Guadeloup - Old post that went missing

I did try to post this shortly after we arrived in guadeloup, but it went wrong somewhere so now i'm putting it up from Antigua. Alrighty?

The Caribbean has a very large amount of mythology surrounding it. Simply mentioning the place brings to mind the long over used image of white sands beaches, crystal clear water and over hanging palm trees. Arrival here, especially when the journey is so very long and stressful, is so very likely to fail to meet the expectations of any traveller. I thought of this as we sighted land for the first time in nearly three weeks, this huge fund of accumulated cultural history is hard to see through. Indeed our first Caribbean landfall was La Desirade a large, mostly barren rock which as late as 1970 was a leper colony, no white sand beaches or turquoise waters in sight.

Guadeloupe proper, indeed Bas de Fort where we are moored, similarly falls short of the Caribbean dream. But it lives up to so much more, it is so much more alive and so much more wonderful. Since our arrival we have worked on the boat lots, and done quite a bit of sight seeing. A day trip to the markets in the main town of Pointe A Pitre convinced me of the vibrancy of this place. The markets are big and different, bananas and plantains were enthusiastically sold by large black women in ludicrously colourful almost garish tartan dresses and turbaned head wear of similar brightness. They chatted and smiled constantly, as I took a photo of one woman she turned and smiled for me, such a bright wide and confident smile I was dazzled.

Since arrival we have been occupied, but mostly we have relaxed and recovered from getting here. Crossing the Atlantic in a small yacht is perhaps one of the more difficult modes of transportation, wonderful but definitely deserving in a few days of recuperation upon arrival. At the end of these days we invariably eat dinner in the cockpit, under the glow of our home made and wonderfully tacky chandelier. I think the spirit of our time here so far can be summed up by one moment.

Dinner was finished and tidied up, the bottle of local rum had been found and we had been working through it steadily. The traditional local way to drink this, know as Ti-Punch is really very good: sixty percent white rum mixed with sugar syrup, five parts rum to one part syrup, the sweetness takes the kick out the alcohol more than the dilution. Lime is of course an essential ingredient too. It is delicious, sweet dangerous and yet somehow gentle and well suited to the heat. I fetched my guitar and sat down in the companionway. We chatted quietly and I played old favourite tunes from the crossing and new ones made up on the spot. The sound of crickets vied with the noise of our happy laughter and the water against the hull. Michael said I had to play a song about rum, so I did, pulling mournful A minor chords and G sevenths from Lucy I played slowly and sang made up words quietly:
Don’t give me no more of that Ti-Punch
Cos I just cant go on
Don’t give me no more of that Ti-Punch
My head it aches and my body is numb
Slowly I played, then slowly went to bed, content and happy and slightly drunk. Slowly and gently, that is how we have lived here, and it might well be how I’ll live for a little while yet.

Later addition: We are not Terre de Haut one of Le Saintes just south of Guadeloupe. Barnie and I rowed ashore and walked into the main town. It has one street. It's lovely and feels like the proper caribbean. The bay is small, and idyllic, palm trees and white sands are here. We are just getting ready to have a barbeque on the beach, superb.