Michael and I joined Jim (S/V Evergreen) who showed us which buses to catch to take one of our alternators up to Gouyave. Gouyave is a fishing village on the Northwest side of the Island. The bus ride was a scenic trip along the west coast that wove along a ridge overlooking small bays and nooks of houses and smaller villages. I will elaborate in another post to give you a more detailed description of a normal public bus ride in Grenada as it warrants an entry all its own. We arrived in Gouyave and found Al Bernadine’s Shop. Every nook and table was covered with either spare parts, or stacks of catalogs. It was difficult to conceive how anyone could find anything. Jim had told us about Al and couldn’t say enough good things about him. Jim was picking up a Starter that Al had machined to make the replacement parts that were not quite the right size work like a dream. He took our alternator and placed in on what appeared to be an antiquated machine and looked at the simple set of dials and meters and told us that what was causing our overcharging problem was just a loose connection. He said it would not take him long to fix, so we went for a walk while he worked his magic. As we walked along the main road the intoxicating smell of Nutmeg drew us to one of the Islands Nutmeg processing centers is located in Gouyave. Mike and I took a quick 15 minute tour of the facility. The nutmeg is brought in by the farmers who separate fruit and the Mace(red lacy covering) from the nutmeg. It is then spread on drying racks and once dry will keep up to 10 years if not hulled, once hulled it will keep up to 3 years. From the drying racks it is hulled and then sorted by hand and bagged for shipment. We stopped for a bite to eat at a location where we saw many of the locals enjoying lunch. The Roti was delicious and the beer was ice cold. We made our way back to Al’s shop and picked up our now working Alternator, we told him we would have him repair our spare alternator as well and when we asked him what we owed him he told us we could settle up with him after he fixed the other one. The trust and friendly attitude of Al is not uncommon to many of the locals on the Island and is delightful to encounter. He has our gratitude, our business and a glowing recommendation from us to anyone with a starter or alternator issue.
Living the Dream 