Hard Rock Ballet

 

Dance class cancelled? No problem. There’s a rock to climb nearby.

 

If it looks like the girls are at risk climbing here, rest assured this is an illusion. Hopefully we’ll be able to rent some climbing gear so we can do some real rock climbing.

Fromager above St. Pierre

Took these from my phone after a hike at Canal de Beauregard from Fond St. Denis.

This is a magnificent, huge, thick-trunked tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of Mt. Pelee from the road

Animals we’ve found in our house

We’ve had many animal visitors here. Since it’s warm and there is much tropical life everywhere, and since we keep our windows and doors open to appreciate the wonderful breeze, many animals feel welcome coming into our home.

Here’s a partial list:

• Animals in our house
  • Mouse
    • We had a small, fast moving mouse for a short time.
  • Lizards
    • Small green lizards
    • Brown & green striped lizards
    • Medium brown lizard
    • Spotted, red-eyed lizard
    • Teeny tiny Baby lizards, just hatched
  • Crabs
    • Big white crab with one claw larger than the other.
      • This guy was really big and came in on a night after a big rain and flooding.
    • Smaller brown crab
    • Hermit crab, carrying his sea-shell home on his back
  • Night butterfly
    • A huge black and white moth, with long legs and antennae
  • Frogs/toads
    • Big frogs that can jump surprising fast for their size
    • Small frogs
  • Birds fly inside looking for breadcrumbs
    • Black with red neck bird
    • Striped, brown grey black bird
  • Crickets
    • These are loud and we hear them every night, all night.
  • Long green leaf-shaped insect
    • One night we found one of these on our bed net.
  • Spiders, beetles
  • Lightning bugs
    • These are wonderful, and kind of like night lights. We had one on our light bulb, so when we turned off the light it was still there.
  • Mosquitoes
    • These ones are not invited, but we have them often. We use bed nets to help keep them away which usually works.
  • Tiny ants
    • They’re called fourmis fous here, which means “crazy ants” because they move really fast and in circles a lot. They’re attracted to sweets and food. Keeping clean keeps them away.
  • Millipedes
    • These red millipedes, which can be 10 inches long and which move fast and have a poisonous sting, are the only dangerous creature we’ve had here. A bite from them means a trip to the doctor right away, and maybe to the hospital.

     

  

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Using the Velib bike rental program in Paris, a review

In April 2009, I spent 10 days in Paris with family, and my wife and I tried out the Velib program (official site in English, in French) and loved it. Overall, it’s an excellent, speedy, fun, inexpensive, and very fun way to tour Paris and for point-to-point travel, 24 hours a day. If you’re not completely new to riding a bike and have some experience riding in a city, Velib will take you between most any 2 places in Paris faster and more pleasantly than the metro or even taxis (assuming conservatively travel of distances of 10K/6 miles or less). For me, it took easily about ½ as long as the Metro for most trips, ½-3/4s the time of a cab ride depending on the time of day. Many roads have bike/bus lanes that are wide and traffic is often slow and easy to navigate. Some of the faster arterials and throughways are worth avoiding when they have no bike lanes. Compared with cities in the US, auto drivers Paris are maybe a bit less cyclist-friendly in their driving habits (about the same as in San Francisco or Washington DC, — not as friendly as Seattle).

There are a number of tips, caveats and issues with the program that are worth knowing beforehand.

1. There’s a 150 euro debit or authorization on your credit card that is a precondition for using the system. If you lose a bike or it’s stolen, you lose your 150 euros. Not likely to happen, but that’s not a trivial amount.
2. The 1-7 day ticket plan is great for visitors. Even for just a few hours in Paris, it’s worth it.
3. During the payment process, sometimes the paper subscription card gets stuck in the machine. On several occasions, it took an oddly long time to come out of the machine. One time, I needed to bang on the machine to have my card drop down. While this issue is definitely a time-wasting hassle, this isn’t a risk for losing money, because your card is protected by a 4 digit code that’s not on the card.
4. Pick a bike with a seat about the right height, or adjust seat before taking it out. A seat turned backwards means there’s something wrong with the bike. Often seats can be stuck and hard to adjust easily.
5. When you return the bike at any of the many, easily found bike stations, just park the bike into a stand, wait 5 seconds for the light to turn green, and you’re done.
6. The cost is free for 1^st 30 minutes of a ride, 1 euro for each 30 minutes afterwards. To spend as little money as possible, plan for 30 minute-1 hour rides. Imo, it’s cheap enough to just ride as you need.
7. Occasionally, often at key sites, a bike station will be full, meaning you can’t return your bike at the optimal location. Most stations have maps of nearest other stations, within a few blocks, so sometimes it can take a few extra minutes to do this.
8. We didn’t have more than a few drops of rain, so rain might be an issue. The metro or a cab is a perfect alternative in the rain, though the velib tires seemed like they’d do fine in light rain.
9. For groups of 4 or more, it may be difficult to always pick up and park bikes at the same locations.
10. Remember to be safe, and that on a bike, you’re on the road with cars and need to stay aware of traffic and obey traffic laws.

