In September 2013, there was a PEPFAR funded conference for
all Peace Corps Volunteers in the Eastern Caribbean concerning gender-based
violence. For volunteers serving in St.
Vincent, we got to travel to Grenada for the conference. Since we already had
our flights paid for by the Peace Corps some of us decided to stay an extra few
days to visit other volunteers and see part of Grenada. Unfortunately, we could
not stay as long as we wanted due to some policy changes concerning vacation
time.
Nonetheless, Grenada was amazing. It was much like St Vincent. People were nice and friendly but it was just
a bit more developed. In order of
increasing development and decreasing hospitality I would rank the countries in
the following order: St. VincentàGrenadaàDominicaàSt. Lucia. I would rank
Grenada and Dominica equally. People
there were very helpful and friendly, however, it was more developed than St.
Vincent. St. Vincent has the friendliest and most welcoming people, in my
opinion, but that’s probably because I live here, but is the least
developed. While, St Lucia is
considerably more developed, I find people there to not be as helpful or warm
and welcoming. Grenada was a nice
medium.
This applies to the bus experience as well. In St. Vincent every van has a conductor
which is responsible for alerting the driver of stops to pick up/drop off
passengers, collecting money and helping passengers with packages and bags or
small children. However, it is rather difficult to identify the correct van
going to the village you want to travel to, as there are no labels, only van
names. In addition, the vans tend to be very overcrowded sometimes holding as
many as 21 passengers in a 14-passenger van.
Most times you must be a contortionist to ride in a van.
In St. Lucia there are no conductors at all, which slows down
the process significantly, as drivers need to make change and cant drive at the
same time. It is also more difficult
when you are traveling with large/heavy bags (as I most often am when I am in
St. Lucia). While the vans are marked
for easy identification of routes, they also usually play no music. In St. Lucia they are strict on the number of
passengers they carry. Hardly ever more
than 14.
Grenada was kind of a mix of the two. Sometimes there were conductors, sometimes
there weren’t. There was a very orderly and organized bus terminal, something
that St. Vincent is lacking entirely. Some vans played music and some had
names, while others didn’t. Some had no problem helping us with our luggage
while others insisted we could not travel on a van with it, which is crap
because we had already been traveling a few days on numerous vans with all our
bags. Grenada also has nicely paved roads and a road that goes all the way
around the island, unlike St. Vincent.
Additionally, there is a road that goes through the interior (which vans
don’t run on). This road and surrounding
areas reminded me a lot of most of St. Vincent.
In St. Vincent, since there is a conductor, you alert the
conductor as to where you are getting off.
The conductor in turns uses a system of clicks from the door handle to
communicate to the driver that the van will be stopping. In St. Lucia, a passenger simply yells “Stopping
Please” to the driver. In Grenada, the
passenger knocks on the ceiling to alert the driver of their bus stop. Each island has its own system that works for
them. It’s interesting to see the
differences and similarities.
Over the Easter holiday 2014, I traveled to Dominica. Unfortunately/fortunately, I had the pleasure
of having a friend from the States join me who rented a vehicle. Therefore, I did not get to experience the
bus system in Dominica. However, Dominica is approximately twice the size of St.
Vincent with half the population. This
means, that communities are much more spread out. It is rather difficult to travel in Dominica.
Buses are far and few in between. Most
people have vehicles or hitchhike. Dominica has the most amazing roads I have
seen in a very long time. They were
recently paved with no potholes, every one, rural or not had lines and
reflectors. There was adequate signage
denoting speed limits or other road hazards.
These are all things that are lacking in St. Vincent.
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