Fort de France on the Island of
Martinique - Off the ship at 8.00 am back by 6.00 pm.
All
the stores are closed on the Island; today is Sunday, a rest day. People here
speak Patois. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patois
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| Old Catholic Church |
Instead
of taking a ship’s excursion, we walked to the pier and hired a taxi for a trip
the driver advertised. Since he knows his Island well we just followed his
advice on what to see. At several of his stops, we saw other passengers on a
ship’s excursion.
His
first stop was the Catholic Church in town. Being Sunday it was packed solid
with worshipers. The participation of the audience was overwhelming, everybody
sang out loud and everybody was very solemn and participatory. It has been a
while since I saw such devout folks in church.
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| Rain Is Coming |
Our
next stop was the Jardin de Balata, a botanical garden and featured attraction on the Island. The
admission per person for a 30-minute walk in the park was quoted as U.S. $14. We
were standing in line at the box office when it started to rain, no it poured
down on us. We sought shelter under an overhang and the time ticked away. We
never bought the admission ticket; we just saw what was to be seen from the
outside,
under the protection of the overhang. A young man was weaving baskets
with local plant material, sitting among the crowd; the atmosphere was humid
and sticky. It was a bit of a surreal situation, standing in the rain, and
waiting. Visiting the actual botanical garden will have to wait until the next
time I get to Martinique.
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| Weaving Baskets |
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| Finished Product |
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| Outside the Botanical Gardens |
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| Fog Shrouded Mount Pelee |
Back
into the taxi and this time the driver drove us to an overlook with a view of
the volcano (Mount Pelee) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pelée
Pelee
dominates the Island. We saw lush green hills forever from our vantage point.
The island is overgrown with plants of all kinds. Many of the plants on the
island are edible. In ancient times people lived off the land and they all ate
well. Today, however I am afraid to think how much of it is commercialized.
Martinique
is under French rule. The official currency is the Euro. The driver said that
people can live on Martinique for about Euro $400/month, provided they have
European Social Services, like Heath Care, etc. Many people from France spend 3
months or more per year here on the Island, to get away from the cold winters at
home. They are the ‘French’ snowbirds, similar to the Canadians who move south
to Florida in the winter months.
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| Enjoying Coconut Milk With Our Driver |
We
stopped at a small, but beautiful waterfall and small rapids where folks were
selling coconuts for their juice, rather than the meat of the nut. Naturally I
had to try that drink…. Delicious! I paid
U.S. $5 for the coconut juice. Nearby
youngsters were romping around in the waterfalls that trickled down the
mountainous waterways. It was an idyllic spot.
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| Kids Cooling Off |
Ecology
is an important part of living on the Island. I felt the European influence
everywhere. Even the street layout was typically French. There are lots of
round-about traffic circles and in the center of each round-about a statute or
a piece of art was on display.
The
highlight, according to the man who drove us, was the rum distillery of ‘Depaz’ where we bought a passion fruit flavored bottle of rum.
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| Les Rhums Depaz |
Depaz is an old distillery that has been making rum for centuries. The factory
has updated their equipment and the rum made today is very sanitary and made
according to the latest specs but with an old knowledge about how to make rum.
There are connoisseurs of rum and the making of rum is an art form, just like making
whiskey. Rum is made from sugar cane, the main crop that grew here during the
early history of the Island. While sugar was exported as a main source of
income then, I believe rum followed as an additional way to make money. Rum in
the 17th, 18th or even the 19th century was the
main drink. The sweetness added to the way people wanted to drink.
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| Waiting Out the Rain |
While
at the distillery we had to sit out another rain shower. I am glad we had some
kind of shelter nearby; it came down heavily.
Our
taxi driver showed us a black lava beach, but we were not impressed. I am just
not a beach person.
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| Types of Rum Produced Here |
Today,
Martinique is a tourist place, just like any Island in the Caribbean. But I
liked this place, it had an air of specialness, of romance, of originality to
it. I am glad we took this taxi tour even though it was expensive. (U.S. $130
for 2 people and a 4-hour tour).
Before
supper we visited our friends Jean and Ross 2 doors away from us and had a
drink in their room. Their room is similar to ours, just tweaked a bit in the
layout.
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| Black Sand (From Lava) Beach - Not Clean and Not Appealing |
The
performance at night in the theater was amazing. While the male performer
played on his saxosynthesizer, his wife danced in the back ground. OK, she was
not a great dancer but the light effects used in their performance were very
modern and timely. Laser light flashes, rhythm sections that moved with the
music, lights everywhere made me feel I was in a futuristic world.
Good
show………and good night to you!
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