We went to Basse Terre yesterday. The ferry left about an hour later than usual because it had to make an extra run to carry passengers from Trois Rivieres. Claudia asked why the passengers on the top deck were so wet…..was there a swimming pool up there? HA, it became clear when we took the ride across the pass to Guadeloupe. The ferry, a twin hulled vessel, quickly got up on a plane and we were skimming along from wave top to wave top. As we bounced into each wave, a wall of water splashed up and over the boat. Fortunately, we were seated inside the lower cabin. The ride to Basse Terre took about 40 minutes over seas filled with sheep (whitecaps). Definitely not a day to be out in a sailboat.
Basse Terre is the administrative capitol of the department of Guadeloupe. Near the waterfront is the shopping district. Among mostly run down buildings are shops of all kinds. Chic little dress shops stand side by side with junk stores, pastry shops, butcher shops and bakeries. Since there are very few tourists in Basse Terre, the shops cater to the needs of locals.
The market is large and there is a lot of fresh produce, meat and so forth. There is also a bit of tourist merchandise.For lunch, we chose between a French restaurant and a Créole restaurant. We had fried fish--Daurade (grouper, I think) at the créole restaurant. We started with a “punch sirop.” They spooned some kind of local fruit in a heavy sugar syrup into a glass, brought it and a bottle of rum to the table. We poured the rum (as much as we wanted) onto the syrup, stirred and drank. Pretty good. The fish was excellent and served with a “sauce chien.” The meal came with excitement. The police showed up at one of the neighboring properties dressed in full SWAT regalia--helmets, visors, bullet-proof vests and shields. They looked like Darth Vader clones. They got the attention of the resident who apparently gave them permission to come into the courtyard (Who wouldn’t?) They proceeded to climb up on the roof and went to the next house. They finally came down but we saw them again when we left the restaurant. The whole street was blocked off and swarming with police. We never did find out what was going on.
The bus ride from Basse Terre to Trois Rivière was interesting. The driver sped along the narrow, twisted road up and down steep hills through tiny villages separated by patches of rain forest. Time permitting, renting a car on Guadeloupe would be very good. We got to Trois Rivières and walked downhill (the walk up would be murderous) to the ferry dock. We had some water, some beer and people watched. When the ferry arrived, it was loaded with tourists from les Saintes. A few tourists (all French) boarded the boat with us, but most of the passengers were locals going home. They were loaded with shopping stuff--produce, a battery-powered scooter, a computer system. Santa Claus was good down here.
She said: Actually during lunch, all of a sudden Peter said “saperlipopette! (French for gadzooks!) It’s Darth Vader!”
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