Hash # 737- Back After Dark...

Saturday was Bastille Day and in celebration the French community here in Grenada hosted the weekly hash at the Cabier Lodge in Crochu, St. Andrew. This was about a 45 minute to an hour drive from the SGU campus along the East Coast. In honor of Bastille Day, they requested that everyone come decked out in french colors and/or costumes to help them celebrate the day.

Obviously, we could not pass this up.

We pulled out the face paint and Nick and Marty ended up with the French flag covering their entire face, and I put smaller flags on my cheeks. We love any excuse to get dressed up ridiculously- and we were not the only ones, it was so much fun seeing everyone all done up French style!

SO many students decided to go this week and we could tell the bus was going to be packed as we sat and waited for the bus to pick us up from campus. It was late, as usual, so the crowd of students wishing to attend just kept growing, and growing, and growing. Finally, the bus arrived and it was literally a mad-dash to the bus. The good news = everyone made it in the bus. The bad news= we were standing, sitting on laps, sitting on the floor, and sitting 5-6 people per bench, when usually they sit 4.... YES the bus was packed to the gills with 45-50 students!

That fact alone made for an interesting ride. Marty was sitting by the driver who told him the whole time about how he had to drive the bus differently because it was so heavy... and if he messed up we would fall off the side of one of the cliffs and die. Thanks for the confidence boost there  Mr. Driver... but we made it there and back safely :)

The hash was a long one, with the runners trail being over 5 miles... and really closer to 6 for those of us who wandered down many a fake trail and ended up needing to retrace our steps. No joke, I think we ended up on the wrong trail at least 7 times... we just like to take the scenic route! 

We walked up hills, through rivers, by mini waterfalls, down rock ledges, trudged through mud, walked through an abandoned hotel, stopped and took a dip in the ocean, and much more! This hash literally had it all! Due to the combination of starting late, walking the runners trail, stopping to swim, and taking numerous wrong trails, we did not reach the end of the hash until around 7:15- 7:30pm- so yes, it was pitch black darkness outside for the last 45 minutes or so of our hash. Talk about upping the difficulty level a bit. We couldn't see anything, let alone tiny bunches of paper on the ground marking our trail. But at this point we could hear music and knew where we needed to end up, so that helped! But, lesson learned... we will always be armed with a flashlight in future, just in case! :)

Needless to say, we were exhausted, starving, and happy to see all the familiar faces at the end when we finally got there! What can we say... we just like to get the most adventure out of each hash as possible!

Waiting to catch the bus to the hash, all decked out in our French colors!!!

The  bus crammed full of students!!!! And this doesn't even show the 10 or so people sitting at the front!
The before is on the left, and the after on the right.

A few pictures of our adventures! The scenery was beautiful and the hash was challenging... we loved it!

Later today, I am going to get all the information and reading material to learn how to scuba dive!!! Eeek! Nick has been doing a ton of awesome dives, and they are currently giving a great group rate, so several of us are going to take the class together! Should be fun, and no better time to learn than 3rd term! :) Have I mentioned how much 3rd term rocks?