Monday, October 6, 2008

The 600th Hash!

Saturday, October 4, 2008
The Grenada Hash House Harriers celebrate their 600th hash!
It's as though Mother Nature knows we are going hashing. After weeks of dry weather, Grenada was deluged with rain Friday night and Saturday morning. If it was any other hash we probably would have skipped it. But it's the 600th! We have to go be with the crowds, hash, drink beer and get our commemorative T-shirt.
The drive to the forested area of Petite Etang was breathtaking. Grenada is a beautiful island. When we arrived at the race site we could see that the road and the area around the beer and food tents was a sea of mud. No doubt in Jim's mind that he would be hashing. Lots of doubt in Wendy's mind. You'll remember from our last hash update that I vowed to never do another muddy hash! In honor of the 600th celebration there were 3 trails to choose from, a walkers, a runners and an Iron Man. Mike (Jacumba) decided to tackle the iron man, Jim and Renee the runners' trail and I stuck with the walkers'.

Here's Jim hanging out at the beer tent prior to the hash. Notice the mud!
Walkers heading out at the start. This part of the trail was beautiful and I found myself saying "if it could just all be like this." Then it hit me. It can! I decided right then that I really wasn't up for sloshing through the mud. What I wanted was a beautiful hike through the countryside. So that's what I did. I walked out the trail for about 15 minutes and then doubled back. Then I walked down the road a bit and then back up to where the race finished. It was beautiful, peaceful and I thoroughly enjoyed the solitude.


Here's Jim coming up the trail to the finish. He was running through a muddy area when he stepped in a hole and slipped, catching himself with his hand as he fell. He came down pretty hard and pulled something in his right shoulder. He cannot lift his arm above his head. Looks like he has a long recuperation ahead of him.

Jim, Renee and Mike with their incentive to run, an ice cold Carib at the finish. If it could only be this big!

There was plenty of food to go along with the beer. Grilled chicken or the traditional "Oil Down" were the fare of the day.

I think we're done hashing for awhile (Jim just read this and says he's not done). Jim needs to let his shoulder rest and we'll be leaving Grenada in about a month. But we hear they hash in Antigua so who knows!

Otherwise things have been quiet here. We play dominoes occassionally, go to the occassional happy hour with other cruisers or out for pizza. We've been at the sports bar alot lately watching the Milwaukee Brewers in the play-offs but that ended yesterday with their loss to the Phillies. Friends who spent the season in Trinidad are starting to work their way back this way so we're looking forward to seeing all of them. Life in Grenada continues to be good!