DAY 3-La Désirade
We went to La Désirade, which is one of the smaller islands part of Guadeloupe. People who are désiradien have much lighter skin and some people even have blue eyes because this is where the Bretons sent their prisoners from France a long long time ago. There we met Ingrid’s other mami, her stepdad’s mom. Her stepdad’s mom is another cute old creole woman who sits on a chair outside on the sidewalk by her house and says hello to EVERYONE that passes by, since La Désirade is so small and everyone knows each other. Every 5 seconds she had to stop her conversation to say “bonjour” to everyone who passed by and people in their cars would honk and yell out the window to her, since apparently everyone knows Ingrid’s mami. Then another one of her older lady friends came and they were gossiping in creole. The most I managed to understand out of all of it was that Ingrid’s mami was talking about certain people that didn’t say “bonjour” to her and how offended she was since even the little children always say “bonjour” to her. It was basically typical old lady talk, which I found absolutely adorable.
Since the minibus tours were all filled up already when we got to the island, Ingrid’s mami flagged down one of her friends who drove by on his scooter who got one of his friend’s to take us in the back of his pickup truck for a tour of the island. He took us up into the mountain pass and then down to the other side of the island where we stopped at a “source” (not sure what it is in English, but it’s like somewhere where you get fresh water to drink) and then we picked some goyaves (guava) from the trees and ate them. It was so fresh and delicious!
After our day at La Désirade, we decided to go out clubbing with some of Ingrid’s friends. Everyone was really nice and we had an awesome time! I did have a hard time though because all of Ingrid’s friends speak creole to each other so I was only able to understand half of what was going on and at one point, after waiting in the long ass line to get in the club, Ingrid and I get separated and I had to go in by myself, which was terrifying since the bouncer was yelling at me in French to empty my pockets and had to search me to make sure I wasn’t bringing anything illegal into the club. Finally he let me go and I met back up with Ingrid and all of her friends. At the club, they played mostly popular Caribbean music called dancehall and jumpup. I absolutely LOVED the music. They also played a lot of American hip hop songs that I knew, and everytime I heard one I was like “I KNOW THIS SONG!” and would start singing the lyrics, to which everyone else would attempt to do as well, although I don’t think they really knew or understood the words. Then we had a session of kuduro, which is kind of line type dance which has the same moves as the electric slide, only with a real Caribbean flavor and slightly different footwork. Then they had a session of zouk, which I decided to sit out for since I was sweating my butt off and had been dancing already for probably a good 2 hours. We ended up going home around 3:30 in the morning, which is early for French people when they go out. Normally they stay out until 4 or 5 in the morning. :\
DAY 4
We met with two of Ingrid’s girlfriends, Skaranskara and Giselle, to take a tour of Basse-Terre. We went to the city of Basse-Terre, which is the capital of Guadeloupe. We also saw the crazy spider monkey, which is the only one on the island and is the pet of some family. I guess it’s become some sort of unofficial mascot of the island or something. On the way we stopped at a stand where they make kassave, which is made from manioc, which is some type of root vegetable, which is then combined with coconut. It was pretty delicious. Basse-Terre is mostly mountains and is where the volcano, La Soufrière, is located. We went up into some of the mountain towns and drove around, and then we went to an old fort, which used to be a prison several hundred years ago. Then we went to the beach and went swimming to cool off. After leaving the ocean, we decided to go way up into the mountains to Matouba, which is where one of the really cool (as in cold) rivers, called La Rivière-Rouge (The Red River) is located. We went to a part of the river where there were some small waterfalls. We had to navigate our way down among a bunch of large rocks to actually get there, but once we got in, the water was really refreshing (and cold!). We sat under the waterfall and danced and yelled out like savages and just had a general good time. It was probably one of the highlights of my trip. You just feel so connected to nature, which is something I’ve never really felt back home since I’ve always been the one who likes to be inside with air-conditioning and modern conveniences. After the waterfall, we went down to Basse-Terre (the city) and got some sandwiches that we ate on the main boulevard. It was a great end to a great day.
DAY 5
In my last full day in Guadeloupe, we did the rest of the tour of Basse-Terre. We had a really nice lunch on the beach and just drove around with Ingrid’s parents and Skaranskara. It was a nice day, although I am very tired from being in the car all day, especially since I’ve had a bad headache all day. Although the French have this wonderful medicine called efferalgan, which is a large tablet that you drop in a glass of water and it fizzes (kinda like alka seltzer) and then you drink it and BOOM, you’re headache goes away within a few minutes. Absolutely WONDERFUL!
General observations so far:
Guadeloupeans are crazy drivers. The roads are all very windy but people here drive really fast (although the speed limits are set very high, or at least higher than in the States, in my opinion) and they like to honk a lot. Since a lot of people know each other, they often stop in the middle of the road to chat and yell out the window to each other. There are big beef cows EVERYWHERE and I mean literally EVERYWHERE. All along the highway, in random fields, backyards, front yards, even on the side of the interstate. There are also a lot of goats. French TV has no limit to how much they show. Ingrid and I were watching TV one night and there were just people having sex on one of the channels (and they showed EVERYTHING) and on another channel (this is all on regular cable, mind you) there were just naked women prancing around. So much different than cable in the United States…
Overall, everyone here has been very kind and welcoming and it has been such a wonderful visit! Ingrid’s mother insists that I come back again soon, only next time stay for a couple of weeks, which I would absolutely love! She has also invited me to go to Germany with them for Christmas when they visit Ingrid’s brother, who lives in Munich. I cannot thank Ingrid’s family enough for their hospitality! They have even started to call me their son, which really touches me. I can’t wait to come back again someday! Well tomorrow (Sunday) I am off to Paris, where I will spend 3 days at Ingrid’s apartment to see the city and celebrate Ingrid’s birthday. I am so excited to see Paris, which has been a symbol of my dreams of going to France for a LONG time now! Well Im off to shower and get some shut eye.
Paix,
Doogie
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