Guadeloupe; First impressions

So I've been here a week exactly now and still haven't managed to post until now. Internet has been very dodgy here but today at least it seems to be fairly consistent.

So I left Richard in Paris; he came over to see me off but his plane was late so we didn't do much other than pack and go out for a lovely Mexican on Saturday evening and velibed around. Sunday morning was stressful, trying to ram everything into my suitcase which was refusing to close. I thought I was going to miss the plane but we arrived at the airport with time to spare so I bought a luggage strap to stop my bag exploding mid flight! Said good bye to Richard and headed through security. The flight was uneventful, I mainly ate, read and slept!

As we arrived in Guadeloupe we flew over Grande Terre (the right hand butterfly wing). It was so flat!! It looked like the whole lot could just disappear into the sea if the sea rose by a meter or so! You could see right over it to the sea on the other side. Basse Terre (where I live) on the other hand was mountainous and had clouds looming over the mountains.

View over Grande Terre as we came into land



After collecting my luggage I wandered out towards the Pharmacy where Isabelle (my new boss) had told me she'd meet me. I think she found me because I was looking lost! We set off in the car and went over/through the mountains to Basse Terre. As we arrived at the sea the view was beautiful. The whole place is so green!



We stopped off at my new work to pick up the keys to my house and I met Jessica, one of my work and house mates. Then we headed off to my new house. It's right next to the sea but it was very bare, my room had a single bed and a small desk and a chair in it and that was it! The chair has since been moved to the kitchen!


the beach that I work on


the view from my "office"; the islands you can see are where the main dive sites are


My work place

I started to feel very alone in my big empty room but went and showered and then to watch the sunset on the rocks outside the house. Then my housemates came back (Jessica, Yoanne and Cyril) and I chatted to them before going to bed.



Work has generally been great, the first few days I was really getting to grips with how things work. I went out on the last boat on Monday to the Islands to see how things work and on Tuesday I even got to go diving because someone didn't have a buddy. It was beautiful. Loads of pretty corals and fish. We had a barracuda follow us for most of the dive. Other than that work consists of talking to customers, advertising the dives, helping people get ready for dives and helping them when they come back. There's a lot of french; all the tourists here are french (well the vast majority of them) and the Guadeloupians don't speak much English either. It's been going really well tho and I've really got to grips with it after a week there.

My house mates are really nice too. Yoanne has been great, he's really friendly but doesn't spend an awful lot of time at the house and I think he's moving out soon. Jessica talks a lot but is also great and really friendly. Cyril is more serious. He's a dive instructor but when you get him talking he talks a lot. Jessica is 22, Yoanne 31 and Cyril 29.

I have met a few Guadeloupians too and in General they all seem very friendly. Everyone says hello to me as I walk to work. The houses range from fairly basic to pretty big. It's so hot here! The beach I work on has black sand because it's volcanic. It's quite a small beach but nice all the same. I don't think there are many other beaches near here altho I don't think it will be too hard to explore because buses are fairly regular (except on a Sunday!).

There are very french things, like supermarkets and stuff, but then the whole place has a very island feel about it.

I went out last week to a bar with my house mates which was nice. Every one seemed to know each other there but it was a nice atmosphere. We also went out for a nice meal one night at a restaurant in someones living room. It was really good food. When we got back we played cards, which was complicated! I was just starting to get the hang of it when Jessica gave up and went to bed!

Other than that I have spent my evenings chatting to my housemates and various friends of their's that come over. it gets dark very quickly here, I spend most of my daylight hours at work and if I'm lucky it's light for another half hour or so. But it's fine because there's a lot of time for sunbathing at work!

Yesterday was my first day off so I went diving in the morning. It was a really good dive but very different from my previous one. The corals and fish were different even tho it was so close to the site where I was for my first dive. I wandered up and down the beach and then managed to get a lift to the nearest cash point. It's a 10 minute drive away! I hitch hiked back and then went swimming out side my house. Then I went and watched the sunset on the beach. Today I was planning on going diving but it was raining so I stayed in instead and read and tidied and cleaned my room. I also sprayed my computer with ant killer because it seems to have ants living in it!! Not overly cool!

Apparently tonight there will be the traditional music on the beach so I'll go along to that if it's not raining.

Right I'll post again soon. The restaurant I'm in is shutting up!!