A story of being lost & found

Cruise ship in PTP and absolutely dwarfing the city

View of Basse-Terre out of my window

It's another travel day for us in Guadeloupe. Our morning is spent packing up and cleaning up the lovely little house in Plessis-Nogent, then navigating traffic on the N1, its roads too small to service its population anymore, until the highway widens just outside of the capital. We have no trouble making our way to the Ferry terminal, where checking our bags proves to be quite the saving grace, as we can now walk around without being so encumbered. We find seats easily, and though I am in the sun for the whole trip, the heat makes me sleepy and I nap. Upon landing on Marie-Galante, we manage to arrive first at the rental agency, and get a pretty teal-coloured Citroen to boot around the island in. So far, so good.

And now we get lost: we head down familiar roads to a familiar area where we have stayed before, a little bungalow on the shore of the only river on the island. We pull up to the main house, where I get out to no one greeing us. In fact, the place looks significantly less lively than it did last time we were here. I approach the open door and call inside - thankfully, someone answers. Turns out, it is the daughter of the woman renting the house, but she is unaware that anyone is showing up for the rental, so she contacts her mom. Helena, the property owner, who we rented from 6 years ago, is just as confused as we are about the whole situation. She claims she is no longer on Airbnb, and no longer rents the place - in fact, she can't even make an exception for us as she has a permanent renter in the place , and for the past year! I am lost - I reserved back in October, and though I received no direct message from Helena herself, I did receive the confirmation of my reservation from Airbnb, and the money - two payments' worth! - came off of my credit card, so...

Thankfully, Helena's daughter is sympathetic, offering us a moment to think, to use the wifi, to try and find a solution to this serious problem. Marie-Galante is a small island, and though there may still be places available at this short notice to rent, there's no guarantee as to location, quality, or price. There is  also the fact that we are here for an entire week, and planned on settling in at ONE location, not bouncing around between several, so that is an important criteria to fil. I browse the options, trying to be quick, but thorough. I happen upon two options, and ultimately select the one that draws me in with a word: Canada. It's less solitary than we usually prefer, but this is an extreme circumstance, it being 3 pm on a Friday. We do not want to be sleeping in our car. I book it, take note of the location, thank Helena's daughter for her patience and understanding. 

Coming home?

Enjoying the pool at sunset

Twenty minutes later, we are pulling into the entrance of the Village du Canada, a hotel/villa combo, located on the Morne Canada. And the owner is coming out to greet us, having just received - and confirmed - the Airbnb reservation. I breathe a sigh of relief, relate our story to her as she leads us to our studio rental, complete with big outdoor space and kitchenette. I couldn't ask for more : it's clean, comfortable, and most importantly available. The pool, glistening in the sunlight, is a wonderful bonus, as is the view down to the ocean, and the accompanying sunset we can see as we settle in, pour an extra-strong Ti'Punch, and thank the powers that be for finding us a place - Canada - to call home for the next seven days. 

We've arrived on Marie-Galante - adventures coming tomorrow!