But after our gastronomic breakfast experience, we set off to explore in our trusty little car. It's bright metallic blue, so looks even more like a little toy one. Not sure what engine is in there, but the gradients in Guadeloupe are a challenge, we were in second gear most of the way, occasionally going up to third on the dual carriageway.
The two main islands of Guadeloupe
are shaped like a butterfly, and today we explore Basse Terre, the one which houses La Soufriere, the volcano. There are not too many roads as it is fairly mountainous so we take the loop right around the north of the island which the Lonely Planet says is the more interesting part. Its all very green but so much more manicured than Dominica. We visit the Cascades de Ecrivasses, which as waterfalls go was quite nice, but smaller than the waterfalls we had in the garden at the Papilotte Wilderness Retreat in Dominica. There was however a bit of a shop and of course Ant bought salad servers, how many more does a boy need? And it was all health & safety, so EU, with notices about not walking here or there, be careful etc., etc.
En route we stop at a musee de cacao for some hot cocao. The first cups were too sweet, so we really pissed off the proprietress by asking for ones with no sugar! We got a lecture on how this was what they always served, and we said thank you but we wanted no sugar. We won. It was worth the fight. We then find Grand Anse Beach, a big, wide sandy beach with lots of Frenchie's, all speedo's, thongs and bangers out eating cheese. Ant had a few swims and then we lay on the beach and fell asleep after a Magnum! This was a great lunch spot, again very French with huge three course lunches and wine. Being Brits of course, we had a salad and water and left no tip....
We see, and pass, several museums for costume, seashells and rum. Mind you passing the rum one was a mistake, we just missed the turn!
We then start to wend our way back via Pointe A Pitre and stop at Le Gosier where we find a great farmers market going on with local produce, home distilled rum, tat souvenirs, and enough quiche to feed Calais.
It was nice.
The island is quite built up and scruffy, with Funded by the EU signs everywhere, can't belive that we are paying for a lot of these roads. A least the other islands are fending for themselves. We also notice that the vast majority of businesses are owned and run by whites, definite economic apartheid here. Explains the riots from earlier this year.
Then back to L'hotel Du Wrec. The area around the hotel is used as parking for the Club Med beach which is open to the public and very popular. We needed to get back into the hotel but our way was blocked by a very irate Frenchman who wasn't in tune with our needs. He was very abusive and Gill (very out of charachter....) ended up calling him a "f*****g frenchman", very good for international relations we thought.
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