtaining official fair trade certification for every product is beyond the proprietors' means, though there are some fair trade certified items on the site that have been purchased from associations that operate with the certification. "Ideally, we'd like to promote cooperatives, women, charities and so on, but we don't compromise. We need to like the articles themselves."
I especially like the modern items for sale on the site, like the handmade rubber toiletries bag from Senegal, which is priced at €14. When I told Martikainen how much I like these modern objects, some of which refashion recycled materials, he went on an illuminating tear: "What we are primarily interested in is everyday objects which have a practical use, produced for a local African market," items constructed out of traditional and modern materials alike.
Martikainen's last word: "One of our missions is to get people to stop associating Africa with (1) colonial style and hunting trophies and (2) masks and statues that are mass produced just for the tourist trade, in many cases with no links to local tradition. There will never be any masks for sale on Porcupine."
When we travel, we get used to the standard treatment, whatever it is. An extra or a perk is any service or good that departs from the norm. The problem here is that once we get used to the extra at hand it no longer seems like an extra. Those little "Snooze Kits" that JetBlue hands out are a perfect example. After a few cross-country jaunts you begin to expect them and they no longer seem like a perk. In fact, they seem like a wasteful extravagance. If you're like me, you're just going to try to do a little work, drink selzer to stay hydrated, and flip between the Live Map and noxious political talk shows all night, anyway, so you don't really need the kit.
But that first time they're extra special.
Here's another example of a very appealing perk. Last month on a very brief morning flight between Martinique and Guadeloupe on Air Caraïbes, flight attendants handed out croissants wrapped in napkins. The croissants weren't very good, but I didn't really care. It was such an unexpected act with such local significance, and I was starving and needed to fill my stomach.
And another. Last summer I took a 5 a.m. express bus from Skopje to Belgrade. Once we crossed into Serbia the bus attendant made her way through the bus and handed out buttered pieces of bread and orange drinks. A little snack was the last thing I expected, and it was fully appreciated. Plus a dubbed version of Are We There Yet? played. Until you've seen Ice Cube and Nia Long banter in Serbian, you haven't lived.
