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?

Hash #736 torture... I mean, fun!

Yesterday we went on a Hash that took place in Beaulieu, St. George, and was far from an easy hike. The terrain was steep and muddy which resulted to a lot of time spent on our bottoms sliding down the hill- sometimes intentionally, usually unintentionally.

It was so much fun!

The hash was different from others because it literally went in a big circle. We had further challenges due to our wonderful new french friends who thought it'd be fun to lead us down fake trails and all over the place... we may or may not have been lost for a little bit! Nick and I took a wrong turn somewhere on our own and after about 200 yards realized we were not on a trail but rather in almost shoulder high weeds... ooops!

Hashing continues to be one of my favorite things to do on the island, and I am hoping that we can squeeze in as many as possible during 3rd term! It is a great way to see the island and meet so many seriously awesome people! This hash was definitely exhausting and my body is sore as can be today, but just when we thought we were going to die, we approached the end and low and behold there was a rainbow!! Pretty cool sight to see at the end of a really challenging hike :)

On-On!

It was quite a muddy hash, we were covered from head to toe!

 Here is a link of to a video a fellow hasher put together of this hash! It really gives you a good feel for what a hash really is!

Hashing! On-on!

Nick, Jessica, Mark, and I officially completed our first hash! Hashing is a hike that takes place somewhere on the island, where hundreds of people (locals, students, visitors, and children) all participate.  It is a huge event, that takes place world-wide! We were very excited to be able to participate in our first hash, and the experience did not disappoint! Every aspect of hashing was pretty awesome.  There is no way that I can even begin to describe how amazing and fun of an experience that is in this blog post, so the best thing I can say is to go out and experience it for yourself. You will not regret it.

Nick and I started out our first hashing experience in a rather unique way.  We have not yet mastered the bus schedule here so we missed the 12:45pm bus and much to our dismay realized the next bus would not be arriving until 2:00 pm.  This was very unfortunate because we were supposed to meet the group in downtown St. George at 1:30 to head to the hash.... so that being said, we really had one option... to walk.  In our minds, while this was not ideal, it was not overly hard either. We'd walked to our friend's house, which was on the way, so we figured we could make it and still get to downtown on time. Well, let me just say it was NOT a short walk. It was around 4-5 miles (from the University Club in Lance Aux Epines to the the Texico for those of you on the island!), in blistering sun and heat. nice. Nothing like a 4-5 mile walk before hashing-- nice little warm up! We were super worried we would miss the bus in downtown but luckily Grenada time worked in our favor and we made it!!

The hash that we participated took place in St. Marks, which is one of the highest points on the island.  Although, the drive was long (over an hour) it was worth it, and it was fun to be able to see different towns and parts of the ocean along the way.  We lucked into grabbing a van with some wonderful British people because they had extra space and saved us from the side of the road where we were desperately trying to catch a bus to the hash! The starting point on the hash was unbelievably gorgeous!! The hike itself was about 1.5 hours long, and you  may chose to either run or walk.  We chose to walk, and I was really glad we did. 1) because this girl is NOT in running shape, and 2) because it allowed us to go at our own pace and stop and take pictures and enjoy the scenery whenever we wanted! The way hashing works is that after you decide which trail you wish to follow (the walkers trail or runners trail) then you follow piles of shredded paper that point you in the right direction. Piles of shredded paper mean you are going the right way, a circle of paper means there are several different trails and you have to find the right one by picking a trail and hoping you can go about 10 piles of paper without finding a paper X meaning you went the wrong way and need retrace your steps back to the circle to try another path.  It's really fun, I'll post a link at the end of this that will break down the rules a little more! Upon finishing the hash, you end up back at the starting point, where there are tents filled with food, drinks, and basically an after party! It was really very, very cool! 

This link describes hashing and the rules, so if you like hiking take a look! It is a great way to explore the island (or any place you are visiting that participates in hashing! Seriously, it is world-wide, and something I will def look into when I travel from now on)  http://grenadahash.com/hash-faqs

View from the has starting point

Pretty eh?

The 4 hashing champs

Fresh Coca

Climbing up some big rocks! 

Cool!

Bamboo!

Pretty!!

We successfully completed our 1st hash!