The sea turtle

Seeing the turtle when we were snorkeling at Grande Anse was the main event of my weekend, even of my time in the Caribbean so far. I've never seen anything like that before. It was scratching it's back on the bottom of the sea against a piece of rubbish for a long time, then it swam up to the surface to breath and circled around us, Sebah swam with it and it looked at us and then it swam away, very elegantly, for such a big animal.

On Saturday I went for a 'rando' at Presqu'île de la Caravelle near Tartane. I'll post some pictures, it was the most beautiful walk so far, yes it was a great weekend:-). Mangroves, cliffs, forest, big bright red hermits and lots of different kind of crabs and birds.

Apart from fishes and a turtle I also met quite a few new people. On Friday we were invited at Sebah's place for a vegan potluck. He lives in a house on the hills with an amazing view on Le Diamant. The people, the house, the environment and the food, everything felt very harmonious.

A busy weekend

I had an unexpected busy weekend which was really nice for a change. The weekdays are also busy of course, but in a different way. My best day in Martinique so far was yesterday, Saturday. This weekend I'm alone in the big and beautiful house in Le Robert. I do morning swims and sometimes evening swims as well:-). That's how my Saturday took a very relaxed start. Later in the day I wanted to get my hair cut, it's too hot for long hair and unlike in Tanzania there are good hairdressers here who also have experience with white people's hair. Many Martiniquais have spend some years in 'le metropole' (=France). I was the only customer on a Saturday afternoon in a local hairdressing saloon in La Trinité, because it's Lent, and the three girls were very happy to talk to me. I enjoyed spending time with Martiniquaise girls. I have had too many white people around me till now. There are so many beautiful people here, also because they smile a lot and I love smiling people. 

After my warm local experience I was shocked by the cold welcome by the blond French girl at the surf club. I signed up for a group surf class and there were 4 German girls in my group and a dark tanned French surf instructor. I always wanted to try it and I did, but I'm not sure I'll ever do it again:-), maybe when I can get private lessons from a friend. I'm glad I survived:-)! It's just all too fast for me and I can't enjoy the nature around me because the waves are so big and fast that I couldn't do anything else but focusing on not drowning and trying to 'chercher la vague' as Antoine told us, which was impossible the first time. But I'm happy to have tried it at least! 

Two of the German girls were traveling and I offered to give them a ride. We passed through a village where a concert was about to start, so we stopped and had coconut sorbet on the pier and joined the local people and some tourists for a concert of José Versol, a Martinique musician with his group and dancers. It was announced as a spiritual and traditional concert. They sing in French and Creole and the audience was not very big but every single person present was totally absorbed by the music. By the end everybody was holding hands and singing 'Jésus je t'aime!'. We were all dancing, holding hands with old ladies and having so much fun. 

La Martinique

Last Thursday I arrived with an early flight from Guadeloupe in Fort-de-France, Martinique. It was clear and flying over Dominica and the Caribbean sea made me dream of traveling. Since I arrived in Guadeloupe 2,5 weeks ago, time has flown. I've been working a lot, so I'm always very tired in the evenings. We get up early and go to bed early, that's how people live here, similar to Tanzania. We see most of the patients in the morning but there's always plenty of work to keep me busy all day. The patients are very friendly. I feel insecure about my bad French, but when I explain the people where I come from they are often really interested and pleased that I want to live in their country. I should say on their island, because it's France here and there's a big difference between Martinique (and Guadeloupe) and France. 

I've been looking for a house and transport, which here means a car the first days. I've soon found a room in a shared house and a car from the same girl, very convenient. Both will be available end of this month. For now I'm staying with family of my bosses in le Robert. It's an hour driving to Fort-de-France and the house is a beautiful villa on a hill with a great sea view. It feels weird to be in this kind of environment after a year in Tanzania. It's also unnatural having to use a car to get somewhere. But cycling is suicide, people drive like crazy and you'd have to go on the highways. Public transport is very limited, only during daytime and not reliable, a problem if you work in a very punctual western environment. Last Saturday I went to a beautiful beach with the girl I'll rent the room from and her friends. Cap Macré is quite 'sauvage' and the water is clear blue and warm, so I swam for hours. This weekend I will have my first surfing class, exciting!