Grenada Explorer Tip:Stamps from Grenada

Postcards are part of any holiday, aren't they?
There are plenty of places in Grenada that sell them, and there is sort of choice you expect from a Caribbean destination. Beaches, waterfalls, boats, sunsets, and, this being Grenada, nutmegs. Now all you have to worry about is whether you'll get home before they arrive. (Yes: it is worth sending them early.) And, of course, where to post them. Post boxes are few and far between, well concealed, and the little post offices are not all on the tourist beaten track, and do not all look as it they work. (But they do)

And what of stamps?

You'll need them, of course. For postcards to anywhere in the world, one EC (=East Caribbean) dollar. For letters, the cost varies according to destination. Many places that sell cards also stock stamps.

What I am recommending this month is that you don't just buy the first stamps you are offered, but that you go in search of special issues. I have come to the conclusion that the beauty of a country stamps is in inverse proportion to the size of the country. Grenada is no exception to this rule. We have set after set of delightful special stamps, in addition to the standard ones, which are themselves too pretty to take for granted.

It would be foolish of me to predict what you will find: obviously, special issues come and go. But there are nearly always sets of fish, flowers, butterflies, and shells available. The sheets of millennium special stamps are superb. There have been sets of ships, and mushrooms.

A look at Grenada's special stamps is less like a visit to the post office, more like a cameo of a natural history museum or an art gallery in miniature.

You will also find stamps that have less to do with Grenada or the wider Caribbean. Some seem positively incongruous. Railways of the world have been featured. So have Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, the Carry On films, Hollywood stars, the Three Stooges, cats, dogs, horses, nursery rhymes. The current Chinese horoscope is always in evidence: there are some very fetching triangular 'Year of the Snake' stamps available at present.

Where do you find this philatelic feast?

Not at any postcard sales point, and not at every little post office (which are dotted around the Island, increasingly in brightly painted livery.) You need to go to the main post office at Burns Point, just before you get to the Carenage as you approach St. Georgeís from the Grand Anse side. Walk in: the main counters are to the right, and the philatelic section is right in front of you.

And this is where the second treat of the day awaits you. As soon as you begin to look interested in the display, you will be called in, to go behind the counter. You will be sat down.

You will be given album after album of special edition stamps to browse through.It is not service: it is hospitality. Your hostesses are Florence and Gemma, wholly delightful people who will make you feel welcome, will get to know you, will find out more about you than you normally tell strangers, but because they are interested, not because it is a means to the end of selling. And their love of Grenada's stamps is infectious.

You will leave after spending more time than you usually spend in a post office, and you will feel that it was in the company of a close friend.

I have not collected stamps since I was a boy. But these stamps are in a league of their own: alongside nutmegs, they are one of the most truly Grenadian souvenirs. (If you pick the right ones, that is.) And many of them are prettier than the cards you will be sticking them on!

(Don't worry: Grenadians are not too heavy-handed with postmarks.) .

(written by Ian Blaikie - Sunsation Tours http://grenadasunsation.com)

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