Day 21: 3 Weeks

Hello Friends! This edition of my blog is brought to you by the French version of survivor: Koh- Lanta.  So far, I have only seen the theme song but I can already tell that this will be an epic hour (or more than an hour) of my life.  Oh wait-- it's the final! How exciting. This week alone, I've seen a cooking competition show, a dance competition show,  and part of an apartment hunting show so this feels like a good way to round out my week of TV viewing.

But, you do not read this blog to stay up to date on French reality shows, instead, because you care about my daily activities.  So, let's cut to the chase:

A couple of different activities comprised my day today: the beach, a walking tour, and an exposition opening at a cultural center. 

the Beach: 
Terrible views.  Just kidding: here's what it actually looked like.

No iguanas today, which made me quite happy.  In addition, a big dump truck picked up all the saragasse (weird kelp type plant that smells bad and allegedly keeps washing up from Venezuela in large quantities.  It's a hot topic).  Good beach day.

Walking Tour: 
Walking would be a bit of a misnomer.  I spent most of my time on the tour standing.  Those of you who know my love for efficiency will understand exactly how I felt about this.  While the tour guide bubbled with energy, people on the tour asked many ridiculous questions, and in some cases, tried to correct the guide.  (Always a frustrating experience).  This contributed to our slow pace.  Eventually, I had to leave the tour because my parking meter was about to expire.  I'm not sure if I would get a ticket (what happens if you get a parking ticket in a foreign country? Because, theoretically, I could just leave and never pay it) or if I would be towed, but I did not want to find out.  I was understandably a bit disappointed not to see the conclusion, but also excited to actually walk somewhere! (In the ~90 mintues I walked with the tour, we covered maybe 2 or 3 blocks.  Not a Kristin Ritchey approved pace).  The tour focused on architecture, not directly related to my project, so not a huge loss.  I did manage to snap some pictures of the old houses in Pointe- a- Pitre:

My close proximity to the houses made it difficult to get pictures of the whole thing, but I think you can sense the spirit here.  Interestingly, one Guadeloupean lady who vacationed in Quebec discovered that the two cities share very similar architectural features : "I asked myself, what city am I actually in?" she exclaimed, recounting her experience to the guide.  Seems like classic France: one King, one language, one law, and one architectural style for it's colonies.  These houses made it easy to fall in love with the city, and now I'm interested to see Quebec! Maybe next summer... :)

After a quick stop chez moi, which included an almost broken toilet and me shattering a glass dish while making dinner, I returned to the city to see an exposition opening at the cultural center.  This event hosted many more people than the last one I attended, and boasted some music and dancing as well as a book reading.  The theme, Zouk, Love, and Peace, interested me because it references one of the island's music styles: Zouk.  While gwoka describes the more traditional music style, zouk denotes the more popular, contemporary music that originates from Guadeloupe.  I love listening to Zouk FM as I drive, so checking out the exhibit seemed to be a no brainer!  I enjoyed the art and the free fruit juice very much. The dancing, however, did not quite meet my expectations: a small dance troupe performed, and it looked very much like they in fact hated dancing and wanted to be anywhere else but this particular exposition.  Understandably, this dampened my enthusiasm just a smidge.  (To be fair, half of the troupe was high school aged boys.  I'm pretty sure they just showed up for the free food).  Overall, I found it interesting to see how local artists interpreted zouk through sculpture and painting and watching the hijinx of two young boys nearly dethrone a sculpture.  (The real joys of life, am I right?). 

Tomorrow: the world is my oyster! As I said yesterday, I've finished most of my "must dos", so I am taking a more relaxed approached to touring.  This means tomorrow remains a mystery: it could include the beach, it could include driving to another town, it could include Pointe- a- Pitre's international food festival.  Whatever happens, I will tell you all about it!