Spendthrift Shoestring

Rough Guide to the Caribbean Is Out!

Today I received a call from a bookseller at New York's excellent McNally Jackson Bookstore with the exciting message that the third edition of the Rough Guide to the Caribbean was finally in stock. I'd been waiting for this call for weeks. I happened to be nearby and walked over to pick up my reserved copy.

I spent most of February in the Caribbean updating two chapters of the guide: the Montserrat chapter and the Guadeloupe and Martinique sections of the French West Indies chapter. It's exciting to be able to hold the book, and to see some of my new discoveries in print.

While I was on the subway reading through the guide, I noticed that half the car had been turned over to the current Aruba tourism campaign, which centers around the personality-driven tagline "90,000 Friends You Haven't Met Yet." The campaign features photographs of a number of Arubans. I looked up only to see an eye-level photo of Eddy Croes, an Aruban nature tour guide. Two years ago, I had the great experience of joining Eddy on an informative Aruba Nature Sensitive Hikers tour of the island.

Some Signage from the French Antilles

Coulda, woulda, shoulda.
Campaign poster from last year's presidential election.
Le Bourg, Terre-de-Haut, Guadeloupe.

 

Love that domain extension.
Air France poster.
Aimé Césaire Airport, Fort-de-France, Martinique.

Great tiles, too.
Address marker.
Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe.

But when is it open?
Illegible post office hours sign.
Beauséjour, La Désirade, Guadeloupe.

Back from the Caribbean

I got back late last night from my Rough Guides research trip to the Caribbean. I'm now sorting through mountains of notes and brochures with some tight deadlines ahead of me.

I've come back with so many impressions and observations, but I thought I'd come up with a very top five list of exciting places and amazing things I encountered over my weeks in Martinique and Guadeloupe.

1. Best hideaway that doesn't involve a turbulent sea crossing. Presqu'île de la Caravelle, Martinique. This quiet peninsula is comprised of little seaside hamlets, agricultural land, and protected parkland. It's got beautiful littoral forests, good beaches, and few of the big chain hotels and package tourists found across the southern Caribbean-side coast of Martinique. In an ideal world I'd probably stay at the Hôtel la Caravelle in Tartane (€71/night for a small studio) and eat at the hotel's restaurant, the highly-regarded La Table de Mamy Nounou.

Check out one of the peninsula's glorious beaches in the late afternoon:

2. Best condiment ever. Guadeloupe's M'amour banana preserves by Guy Lesueur. Morning baguettes were never as delicious before my discovery of M'amour's banane confiture, and they'll never be more delicious hence. That said, M'amour's caramel-banana hybrid I chanced upon on my final morning on Guadeloupe was so tasty that my bread became a mere utensil.

3. Best Caribbean airport. Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport. Le Raizet Airport is perfectly constructed for Guadeloupe's tropical environment. It filters light into the airport's interior and appears to float in sharply angled modern precision. The airport puts its counterparts across the region—with very few exceptions—to shame. There was possibly no better reminder that Guadeloupe is an overseas department of France than this airport. Here it is at 7 a.m.

4. Best stretch of beach. A tough one, but the beaches north of Saint-Louis on Guadeloupe's offshore island Marie-Galante are picture-perfect and sparsely populated outside of weekends. My favorites were the beaches of Moustique and Anse Canot. Take a look:

5. Best restaurant visited. An even tougher call, but I'd have to go with Le Poisson d'Or in Anse-Mitan, Martinique (at 12 rue des Bouganvilliers). Open for lunch and dinner every day but Monday, Le Poisson d'Or serves exquisite creole cuisine, which include lovely accras (fritters) and a fish in coconut milk that made my eyes glaze over. Second-place would go to the restaurant at Auberge Les Petites Saints (open for dinner every night but Monday) on Terre-de-Haut, Guadeloupe, which served me a delicious soup of local fish and a superb Basque tasting plate.

Bon Voyage to Me

I'm off in the morning on my Caribbean adventure, back on February 27. I'll be very focused on my job and posts will be infrequent between now and then, though I'll try to pop out some blasts of enthusiasm and amusement along the way.

Any suggestions and ideas for Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, and Antigua? Scribble 'em my way, kids.

Rough Guides Update

I've tried to keep things hush-hush regarding my upcoming gig, telling only a few friends about it. I've now received word from my editor on the project that it's a-ok to divulge, so here goes...

Rough Guides has asked me to update some chapters of their Caribbean guide. I'll be spending most of this month running around Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Montserrat checking rates and prices, sussing out listings and museums and beaches and restaurants.

I'm especially excited because I've used the Rough Guide to the Caribbean more than any other regional guide. It's my favorite Caribbean guidebook for a whole litany of reasons, and I'm looking forward to being a part of it. Plus, this update will allow me to visit some tiny islands (La Désirade! Terre-de-Bas!) I've wanted to visit for a long time.

New York friends should place their souvenir orders soon. Most of those who fail to place orders will be receiving little bottles of rum from Marie-Galante. And please email me tips and advice. All will be appreciated.

À Pointe-à-Pitre il est 14 h 29

Researching flights from Guadeloupe to various nearby "offshore islands"—more on this soon—I chanced upon this page on the the Pointe-à-Pitre airport Web site.

I'm a little bit concerned about the Alerte Ouragan in January, as well as the fact that the airline company information page includes but this one descriptive word: blablablablablablllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaablablablablablaaaaaaaaaaa.

None of this, obviously, is meant to suggest that I'm not over the moon about the job that will be taking me to the French Caribbean shortly...