It's been a quiet few days here in tropical paradise. We've settled in nicely in the little town of Port-Louis, and have fallen into a relaxing routine of quiet mornings, afternoons basking in the sun on the beach, or snorkeling in the ocean at Plage du Souffleur, and chilled-out evenings at our rental place, listening to the chorus of frogs while we have dinner and sip on our Ti'Punch. It's not very exciting when it comes to story-telling, which is why I have been quiet as of late - I didn't want to be boring. But there are always small adventures, hurdles to overcome and happenings, so I present to you now the "weekend round-up", if you will - a collection of events from the last few days. Enjoy.
Carole, our Airbnb host, came by to visit one morning when our neighbours were checking out, and we had a wonderful chat with her about this place and its history. Behind her house, which is just up the hill, stands one of the ruined windmills once used in the sugar production the island was famous for once upon a time. She mentioned wanting to buy it before it falls into total ruin, but the building stands on the property of the police station just behind, which makes it military property, unfortunately. This began a whole discussion about archaeological digs before new construction, and funding running out on new municipal projects, corruption(there is a scandal currently surrounding the official in charge of the cruise lines agenda in Guadeloupe), and a possible new port in town for shuttles to the "English" islands of Dominica, Antigua and Monserrat. After all this, Carole bequeathed us a whole pile of pamphlets and booklets on the history of the place...She is very well informed, and very implicated in the goings on in town, I think. She also lent us a couple of her potted plants to attract more hummingbirds to our deck in the morning!
- A surreal moment as we are walking back from the far end of Souffleur beach one evening: A car passes by us on the road that is "illegal" to drive on, and riddled with potholes. We hear it slam on the brakes and reverse suddenly, just a like a scene in a movie. The windows roll down, and we are staring right at French Bean / Michel and his wife from our adventure the other night at Papi's! They stop to chat with us for a moment in their usual overexaggerated French accents which we can only half-understand. We discover that both couples got taken advantage of at dinner, which is sad because French Bean has known Papi for 2 years! Turns out Papi has lost all of our business with his greed. French Bean and his wife invite us to their place for lunch, but unfortunately, with their busy schedule and our imminent departure, the timing just doesn't work out and we sadly have to decline. We invite them to get in touch if ever in Montreal, and they do the same if we ever find ourselves visiting Normandy - and with that, we part ways. But can you imagine the story that would have been?!
- PCR tests suck. It honestly would make me rethink travelling again. The process was thankfully very easy, once we figured out that all the info we submitted online didn't matter in Guadeloupe, and we had to do everything over again in person and by hand. Once all that was registered, we were sent to what I can only describe as a laboratory in a broom closet out back, where a nurse stuck a swab so far up my nose that it triggered my tear ducts, and I was literally crying. Had a migraine for the rest of the day. But on the bright side, the results showed up in a timely manner by email within 24 hours, so yay?
- The best restaurant in Guadeloupe has got to be the wooden shack set up at the end of the road heading out to the eastern-most point of the island, Pointe des Chateaux. We've been returning here every time we visit Guadeloupe, and twice a trip, too. The accras are the best, the sauce chien different from any other I have tried in Guadeloupe, and their fresh-pressed fruit juice cocktails are divine. I tried their "Cocktail Santé", which had strong notes of ginger and turmeric in it, but I have no idea what else. It was pure magic. And all from a wooden shack with no running water! Amazing!
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- Mario and I have fallen in love with snorkeling, but in our lack of preparedness for this trip, we forgot to buy snorkels, and so eventually found some here. Found out they were "14+ Adult" sized. In practice, they are not adult size, and leaked water to no end, making the experience challenging at best. But we do not regret struggling with them for one minute, given all the amazing underwater experiences we have enjoyed this trip. Of course, we are not keeping them, and I found a community centre in town with donation boxes out front, so I like to think a couple of children will now get some pleasure out of them, as we did before.
- Upon our last visit to the beach, I watched a young family dunk their newborn child into the waves of the ocean, while one or more family members looked on and snapped pictures. I have seen this several times, and though I am only making a guess, I would think this is almost like a "rite of passage" for a child born on an island nation, to have their very first introduction with the surrounding waters be a very significant moment in their life, where the parents and family mark the moment as a very special occasion. Or maybe it's just me reading too much into a simple family moment that I observed several times while in Guadeloupe.
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