Hello family & friends,

I can’t quite believe it’s been more than three months since I last wrote an update! Life has been very full, in the best sort of way. As they say, “the days are long but the years are short,” and lately time has seemed to pass quicker every day, every week, every month. I’ll attempt to remember and capture as much as I can.

Saint Lucia Trip (December 26, 2021 – January 2, 2022 )

For Christmas 2021, my flatmates and I hosted a Christmas Eve dinner with our friends (mostly other language assistants). It was lovely to have a potluck of everyone’s Christmas specialities and celebrate the holiday in some way. (I contributed stuffed shells and banana bread with mascarpone-rum frosting). I put my lifelong paper chain and snowflake-cutting skills to use to help decorate. Christmas Day itself was spent on some of Martinique’s southern beaches and packing for my trip to Saint Lucia.

I had decided to travel to Saint Lucia on the spur of the moment a couple weeks prior, when I was invited along by another language assistant, Thomas, and a group of erasmus students. I only knew a few folks before going, but travel is quick to bring people together.

We took the ferry from Fort-de-France to Castries, Saint Lucia on December 26th. It’s about a ninety-minute ride once the boat is moving — of course the boat itself was delayed nearly two hours. But we made it! It was shocking to be in an English speaking land again. Nice as it was, my conscious mind seemed to have lost all ability to choose what language I wanted to speak in, so I kept making funny mistakes both to the border agents and during the whole trip. We arrived luggage-in-hand to a group of taxi drivers who (rather enthusiastically) told us there were no more buses and they were our way out of Castries to our Air BnB in Gros Islet.

But this taxi drive ended up being one of the first of many delightful interactions with Saint Lucians. Throughout the drive, our driver enthusiastically described the best sites to visit, guarantees of the mud baths rejuvenating powers, his favorite local foods, and why Saint Lucia is the best island in the Caribbean. Our AirBnB host similarly offered to take us under his wing as he showed us the holiday flat. Despite traveling in a fairly large group, we met a lot of people simply by traveling on a budget. Other than our first taxi, the whole trip was on foot, in buses, or hitching. Saint Lucia is, by its own naming, “the honeymoon capital of the world” and is filled with resorts. So although people often seemed surprised to see us filling up the back of a mini bus instead of being ensconced in the resort walls, they were equally happy to chat and were curious about what we were all doing there.

Now, normally, it’s a good rule of thumb not to be guided through a new city by a stranger in the dark, but sometimes good things come of a little risk. One of our first nights in Castries, the capital, we had time between changing bus lines and had no rush to get back to the airbnb so we began looking for a restaurant. A rasta man called out to us from the other side of the street, “are you hungry?” “what kind of food do you want?” “I’ll show you the best food! Vegetarian food too!” Well we were hungry. And us few vegetarians were used to having meager options, if any, while dining out in Martinique. (I’ve survived largely on beer and fries in every seaside bar here and, while it’s not a bad sustenance, (quite tasty usually), it does lack variety.) So we followed this eager man, as he kept reassuring us that we don’t need to be afraid, only aware, and that this really was the best food, his aunty makes it.

We turned a corner into an alleyway with lines of picnic benches next to glowing windows. Our Rasta man brought us straight up to his favorite shop. Each shop, about the size of a food truck but part of the building, had a buffet with five or six big casserole dishes of food and at the end a small cash register. The food was all head height or a little taller, so I gazed up into the golden glow of vegetarian accras, veggie burgers, pizza, and (most wonderful of all) baked Mac&cheese. We ordered and people nearby made room for us to squeeze in on to the picnic benches together. I had the mac&cheese and some veggie accras. Our friend came by again passing out the “special sauce” that we were told to put on everything. We swapped tastes of everyone’s meals — all yummy and satisfying. I hadn’t had mac&cheese in many months, so I was contented in a way that only cheese and carbs can make you. (Of course, mom and grandma’s mac&cheese recipe can’t be beat, but as they say love the comfort food you’re with).

Thomas disappeared for a while and came back with bottles of beer for everyone. He had of course become friends with the bar owner while he was purchasing the beer, so we went off to meet her and have another drink once our meal was done. We waved goodbye to everyone at the food shop, with plenty of due compliments and promises to be back. (I did go back a couple of times during our stay. Great food and energy everytime time. Later with a smaller group, we followed a different rasta man to his aunties’ restaurant. It was a little larger, out on the main street, with enough space for tables inside. I indulged in the opportunity to eat more mac&cheese, although that time they enthusiastically drizzled ketchup all over it. Not how I would choose to top it, but not bad. When in Castries, as they say.)

