Saint-Pierre Pier - Samedi, 14.10.06

Samedi 14.10.06 Saint-Pierre Pier



Out of habit I wake about 5,30 but it’s great to lie-in a bit longer… People start to stir about 7,30 and after a breakfast of toast, honey and pomme cannelle Heather, Kyla, Claudia and I find ourselves at a bus shelter waiting for a TaxiCo to Saint-Pierre. Paula and Maria have been talking with Laurent their landlord and have decided that the paperwork for their possible vehicle must take precedence so they head to the mechanics instead.

There seems to be no shortage of buses from Saint-Pierre to Fort-de-France as five have passed us in the opposite direction before one comes our way. Nonetheless we’re grateful for the €1.60 ride to Saint-Pierre. With us four, the driver and three other ladies our TaxiCo only has room for one more, and we pick him up in Le Carbet.

Carbet is a quaint little maritime town with traditional multicoloured wooden houses by the beach and colourful canopied enclosures along the long main street. The black volcanic sand and the navy blue sea contrast with the vibrant, yet peeling, paintwork giving the town its old-world appeal. Carbet is indeed famous for its old-world charm as it was here on 1st July 1498 that Christopher Columbus landed during his third expedition. The History and Sea Gallery recounts the story of the Caribs and Columbus’ landing. Other historical and cultural monuments to be appreciated include;

• The Anse Latouche Habitation which houses a full-scale model of a sugar cane and cocoa settlement.

• The Paul Gauguin Museum is also found nearby and it houses an exhibition of paintings by artist, made during his time in Martinique in 1887.

• We can’t forget the Neisson Rum Distillery which, despite being an eyesore, is reputed to produce one of the best rums.

• Also, before the tunnel in to Saint-Pierre you can see La Falaise de L’Anse Turin and its pock marked cliff face. The holes were made by cannon balls fired from ships during 1667 when conflicts between the English and the French were rife.

• Directly after the tunnel we have Le Jardin des Papillons where you can flit away the day with various butterflies and bugs.

• The health benefits of seawater and volcanic activity can be enjoyed at the Centre de Thalassothérapie.

• Aqualand is also an option if for some reason you prefer cold chlorinated water to the warm sea!

Surprisingly it took 15 minutes to get to Saint-Pierre – windy roads add to the clock. The TaxiCo drops us off outside our first port of call; La Cathédrale Notre Dame du Bon Port XVII ème, XIX ème et XXème siècle in Le Quariter Mouillage. It was here where the English moored, hence the name of the area. Saint-Pierre history and Martinique history were linked until the eruption of La Montagne Pelée in 1902. Saint-Pierre was known as « Le Petit Paris des Antilles » ; it was the economical and cultural capital of the country at that time but with the eruption even the most vibrant and beautiful town didn’t survive the lava flow. Only a few ruins, wrecks and the famous Cachot de Cyparis are here to give their account of the terrible natural disaster. As legend has it, the sole survivor was saved because he was in the dungeon of the Cachot de Cyparis as the thick walls of the cell gave him enough time to escape the lava and the crumbling building, and flee by sea.

Saint-Pierre is now listed as the “101st City of Art and History”. It has indeed risen from the ashes and the town serves as an open museum.





Kyla goes off to a telephone booth to call her mother and the rest of us wander around the food market. There’s such an infusion of smells with spices, fruit, vegetables, punch and fish on sale, indoors and outdoors. Giant, grotesque tuna heads can be spotted in basins under fish stalls while other vendors can barely be found amid a sea of multi-coloured, multi-scented piles of fruit and vegetables. As you pass the spice stalls your nostrils are instantly filled with fiery aromas; piment (capsicum), poivre (pepper), citronnelle (lemon grass), cannelle (cinnamon), gingembre (ginger), muscade (nutmeg) and curcuma (turmeric).





If it wasn’t for the sight of roving camcorders you could almost forget you were in a typical tourist trap. I’m not blameless either as I went a bit snap happy with my camera. However, I did ask my subjects if I could take pictures of them. Some tourists were straight of the cruise-ship. Obviously this town was just another stop on their Caribbean cruise and they were clearly ignorant to the fact they were even in another country. Their disregard for another culture and way of life was most irritating. An American handed a cashier a $20 bill and when the cashier replied that he didn’t have any dollars to give him change the tourist was stupefied and asked him how on earth he ever did any business if he didn’t have dollars…

It’s not just money that talks. We’re talking away in English outside La Maison de la Bourse when a local approaches us and asked if we’d like to go Canyonning. We take his details and propose to take a trip out to Ajoupa Bouillon and Morne-Vert in the near future. Kyla has heard great things about Canyonning from the assistante who was previously in her location. Canyonning involves jumping into rivers, clambering up waterfalls, plunging into pools, rappelling down slippery slopes and generally getting wet and wild, so it’s really a mix between gorge-walking and cascading. Depending on the trip you take you could be kitted out in a wetsuit, helmet and harness or just a bikini and t-shirt. It costs around €40 for a three hour session.