The Velib system is always open, 24 hours/day, so it’s perfect for late night rides, especially after the metro closes. The traffic is less then, and the bikes all have lights, and Paris is well lit by streetlights. For me, my favorite rides were those we took from 1am-3am, with Paris lit up, cafes and bars closing, in the cool spring night air.

Mi-Careme, as the cane is cut

Cut from 8 feet tall to the ground, the landscape transforms during the sugar cane harvest. Trees and houses, and undulating in the green hills are revealed after months hidden behind the cane. The broad palm leaves of coconut trees yellow. Grass is the color of straw.

Today is mi-Carême, the middle of the dry season late February-early May. The fields dry out except the few that are watered. We had 2 weeks without rain, but yesterday had a strong but brief, refreshing rain, which was then quickly forgotten. The sugar cane fields have grown sandy in color, with touches of green from leaves still vital. Where the cane has been cut, the ground is strewn with a layer of light straw. The rows where cane had grown are still pronounced. The cutting of the cane is beautiful and dramatic to see. Done in some places by hand, a few workers artfully cut the drying cane with swift swings of their long and razor sharp machetes. From what I’ve seen, in about half a day, 2 or 3 can clear an acre. Most (nearly all?) of the harvest is done by machine. The whole cane is cut to the ground, chopped and loaded, while the equipment moves briskly, at a fast walking pace. Later the cane is separated out from the lighter leaves. The cane is milled at distilleries, releasing cane juice. Cane juice is then fermented and distilled into inimitable Martinique rums. Locally produced raw sugar and fresh can juices, freshly crushed onsite at market stalls or roadside stands, are also treats to be enjoyed.

Days after the harvest, new shoots of cane leaves arise, new future brightly ready to grow, and within a couple weeks they are over a foot (30cm) tall. When cut by hand, new cane shoots emerge a bit more quickly and vigorously than where cut by machine.

The weather is slightly cooler in this season, and runs in the late afternoon are a delight. The 1000ft climb of 1^st gear switchbacks is hot, but the humidity feels noticeably lower and the breeze quite pleasant. I passed several cows, of the local Charolais creole race, stationed in the hills, where they lowed loudly, perhaps not yet milked. Heading back down, looking out to sea, low rogue cumulus clouds several miles out were lit by the lowering afternoon sun, firing a wide rainbow in the shape of a mound beneath the clouds. The colors blended slowly over a wide area. As I descended, running down the winding turns, the rainbow reached upwards in the sky, and the clouds drew nearer and seemingly higher. In the veranda of a house, a dozen people enjoyed a long lunch. In a small field of dry grass, 11 leggy sheep stood side by side in a row eating and stepping forward, as if by consensus. Down and across the road, a loosely dispersed flock of mismatched goats, beautifully colored in whites, browns, and blacks, milled about, their stomachs full.

Though dryer than usual, it’s not parched. Freshly turned earth is rich red, and milk-chocolate and dark-chocolate brown, and in the fields towards the mature green banana trees, last harvested a month ago. This makes a lush scene in the quieting evening light. The rain clouds pass without leaving a drop. At dawn the next morning, there is a brief soaking rain. We, and the animals and plants, are glad.

Love our Diesel Ford Fiesta

I adore the 2004 Fiesta that we bought used here in Martinique. BusinessWeek called the 2009 Ford Fiesta, “The 65 mpg Ford the U.S. Can’t Have.” It really is amazing that a car like even this 2004 model is unavailable in the US. Our 2004 version is the 5^th Generation of Fiestas. Reliable, very nice 1.4 liter Duratorq TDCi common-rail diesel engine gives good power, excellent torque, and of course low RPMs at higher speeds, which makes gas powered small cars seem simply whiny in comparison. Comfortably seats 5. In a pinch we had 9 ride by necessity during the strike, but this is fully not recommended.

 

Sunrise, a drama

Sunrise
Act 1 scene I, pale lightening, oddly, slightly yellow dark.
ii. soft gradient from horizon to overhead, pale light through lavenders
iii. broken clouds softly white
iv. first pinks in high clouds constrast with lavenders
v. pink to stunning, shimmering rose high clouds
Act II,
Sc 1. Sun lights from behind a bank of cumulus clouds
Sc 3. Sun shines up though clouds as well as below.
Act 3.
Sc 1 full sun over banks of clouds
Sc 2. Shimmering light dances across the fractal waters
Sc 3. Below the cumulus cloud banks, in place of sun beams, rays of gray as rain falls.
Sc 4. Clouds hide the sun and reveal the shifting currents in the bay. Beyond, reef swells break.
Sc 5. Broken clouds tighten overhead, yet bright blues also shine through to the southeast, softening to the souther horizon, and deepening overhead and reaching to the west.
Act 4.
Sc 1. Low tufts of cumulus approach, moving steadily past, with grace. Grays, dark and light, holding tons of water in vapor suspended, a lake in flight.
Sc 2. High above, in the stratus, whisps of cotton candy spread out from each other, sweeping the sky and shifting ever slowly in distant motion. 
Sc 3. The sun presses against and through the high broken cloud layer, a bright opaque ovoid as if stretched by gravity.
Sc 4. The low clouds thicken, hiding the sun. The rain showers are still in the distance, but approach fast on the horizon.
Sc 5. The bay shimmers in black and white.
Act 5.
Sc 1. Loose white clouds are pulled apart overhead. The blues are almost entirely hidden.
Sc 2. A ribbon of high broken clouds lets through the deep blue streching from dear earth clear to space.
Sc 3. Rain showers, en masse as a flotilla, veer to the south, passing behind the rocky point on the far side of the bay.
Sc 4. Sun bursts through clouds, forcing eyes to squint.
Sc 5. A heavy cloudbank glides overhead, its edges blurry, again the sun’s rays are subdued. The reef surf ebbs, flows, the breathing of the ocean moving towards greater calm. The sea a vast plane and plain of shimmering gray.

