Welcome to the Jungle

Another day in Guadeloupe, another great adventure into the unknown. Again following a page from Mario's guidebook, we found ourselves en route the Chutes de Carbet, the tallest waterfall in the French Antilles. Consisting of 3 separate waterfalls, the water flowing downstream falls a total of 245 m, and the climb to reach the base of the first waterfall, the most spectacular, is 350 m. Another fun day of climbing, so away we went!

The site is very well constructed, with room for bus parking(amazing, given the climb on the access road, and we followed a giant tour bus all the way up!), and wheelchair access right up until the main viewing platform. At this point, the trail breaks away, though is still very well paved, to descend into the valley, where the viewpoint of the second waterfall is located. However, due to torrential rains and the 2004 earthquake, the viewing platform has become unstable, and is no longer accessible. Therefore, you can really only see the falls by straining to look around the corner of the forest. So, of course, we needed a better view. Off to the first falls!

At first, it began quite easily, with smalls climbs up rocks, or slopes, the trail gradually getting narrower. We crossed a few run-off streams, which makes sense since we were following the source uphill, and sometime a river overruns its banks. The trail got progressively steeper and steeper, turning into well-built stairs at one point which begs the question: who is in charge of the construction of said stairs, and how do they get the materials all the way up there?! Keep in mind that this section of stairs lasted a good 15-20 minutes!

Upon cresting the stairs, we began to descend towards the riverbed, to follow the falls to their source. This section was a lot more challenging, with the rocks being wet or muddy, and very steep. Some places had ropes to help us out. Often time I though how going down was easy, but coming back up would be hard, or the reverse. It was all very challenging. At one point, I sent Mario ahead to scout for falls, because it seemed we would be climbing forever to get there...it took him 2 seconds to discover that we were only only last climb away from that "aha" moment. You know, that moment when you crest the hill, and suddenly, that great sight you were searching for just spreads out in front of you? Yeah, just like that - poof - and we were facing all 115 m of magnificent waterfall.

Laid out like lizards on a sunny flat rock, we ate baguette sandwiches while watching all that water just fall. We could've stayed all day. In fact, we made last-minute changes to our plans for the day for just that reason, so we could just lay there and enjoy the moment. After all, what else would you want to do after hiking all the way out there in the first place?! Sadly, other people began showing up, and the place started to get a little crowded, so we began the long, arduous trek back, over the same rock faces, through the same riverbed runoffs, down the same long staircase in the middle of the rain forest.

Eventually we came upon the same trail head signs that led up back to the second falls, and finally the viewing platform just before the parking lot, and I was so happy to be back down that difficult trail that I kissed the marker. It was slimy, but so was most of the rest of the forest! We washed off the yellow mud from the falls(sulfur runoff from the volcano), changed into drier clothes, and returned down into Trois-Rivières.





The evening went much like the rest of evenings here, as we have fallen into a wonderful local routine: we shower off the dust of the day, then head to the bakery for coffee and our daily baguette. Returning home, we have a ti-punch while looking over the day's offering of photos, which can sometimes take awhile! Then we return down the street to Kaz A Manjé, the BBQ place where half the town gets in line to pick up grilled meats for dinner. We browse the options, often choosing the chicken drowned in Sauce Chien, with fries or accras(fried codfish dumplings). Back home, we pour everything out onto plates, pair it with a glass of wine or another ti-punch, and dig in.

That's it from Trois-Rivières - tomorrow we are moving on to the other side of the island. More on that later!