New Zion Nature – Randonnée Pédestre

Daniel Pharoce – Accompa-Montagne
Grande Savane
Vieux Cacao
97216
AJOUPA BOUILLON

Tél/Fax : 0596 524 677 or 0596 53 31 04
Port : 0696 414 223
Mail : daniel.pha@wanadoo.fr
SIERT 429 963 309 00019 – APE 927C

After all that talk about fun and frolics we decide to venture on to the beach. The beaches in the town itself are fine for a paddle but we wanted something more idyllic an isolated so we set off on a 25 minute ramble along the road back in the direction of Le Carbet. There were great views along the route and we stopped at several points to take snaps and to shelter from the sun as we soon found ourselves baking in the 35° heat. The beach is pleasant with plenty of shade to keep us safe and sane. Plus there were no poisonous Mancenillier trees around so we could lie there at our ease. The sap from these trees is toxic and so if you touch it or shelter under one when it’s raining you’ll send up with painful blisters. Tiny green apples are its only distinguishing natural feature though usually the trees are painted with a red stripe about the base or a rag tied around the trunk to warn you that it’s a Mancenillier.



We lounge like lazy lizards in the mottled shade, venturing out now and again to get some sun. The sea is warm and inviting though it eventually becomes a little rougher near the shoreline. I don’t risk going out further to the calmer waters as I’m not one for depths, and plus, someone has to keep an eye on our bags; we’ve been constantly warned that paradise is not untouched by trouble. After a few hours of splashing, sunning and sun cream application it’s time to make tracks. There are showers nearby and we avail of the facilities to wash the dark sand from our togs and têtes. We decide to backtrack to Saint-Pierre since Kyla and Claudia have to first get back to Fort-de-France before returning to Le François and they will have more of a chance of getting a seat in Saint-Pierre as the bus starts there.



The sun is still beating down and I pull my visor down further to prevent my already red face from becoming more rouged. However, I soon come a cropper when I whack my forehead off a low sign-post. It’s one of those laugh-out-loud moments though it leaves me with a thudding tête and a bruise to add to my collection of bites and burns. When we reach Saint-Pierre the other girls head off (hee-hee!!) to get grub, while I munch away on my crackers and cheese and watch the fishermen unload their crafts and count their catches. Heather returns alone and we decide to wait for the others despite missing a TaxiCo. By the time the next one comes around there’s still no sign of them and Heather tells me to take it as she lives nearby and can take a taxi if it comes to it. The TaxiCo driver however, doesn’t want to miss out on three other fares so he does a tour of the town looking for the missing Mademoiselles. Even though we don’t find the girls it’s a great way to see the rest of the town and pick up the sites we didn’t see, such as:

The ruins of L’ Eglise du Fort (1680) and the Colonial Health House (1837).
The remains of L’Ancien Théâtre (1786), of La Chapelle de L’Evêché (1863) and of L’Asile Bethléem/ Bethléem Sanctuary (1886).
La Maison du Géreur (1860) and La Bourse/Stock Exchange which we were sitting chatting around earlier.



There are many other nearby attractions which involve further travel:

• La Musée Vulcanologique Franck-Perret

• Le Centre de Découverte des Sciences de la Terre which houses various scientific, cultural and interactive exhibitions. The centre was funded by the EU and is recognised as a European Earth Science conference centre.

• You can also go on a diving trip to see where the wrecks and rubble sank in the bay during the eruption of Montagne Pelée.

I was halfway between the fishing villages of Bellefontaine and Case-Pilote when I got a text saying the girls had been delayed as they were talked into having a drink. And as you may know, rum is not guzzled like a pint or swigged back like a shot so they were there for some time. I didn’t feel guilty about leaving them as I had had a pleasant time on Martinique’s West coast. And if I didn’t take that TaxiCo I would never have bumped into David (Scotland). We decided to go for a drink to catch up on the week’s events. It’s hard enough to find an open café at 17,00 on a Saturday evening in Fort-de-France but we eventually settled down to cool drinks and fruity pastries.

The previous night David went to a Reggae session in Ducos with some students. He said he wasn’t impressed with his first introduction to Reggae. He grumbled that the same music was played over and over; people swayed in the same position for three hours solid and just got stoned out of their skulls. Before he left Fort-de-France for Ducos he spotted Nicola in town with some strangers. He also added that he saw some prostitutes nearby…

Later that night I quizzed Nicola about the previous evening’s exploits. It turns out that she went with a teacher, Edith, and her boyfriend, Jimmy. They had planned to go out dancing but they ended up spending most of the evening in Edith’s house, chilling and indulging in rum and various homoeopathic remedies. Afterwards they had a quick drink in Fort-de-France. I don’t know whether the brevity of the beer drinking was due to the dubious surroundings or Edith’s insistence that they meet with another friend, Will. They found Will under a canopy, near a beach, where Reggae music and all that jazz was the order of the night. It wasn’t in Ducos so Nicola couldn’t have saved David from boredom. However, it sounded like it was Nicola who needed saving as Will took a shine to her and wouldn’t give her a breather all night. I’m not too sure if she even got much fresh air later that night when he drove her home… ;-)