St. Maarten

Thursday, 16 Sep 2004

Today we found out why the weather has been so lousy: Tropical Storm Jeanne. (If it seems unbelievable that we did not know this storm was passing, it's difficult to get news here.) How unfair is it to go through Charlie and Frances only to have our trip ruined by Jeanne?

This is actually a holdover from yesterday, but I only got to thinking about it today: On the road near Marigot, on the French side, we passed a store named Bebe 'n Kids.

'n Kids?

That doesn't sound French to me. And I recently heard on the radio that Russians have adopted the word "okay." And while we were in the airport here in SXM I overheard someone talking on a cell phone in what I think was Italian constantly interspersed with "okay."

Okay?

And is it just me, or is it true that French people, who always greet you with a friendly bonjour, also always answer the telephone with "ehllo?" (That's not a typo: They drop the "h" and pronounce the "e" like "eh.")

I think America is out to take over the world... one word at a time.

The ferry to St Barth's

Today we took the ferry to St. Barth's. It was an experience. The ferry, I mean.

St Barth's was an experience, too. We started with some confusion (among ourselves) about whether we were going to walk around Gustavia on our own, or whether we thought we needed a guide. In the end, we hired a taxi for a tour. Since this is the low season, we got the taxi all to ourselves. Woo hoo! Our taxi driver was named Roland. What he lacked in English he made up for in colorful expression. For example, as he pointed out new construction, he told us that investors "break this" and "break that." We eventually figured out that "break" meant "raze" or "tear down."

Harrowing roads on St Barth's

You may recall my talking about the adventure of driving on St. Maarten. Compared to St. Barth's, the roads on St. Maarten are interstate highways. Driving on St. Barth's is simply harrowing. At one point Roland took us along an unbelievably narrow (but still two-lane) road around a sharp blind (what other kind is there?) curve and suddenly...

What was around the sharp blind curve

...we were the very edge of a cliff with a drop of hundreds of yards and no guard rail. We were startled, to put it very mildly. Roland laughed. Apparently ours was a common reaction. Roland said, "No drunk drivers here, they all dead."

This is how Judi put it, after we got home this evening: "As we zipped along the roads, I was thinking, what extraordinary vista are we going to be treated to next, because that's what it was, one extraordinary vista after another, and I was just trying to put that thought into words, we came around that corner to that cliff. And that was one extraordinary vista!"

I believe it.

Great atmosphere at Villa Creole

We had lunch in St. Jean, at one of the few open restaurants, Villa Creole. The atmosphere was very nice. The waitress could have used a lot of help with English. (Have I mentioned that this is definitely a French-speaking island, and English is nowhere near as widely spoken as on St. Martin?) We eventually managed to order a Quattro Frommage pizza on which the quattro frommages were mozarella, blue, goat, and something called ellemende. I don't know what ellemende is, but this was pizza with some serious 'tude. Which of course is good.

After splitting the pizza, Judi had the Pate (pasta) Carbonera, and I had the Pate au Roquforte (blue cheese). My pasta had serious 'tude, too, but not much else going for it. Judi's pasta, on the other hand, had a wonderful complex and delicate flavor, augmented by a wonderful meat that Judi insists was ham and I thought was bacon. Whatever, it was good.

But on the whole, I was disappointed dining on St. Barth's. I had been led to believe that I would eat better than I had on St. Martin, and pay more for the privilege. I didn't eat better. On the other hand, I didn't pay more.

But I have to mention one thing: It was at the Villa Creole that we were first served Oasis peach (peche) tea. This is most excellent tea, especially considering that it comes in a can. Later we wandered into a grocery store in Gustavia and found it on the shelves. But we've never seen it in the States.

A great beach on St Barth's

Roland our driver had dropped us off in St Jean so we could eat and do the beach. He agreed to come back at a prearranged time. He was a great guy. We didn't actually do the beach, we just walked it. Well, we walked them -- there are two beaches in St. Jean: The short one that is easy to get to, and the long one that is harder to get to. The long one is the better. It was practically deserted when we were there. Judi said it was the greatest beach she'd ever been to. The sand was soft and just the right firmness. It was quiet and relaxing. She said the only thing missing was palm trees.

St. Barth's is more difficult to do, as a tourist, than St. Maarten. Besides the language barrier, shopping is made more complicated because most shops will accept US currency but not US coins. So if the bill is .50, for example, you can't pay with two dollars and two quarters. You have to pay with three dollars, and for change you will receive forty Euro cents -- curious little coins the like of which you may not have seen before.

And the stores on St. Barth's close from 1:00 pm until... something after 4:00 pm, which really puts a crimp in the style of day-trippers who are interested in shopping. I mean, the ferry arrives mid-morning, and the first thing you -- as a tourist -- want to do is tour around the island, do some beaches, and eat lunch. Then you want to shop and... the shops are closed? Are you serious? And they reopen... right about or just after the time the ferry leaves to bring you back to St. Martin? This seems so impractical. So... French.

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