Deshaies and its gardens

And we are moving on again, leaving the comfort and familiarity of Trois Rivières, and moving on to new lands and new explorations. That's right folks, we are heading to where we have never been before, the north side of Basse-Terre! Two years ago, we opted to spend more time on Grande-Terre, and cut the exploration short by taking the shortcut road through the mountains, the Route de la Traversée. This time, we passed right by - in truth, we didn't even see it! - and continued north to the town of Deshaies for our next pit-stop.

One of THE things to visit on Basse-Terre, that you can't miss, are the botanical gardens in Deshaies. Last time, we didn't come this far, so obviously, we missed them. Anyone having been to Guadeloupe looked at us rather incredulously when we admitted to skipping over the site - so naturally, we had to make this a stop on our drive. Of course, the rain we had been expecting all morning began to fall by bucketfuls just as we pulled into the parking. In a moment very reminiscent of Iceland, we rolled up the car windows, put down our seats and pulled our sandwiches from the trunk to have a picnic while we waited. No problem!

When the storm slowed, we made our way to the garden, and the greetings of hundreds of glowing orange koi fish in a pond lined with lily pads. A cup of fish food made sure of this, but watching the creatures swim over each other, even OUT of the water, just for a niblet, was impressive. They obviously get fed a lot here! A little ways down the path, we experience the same sensation in an aviary full of lorikeets. They noisily gather into gangs, staring down at us, likely preparing to shower us in poop should we not provide them with tiny goblets of nectar. We didn't stay in there too long!

But the flowers! Everywhere, beautiful flowers surround us! All the varieties that we naively buy as tropical plants at the nursery, tend to carefully, treat to more sunlight in the winter months than we give ourselves, just to see them grow an extra leaf - those same plants are in their native environment here, and grow like trees, covered with blooms! However, few of them are actually native to Guadeloupe, as we also discover that most of the varieties are from everywhere else in the world but here. Being on an island, most plants and animals will be introduced species, things brought with the colonists once upon a time, royally screwing with the ecosystem.

All through our meandering, through the tropical plants, past the ouassous river, the flamingo pond(FLAMINGOS!!!), and the crazy figuier maudit that is slowly taking over the world, the sun was breaking its way through the clouds, and now it is getting hot AND humid. We stop for a refreshing drink in the shade next to the "petting zoo", where the goats are devouring banana leaves with much gusto. While Mario indulges in yet another coffee, I slurp on a mint granita, which is exactly like drinking a candy cane. Chickens wander around under the picnic tables. As we look out at the amazing view of the ocean from here, we come to the realization that everyone WAS right about the botanical gardens in Deshaies - they ARE amazing, and you HAVE to go.

We manage to find our bungalow for the night(more on that later), then head into town for groceries. Now, if you are not in the know, Deshaies is the stand-in for the fictional town of Honoré in the TV show "Death in Paradise". On our last trip here, we were made aware of this fact, and began an on-again, off-again relationship with the series, but did not have the time to visit. This time, we are staying right next door, so OBVIOUSLY, we need to walk around and find all the locations from the show! Entertainingly, the police station is actually the manse of the church, but the sign is left up for the benefit of the tourists. There is no market in the street, there is a parking lot instead. As is common in the world of television, everything is but an illusion. We find one seaside bar that stands in for half of "Catherine's bar", while the interiors are shot in another place across the road and up the street! All are sporting framed shots from the show, a sort of proof that they have had their 15 minutes of fame. We also hear A LOT more English being spoken on the street, and all around us. It is a curious little microcosm of the tourism industry here, catering to the British TV show fan.

A night market full of artisans purveying their crafts keeps us in town a little longer, but we ultimately come back to our little bungalow for dinner and Ti'Punch. We love the porch and outdoor kitchen area, though the owners' dogs seem to love us, and so we have to lock them out. We love the look of the place, with its white walls, dark wood floors and trim, but could REALLY do without sleeping on a sofa bed, though the addition of a couch in general is nice. We don't really understand why the bungalow is set up to accommodate a loft bed, but doesn't actually have one, and think the owners have missed the mark on that one. And if there is one thing to be learned from our experience here, it is that the idea of an outdoor shower is very nice and romantic, but in reality, it is extremely awkward, and I am fully expecting to be overrun with frogs any minute now.