The bar Thom led us to was also delightful. The owner and her friend conspired together to get us all up and dancing. And it worked. 🙂 They had us all singing along to every corny pop song they could dig up. We were definitely a bit of a comedy show for the regulars that night, but we were also welcomed in with open arms. Luckily for us as well everyone at the bar seemed to have memorized the bus timetables and sent us off to the correct bus just in time.

Throughout the week, we saw many of the famous beaches, including Sugar Beach, which is nestled between the two Pitons (St Lucia’s iconic mountains). Several of our group hiked one of the Pitons and I opted to visit a the Tet Paul Nature Trail (which without a car did involve a hike). The Tet Paul Nature Trail is a mix of master garden, nature trail, and botanical garden of native (or almost-native) medicinal and edible plants. Many plants from the South Pacific and Southern Asia have taken root in the Caribbean and been integrated into local cuisine and medicines. It was fascinating to see the full-size plants of things such as vanilla or pepper corn, which I often see only in small quantities.

My guide explained the uses of plants and a little of the history of the area. He was informative and friendly. But I had little success breaking him out of the usual spiel to give more detailed information or talk more generally about the area. I don’t think they’re used to visitors who want to know the nitty gritty details of the history, and have time on their hands to ask. But alas, I came away with more knowledge and lots of questions to ponder. Another site earlier in the week, Pigeon Island, with its decaying forts and sweeping views of the sea and the island raised my historical curiosity. It was a key sight of military occupation for the French and English as they pulled Saint Lucia back and forth between their two Empires. And later, it served as a signal station for the American army in WWII. In a future post, I hope to reflect a little on the strange way history is at once very present and invisible in Martinique and the other islands I’ve visited.

After my walk at Tet Paul, one of the managers of the garden was kind enough to give me a lift down to a beach in Soufrière. Along the way we stopped at another nature property he manages, a waterfall trail. The trail was a little hidden delight. Many of the plants that had been carefully marked and displayed at the Tet Paul Nature Trail grew wild and a little hidden along this path. The water of the waterfall was black and sparkled silver in the light.

Most of the trip is a happy blur from the distance of a few months: beautiful beaches, lush forests, bus rides and long walks, and new friends. The week was rich with more stories; I’ll share more as I continue to reflect on this year. From Pigeon Island in the north to the very southern beaches we traveled the length of Saint Lucia on the Caribbean side. And after a ninety minute ferry ride, I was back in the Francophone world.

Back in Martinique…

January 2022 was filled with getting back into the swing of teaching, thinking through what’s left on my Martinique bucket list, and saying final goodbyes to the students I traveled with as they left for their next adventure. February and March have passed in a blur, a happy but very fast blur. In addition to my visits from Richard, Guin, and Nicholas, many of my friends have had visits from their friends and family. And I continue to meet people who live in Martinique or are traveling through. The days are filled to the brim with activities, meeting people, and making fast new friends.

Mount Pelée

On January 9th, I climbed Mount Pelée (the volcano) alongside several friends. Laura and I kept the same pace, so it was mostly an adventure with her, as we sent our long-legged athletic friends ahead of us. The hike is about four to five hours long roundtrip, much of the end of it deep in a cloud, clambering up steep mountainsides. Like climbing Soufrière in Guadeloupe, there is a moment when you simply pass into the cloud and from then on, I felt as if I was on some alien planet. Near the top, I jumped boulder to boulder, unsure of how deep the void between each was. Between every rock was thick, spongey vegetation; when I leaned closer I saw millions of tiny flowers hanging on, little bursts of color in the strange cloud-world.

The descent was its own type of magnificence. The cloud world peak was saturated in green, but I could only see ten or fifteen feet ahead of me. The space felt timeless in its consistent low-light. As we descended out of the cloud the whole mountain was visible below us, glowing green, with the blue sea and sky beyond. The top-of-the-world feeling comes on many hikes, but on an island, the feeling is ten-times as strong. From our height we could see the end of land, towns we knew clinging on to the coastline.

