Return to Trois Rivières

Travel Day! That's right, we are moving along, leaving the calm and solitude of Marie-Galante, for the relative hustle and bustle of Guadeloupe, though less so in Trois Rivières, where we will be staying. We've been there before - two years ago, we stayed in the same Maisonnette Créole - so we know the town and its intricacies, where to find good food and crusty baguettes. We drop off one rental car(Goodbye Panda with your square pockets!), ride the ferry across the Caribbean Sea, pick up another rental(Peeee-cannnne-toeeee!). We quickly make our way out of busy Pointe-à-Pitre and onto mountainy Basse-Terre, with its volcanic centre.

In an attempt to waste time, since we are too early to check in, we check out the Longueteau distillery, largest producer of rhum agricole on the main island. There are sugar cane fields in which to stroll, gorgeous views of the distillery to gawk at, and of course lots of rum to taste! We compare and contrast with the varieties at Bellevue, and Bielle, and though Longueteau has more choice, and stronger options(63.8%!), it is just not as good. It's lacking in the vegetal sweetness of the sugar cane that the Marie-Galante varieties so strongly project. We move on.

With more time to waste, we next make a pit stop at the Grand Plantation Café, a banana plantation where the tour is conducted by tractor, the owner shares all about his trials and tribulation growing the yellow fruits, and his dog uses one as a chew toy. We learn about how banana fungus from a neighboring plantation is putting this one in serious jeopardy, and that the trees have to be checked every day for fungal growth. There are no anti-fungal agents yet known to fight this particular spore, and once it attacks, it can have disastrous consequences. We also learn about the destructive blows dealt by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, and how the banana crops are healing quickly, but other crops such as coffee, once thriving here, were nearly wiped out. And that is a tough thing to come back from, since coffee plants can take up to 5 years to become productive, while bananas can turn around in as little as 9 months. Our tour finishes with complimentary tastings of coffee, bananas and banana juice. With all the bananas we've been eating since landing in Guadeloupe, we might just turn into monkeys!

With STILL more time to waste, we cruise along the coast, past Trois Rivières to the Grande-Anse beach with its midnight black sand. The waves are rough here, the wind harsh, so we opt not to swim, but just relax on the beach and watch the body boarders slamming into the waves. Mario finds a sorbet coco vendor and buys a cup to refresh us, and this one is particularly tasty with its freshness of added lime zest.




Finally, we head into Trois Rivières, to our little home away from home, our little Maisonnette Creole, where we have been before and feel so comfortable. Marie-Odile shows us around, updates us on the news about town, then leaves us to our own devices for the next four days. First order of business? Return to our favorite take-out chicken place, Kaz à Manjé, where the grilled meat is drowned in the traditional Sauce Chien, spicy and onion-y and delicious, and served with homemade fries to soak it all up with. We sit down to dinner and a Ti'Punch, and call it a night.