Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe – January 1

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

I've seen fiddleheads, but WOW! 

Weather…overcast, occasional sunny breaks, 27 degrees, humid, especially muggy during our hike in the rainforest

Hindu temple

I am loving these mid morning tour departures. Most of the tours we’ve been on in other parts of the world get early starts…8/8:15ish, maybe earlier. I suppose that’s because there’s more to see there. The downside to this is that we return to the boat after the main restaurant’s lunch service is over, but that doesn’t mean I go hungry! I think it would be

stairs to???

impossible to go hungry here. Yesterday, we ate at the pool grill just before 4...I had my one cruise allocation of a hot dog. I’m not a big consumer of hot dogs, but I actually look forward to the ones they make here and get one each cruise…I’m wild, I know.

enormous leaves

Today we leave the boat at 10 after a New Year's brunch of caviar and Champagne (decadent!) to see Guadeloupe’s largest Hindu temple and then hike to waterfalls in the Guadeloupe National Park rainforest. The Hindu temple visit was odd…the temple itself wasn’t odd, in fact it was like the last Hindu temple we visited in Fiji – both times we

Carbet Falls

weren’t permitted inside and were asked to only take photos from the bus...all of that is fine. The odd part was why we stopped here at all. Apparently, Guadeloupe has a large population of people of Indian descent who are Hindu. These people came to the Caribbean

much of the hike is like this

indentured workers who came from South India in the late 19th century. So, the information is interesting, but a stop consisting of getting off of the bus, looking at the outside of the temple through a fence and getting back on the bus seemed forced.

Carbet Waterfalls, where we spent most of our excursion time today, is in

everywhere is coved like this

Guadeloupe National Park. The bus wound its way up to the base of the hike through a serious of hairpin turns with the driver continually honking the horn to alert oncoming cars – the drive was as treacherous as yesterday’s, but in a rainforest, not in a city.

more falls

The cruise described this hike as “strenuous” or a “three maner” – 1, 2 or 3 little men signifying each tour’s difficulty level. I’d agree with this assessment – often our assessment differs from the cruise’s. There are many steps, and the entire way is wet and slippery. A few people we were with only got part way through, but most people made it at their own pace.

A series of small waterfalls led to the main attraction. We knew we were getting close because we could hear the

lush hiking trail

thundering water well before we could see it. All was beautiful, but we couldn’t get too close to the big one. Had we not just done a nature hike on Devil’s Island or in Rio, this would have been more impressive…it was impressive, but those were more mind blowing…I’m obviously spoiled! The hike round trip took about 45 minutes.

One unique ‘feature’ of this place was that there was a “toilet paper butler”. This isn’t really what he is called, but it’s essentially what he was.

falls like this are everywhere

Apparently, it is so humid in this rainforest that the toilet paper gets too moist if it’s left in the washrooms. So…when we arrived, he stood with a giant roll of TP, that people tore off their necessary

Pointe-a-Pitre port area

amounts from…unique!

We were interested in lunch or a beer in town after the tour, but due to it being both New Year’s Day and a Sunday that was not in the cards.