Hike from Les Salines to Anse Trabaud

We spent a marvelous day hiking with friends along the beach, picnicked, swam in perfect water, and headed home. 3 Families with 7 daughters. We saw hundred of “c’est ma faute” crabs, which have a much large right pincer than left, and some amazing birds I’ll look up soon, white with very long tails, black on wingtops, red headed, large sea birds that chattered endless over the bluffs.

 

Night Swimming

I’m not going to tell anyone about this. Well, OK, but just you.

Late this afternoon, I went swimming with the girls up to Alice’s, and tried out my new flippers. We stayed in the water til after sunset. My uncle Joseph showed up, who I’d been looking forward to talking with, so we talked for an hour after Veronique had taken all the kids home, mine and hers. By now it was well after dark, but I was resolved to swim home alone down the bay, refusing offers of a ride and my Aunt’s worries about the big fish of the night. As I said goodnight, I thought about jokingly adding, in case this is the last time I see you, but thought better of it and not a moment too soon. I walked out to the end of the dock and put on my blue and black flippers. Hopping in, I saw the sea was teeming with phosphorescence. Tiny sparkling yellow points of light shining while swirling briefly in the water. A few lights from shore shined on the calm water. Stars shown brightly between the broken clouds moving slowly across the night sky. I lay on my back swimming quickly through the water.

While looking up at the sky, the backside of my shoulder glanced against something large and smooth, pushing it below me underwater. I started. Looking around I saw several large splashes, a couple seconds apart, in different directions around me. My hand bumped something below the water. I recoiled, trying to assume a strong or at least defensive position, which is a very odd thing to try to do while floating in a bay of coal black water in the night. I splashed and kicked. There was noise. One of my flippers fell off or was pulled off. I momentarily considered diving underwater to try to get to it, but nearly instantly thought that a crazy idea. I did mark my location, not too far offshore from a white buoy.

Seeing no more splashing fish, I decided to continue swimming home.  The water to my side splashed again. I had the impression it was smaller fish. With my single flipper, I swam on.

Looking ahead when I breathed I could see the stars of phosphorescence glow in my exhale across the water. Under water, my moving arms made ghostly shapes where they moved, like angel wings. When I neared the shore, past our neighbor’s dock, I noticed very little of the phosphor in the water. I stepped out of the water, and headed up for dinner, where my kids asked me what took me so long as they finished eating ribs in their pajamas.

This Morning, Montagne du Vauclin

I noticed the night sounds of insects begin to wane and so knew it was early morning. I woke up, favoring the crepuscular hours at sunrise and sunset. The sun will rise in a half hour or so behind a bank of cumulus clouds on the horizon. Above them the pale sky lightens, yellow and faintly rose, and further above are slight traces of pink in some very high altitude clouds against the blue of parting night. Offshore, the reef waves roll in slowly, breaking silence on the calm sea. Nearby, insomnolent doves call to each other. A first rooster crows in the distance. Songbirds chirp in ssss’s and the insect sounds fade further.

While on my run yesterday to the ridges of Montagne du Vauclin, an ancient volcano, I chose to add on a climb to the peak. There is a stages of the cross climb that goes over the top. The way was marked well, but the path was slippery and muddy enough to merit wearing hiking shoes or boots. The view is spectacular of the entire island, though with clouds to the north I wasn’t able to see the pitons or the larger volcano, Montagne Pelee.

Near the peak, mist still lightly hung in the air, and the sunlight streamed through the trees in the mist making rays of light to the root rich ground, and the 14 white crosses along the way were in perfect harmony with the light and the air and the earth. Walking down the far side, though walking slow and carefully, I slipped and fell in the mud. The earth here is soft and a beautiful rust-red. Bright red-rust colored butterflies flit past. Mostly the trail is lined with lush tropical trees and brush. In a few places, large clumps of 50-foot tall bamboo stretch upwards.

Hundreds of dark tadpoles flittered in the deep ditches full of yesterday’s rain. A herd of 30 goats had made a wrong turn and the shepherd asked me to help bring them back, I ran past them and turned them around without thinking. Leggy sheep grazed eagerly.