The road that takes you to the tourist resort locality by the Grand Anse beach, home for the Tigers and the journalists following them, is neatly divided into two. The plush hotels, guesthouses, apartments and residences are mostly placed on the green hills and from the air it can be understood why. Grenada with less than 90 thousand inhabitants inside 120 square miles, is among the chain of volcanic islands in the region and naturally mountainous. So most structures they build here are either jutting out or resting on the high land much like what we've seen in St Vincent.

You don't see too many locals when you take a walk around Grand Anse and when you do spot one, there's something missing and you get reminded of St Vincent. In Arnos Vale, Villa, Kingstown, Cane Garden everywhere, there would be Vincentians excitedly inquiring whether you were from Bangladesh. You had to "Hi" back to total strangers who had already raised their hands. We have lost count how many friends we had made in St Vincent in just a week's stay and there was no problem fitting in straightaway.

But Grenada is a tourist hot spot and maybe because of that, everything is tailor-made for the convenience of the visitors. In the stylish stores at the Real Value Super-market, where you'll get any product you can think of, and on the streets the number of foreigners far outnumber the original West Indians and you notice affluence.

Vincentians have a certain way of expressing themselves. "All these lovely houses you see here and up there, are of ordinary people," said Rodwell Alexander, 'Smoker' to most people who know him, when he proudly took us on an impromptu tour around the capital. That was the former international footballer's way of projecting how well the common mass was doing in the island.

But there were signs of poverty too. You had to pass by a slum or a shack where complete vagabonds spent the whole day drinking or sitting idly while children in dirty clothes ran around.

Banana was once St Vincent's main foreign currency earner. Now it is under threat from the booming marijuana business which is easy for any local bloke to get into and more rewarding in terms of money. Coupled with the easy-going lifestyle, marijuana could have far reaching consequences for the still unsuspecting Vincentian society.

The biggest wakeup call however could come from cricket. Although its setting is arguably the most picturesque in world cricket, the Arnos Vale ground struggles to conform to international standards. The press enclosure is crammed, the practice nets and facilities are not fit enough for Test teams and despite the smallness of the venue, the outfield is heavy and the pitch sluggish. West Indian journalists spoke highly of the venues in St Lucia or Grenada sitting in Arnos Vale and there is clear apprehension that it could miss out as a host ground during the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

But in St Vincent you moved in music and warmth. Grenada is an island where they say that there are more spices per square mile than any other place on the planet. Haven't found that spice in life here just as yet.