Category: Vacation

While MJ and Jill were wind surfing and I had the camera going, Cathy struck up a conversation with one of the locals, Mallory.  He was the same age as MJ and was just accepted into University.  He has his private pilot’s license and wants to study to become a commercial airline pilot.  He had been wanting to practice his English speaking, so he ended up talking to Cathy for about 2 hours.

Turns out his grandmother ran one of the local restaurants.  After wind surfing, we ate lunch at his grandmother’s place.  Very nice restaurant where all the local workers went to eat.  The food was fabulous.  Even Jill enjoyed the Columbo de Poulet (grilled chicken in curry with rice).  Cathy and I almost fainted when Jill finished the whole plate and then commented on how good it tasted.

On Tuesday, July 7th, Jill wanted to go wind surfing.  MJ thought it was going to be to hard to learn, but since we were at the beach and Jill was going, MJ joined her.

MJ of course had to translate the instructions from French to English for Jill.

But they both ended up getting on the boards.  The first 30 minutes were spent learning to balance on the board and lift the sail out of the water. They quickly got the hang of it and were able to sail away from the beach.

On our way to Parc National de la Guadeloupe, MJ spotted a McDonald’s.

I was quickly over ruled and forced to stop.

Surprisingly the cheeseburger was really good.  Apparently a lot of the ingredients are locally grown on the island.  The cheeseburger had a real slice of tomato and onion.  The roll was not the life-less doughy garbage you get in the US.  Instead it had flavor, it was also square shaped.

On Sunday we toured the towns of St Anne and St Francois.  The towns are about 20km apart and both are on the ocean.  We also drove out to the tip of Grand Terre island, Pointe des Chateaux.

St Anne is a small but up beat town.  The main street has plenty of shoppes and street vendors.  There are plenty of places to eat.  The food is a combination of traditional french cuisine and creole.

Streets of St Anne:

St Francois is a sleepy town with minimal shopping. The food in St Francois is outstanding.  The center of St Francois is the harbor.

Our first night we went out for dinner.  Cathy and I do not speak French.  However MJ is able to hold a brief conversation and Jill knows a few words.  Never realized how bad the language gap would be.  I figured they would speak some English.  Nope.  Notta.

We ate at a restaurant, Kamate, just outside the resort.  Dinner was excellent.

After dinner Cathy and Jill went back up to the room while MJ and I finished our drinks.

I asked MJ to get the check.  He spoke to the waitress asking for the check.   The waitress looked at him weird and asked him his age.  He told her that he was 19, but he was asking for me because I didn’t speak French.

The bartender walks over to the table about 5 minutes later.  He hands me a double shot glass.  I look at MJ and asked him what did he request.  He says he asked for the check.  “Obviously not” was my response.

At first the smell reminded me of a single malted scotch.  I’m thinking this could cost me anywhere from $8 to $30 depending on the scotch he ordered.  As I tasted the drink, it was very smooth.  I started to get worried that this could be a after dinner cognac and it could be more than the $30.

I drank 1/2 of the drink.  MJ finished the remaining 1/2.  Yes, the drinking age is 18 in Guadeloupe, so MJ could legally drink.

After we finished are surprise drink, I walked up to the bar to speak to the bartender who could speak some english.  As I paid the bill, I found out that the shot MJ ordered was a $6 Jack Daniels.  Whew.

We are still not 100% sure how the waitress thought we wanted a shot of Jack Daniels instead of the check, but the next day we did make sure to find out the correct way to request the bill.