25 January 2013

Hiking Deshaies River


Hiking in Deshaies River

I just realized that we only spent two weeks in Guadeloupe but it feels as we'd stayed much longer. Maybe because we already have been to some places before on our way South towards Grenada and it wasn't all new to us.

Pointe-a-Pitre anchorage

It was the first time that we went to Pointe-a-Pitre, the largest city of Guadeloupe (but not the capital). There we found a rather calm anchorage with a lot of room. Even though it's in vicinity of the city and its commercial harbor it was peaceful and quiet. It was very interesting to watch all kind of big boats and cruise ships passing and how they're loading container ships. On a road trip we explored some of the tourist places on Grand-Terre like Sainte-Anne and Saint-Francois, went to the eastern most spot from where you can see the island Les Desirade off the windward coast. This part of the island is flat, rather dry and rural. Basse-Terre-Island is the other part of Guadeloupe which is volcanic and therefore mountainous, consists of lush forests, grassland and plantations. Even though Guadeloupe is part of France we find it has more Creole and Indian influence than for example Martinique. You see and hear more Creole everywhere you go. For example we encountered the word "Karukera" quite often. I found out that's what the Arawak people (the first who settled here) called Guadeloupe and it means "the island of beautiful waters" - how poetic.

Deshaies

Our last stop is Deshaies, a charming fishing village with a beautiful anchorage on the Northwest coast of Basse-Terre-Island where we've spent some days before. On our (maybe more on my) list was the hike up the Deshaies River which is described in our guide. Yesterday we went and it was an experience that's not to be missed. You more or less walk in the river, not in the water though as you can step from one rock to the other while you pass countless pools. It's not the easiest hike and while underway we both had the same thought: what if one of us hurts himself? We didn't have a mobile phone with us, nobody knew where we went and we didn't encounter another soul for two hours. I guess, that's part of the adventure! ;-)




Who is interested can find more pictures on our facebook site.

From paradise with love
Rahel

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