Narine and Denise live on the island of Grenada. It's a small island in the Caribbean, just north of South America. On weekends, the girls go on picnics with their friends. Sometimes they ride their bikes to the beach, and sometimes they visit other places.

Once they went to Leaper's Hill, but that was a little spooky. Many people died at Leaper's Hill. You see, when Christopher Columbus discovered Grenada in 1498, Carib Indians lived there. The Indians lived peacefully for almost 200 years. Then in 1651, the French wanted to take control of the island. The Caribs fought very hard to save their island. However, there were a lot more French, and the French had better weapons. When the Carib Indians knew they were going to lose, they jumped from a high cliff. Everyone, even women and children, jumped from the cliff and died. Since then, the area has been called Leaper's Hill. Later (1783), the British took control of the island. Then, in 1974, Grenada became independent.

During the week, Narine and Denise work at the Spice Factory after school. Of course, it isn‘t really a factory. Spices are not assembled from different parts. Instead, they are harvested, dried, and packaged. For example, nutmeg must first be picked from the nutmeg trees, then it is dried in the shade, cracked out of the shell, and ground into a powder. Cinnamon is obtained from the under-bark of a cinnamon tree. The outer bark is scraped off, and the cinnamon is carefully peeled and collected.

Working in a spice factory could be pretty boring. Most of the time the girls simply sit at large tables and sort spices. But they really enjoy working at the factory because of the tourists. Narine and Denise have fun listening to the tourists when they ask "dumb" questions. For example, last week someone wanted to know if nutmegs grow under ground like peanuts! Doesnęt everyone know that nutmegs grow on trees?

The girls had a good laugh yesterday too. A man from Europe was flirting with them, and he asked if he could taste one of the cocoa beans. He knew it was used to make chocolate, and thought it would taste good. The girls almost died laughing when he spit it out because it was so bitter! It's amazing how little people from other countries know about growing nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon.

Today the girls are going on a picnic on Seven Sisters Trail. As they walk along the trail, they see seven beautiful waterfalls. They also hear some tourists talking about making snowmen when they get back to Canada. "You know," said Narine, "Maybe we shouldn't make fun of the tourists. After all, we wouldn't have a clue about how to make a snowman!"

Map of Grenada. Saint George's is the capital.