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| Island Life - Guadeloupe |
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(Issue 5 - October 2009) The inside track on getting the best out of Guadeloupe. First impressions A gumbo of musical sounds greets me upon my arrival in Guadeloupe. As the singsong patois between taxi drivers, guides and friends reaches a pitch more akin to the brass of New York’s jazz clubs, I realise I’ve landed at the core of Creole culture in the Caribbean. The melange of cultural influences originating from French, Spanish, African, English and both East and West Indian sources promises an intriguing visit. Must do Guadeloupe offers many mysteries and nuances for those who are willing to explore beyond the Club Med beach resorts filled with sun-worshipping Parisians. The open-air Marché Saint-Antoine of Guadeloupe’s capital city Pointe-à-Pitre tempts visitors and locals alike with its pungent mix: Madras plaids, bellowing Creole hawkers, curbside Gwo-Ka drummers, homemade gastronomic treasures like salt cod fritters, Creéole black pudding and legendary coffee from Bourbon Pointu. Here you’ll find a parade of humanity worth its weight in their world-famous sugar cane rum (www.damoiseau.net) excitedly discussing the latest football scores, catch-of-the-day, or whether they will dance the night away at the ever-popular L’Extase disco in Baie-Mahault. Passion is key throughout these fascinating islands and it is evident at attractions like La Grivelière (www.vertevallee-guadeloupe.com), a heritage coffee plantation and processing site located inside the Guadeloupe National Park rainforest in La Vallée de la Grande Rivière. This spectacular rainforest facility demonstrates how to mix agro-tourism, ecotourism and entrepreneurship into a successful tourist attraction. So grab your French/English dictionary (most service staff do speak basic English) and keep an open mind, because Guadeloupe is full of great surprises and activities for all travellers. Need to know Five islands make up the Guadeloupe archipelago, (www.lesilesdeguadeloupe.com) with Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre being the largest, and smaller islands Marie-Galante, La Desirade, and Les Saintes completing the family. Once upon a time, the Atlantic Ocean trade winds blowing off the African continent brought the majority of European explorers directly into a Caribbean passage between the islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe. Columbus even named these outcroppings after his vessels and the Virgin Mary (Santa Maria de Guadeloupe) whom he had prayed to during his 1493 voyage. This influx of colonial marine activity involved numerous naval conflicts in waters around Guadeloupe and resulted in a submerged storehouse of sunken vessels off Basse-Terre. This created what Jacques Cousteau once called “the most pristine underwater environment on the planet”. The plethora of sunken warships and their resident marine life stretches more than thirty miles along the protected Côte-sous-Vent of Basse-Terre, and offers divers unparalleled adventure and sealife. |
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