A little over a month later, on February 24th, I again summited Mount Pelée — this time on a clear day. Richard really lucked out during the first half of his visit, gorgeous clear skies, barely any rain, including on the Mount Pelée day. Alongside another group of friends, we clambered up the mountain, beginning from a different trailhead. When I climbed in January, Laura and I opted not to do the rim trail loop or the additional ascent to le chinois, the official highest point. (Also, I have been meaning for ages to look up why the highest point is called, “the Chinese”.) We figured if we couldn’t see ten feet ahead of us, we weren’t going to risk life and limb to simply say we had been somewhere else. As far as we saw it, we had climbed Mount Pelée. On my second climb of the volcano, however, it was a clear day. So we did it all! We ascended, walked through the valley off the rim, ascended le chinois, descended, walked the rest of the rim loop, and descended back down to the town of Morne Rouge.

Because it was a clear day, we were able to see the whole shape of the mountain, the dramatic ascents and descents. We saw each other disappearing into tiny figures on vertical walls of green. Since I already knew I could climb a volcano, my second trip was free of a certain amount of stress. I could enjoy looking at the whole magnificent shape of the volcano, the spectacular views of towns and beaches I’ve come to know well. In future long-term travel I think I’ll make a point of climbing to a high peak at the beginning and the end of a trip. Up high you realize the amount of knowledge you have about a place: recognizing towns and coves from up high, just like recognizing good friends at a long distance.

An abundance of visitors

February marked the beginning of visitors! Friends’ families and friends arrived one after another. (And somehow, incredibly, just more new people arriving on the island, or appearing out of the woodwork, too). My brother Richard and one of my best friends Guin and her fiancé Nicholas were able to come visit me!

With Richard, Guin, and Nick, I attempted to show them as much of Martinique as possible. Richard was blessed with incredible weather the first few days of his trip. And so was able to climb Mount Pelée in perfect clearness and experience plenty of blue skies over turquoise waters. Guin and Nick, who arrived a few days later, did not have the same luck at first, but I think we got a couple decent days in without too much rain or clouds. Highlights of the trip included visits to Saint Pierre, Richard’s complete adoption into my social circle (perhaps adored more than me by my friends? 🙂 hahaha), hiking the long nature reserve trail of presqu’ile de la caravelle, a couple nights of Carnaval, touring distilleries, visiting the Jardin de Balata, and lots of snorkeling. And simply enjoying each other’s company 🙂

Other people’s visitors have continued to arrive since the departure of my friends. Although the amount of visitors is beginning to wane as we draw close to the end of our teaching contracts.

My Projects

This year has been one of the most social of my life but I find a little time for some of my personal projects. Lately, I’ve focused on learning to sail and developing my art (although I also have a notebook full of history and literature research project ideas and plans).

In Schoelcher (my town), there’s a nautical center which offers sailing classes among other water sports. Le Cercle Nautique de Schoelcher was actually one of the first things I took note of when getting to know the town. But I didn’t end up signing up for a sailing lesson until early February. I officially have five lessons on the laser fusion sailboat under my belt! I have absolutely loved it. This year has confirmed my love of the ocean wholeheartedly and taught me there’s a million more ways to enjoy and love the ocean, and sailing is definitely one of them. It’s challenging but I feel my progress every time. I’m looking forward to learning more, trying out different ships, learning about the maintenance of ships, navigation, all that I can! I may continue some more lessons or rentals here, but I have to do some financial self reflection before I commit. If nothing else, I feel like I’ve found a life long passion that I’ll find ways to continue pursuing.

This year continues to be a good year for art making. Beginning in mid-December I have been taking time-lapse videos of sunsets. I’m building a nice little collection. I’m also taking photographs and videos as often as ever — and especially testing out my GoPro’s capabilities for underwater videos. But other than collecting these photographs and videos, I’ve done nothing in the way of filmmaking or photo editing and sorting. I think perhaps the Covid-19 lockdown really put me off extended computer screen time. And there’s so much sunshine to enjoy, why sit in front of the computer? I do hope to return to it at some point, probably during some future, grey, nostalgia-inducing winter.

Working with physical art mediums, however, has been wonderful and productive! I have my watercolor sketchbook almost always in hand. Seascapes and clouds provide endless enjoyable challenges. The colors all around me are so rich, everything is so beautiful here, so my creative inspiration is through the roof. I’ve been filling up my sketchbooks and working on a few larger canvas boards.

Teaching

A small note on teaching, it is my job here after all. This semester has been slightly less chaotic in schools than the previous. But, Covid-19 is still kicking and so the year has continued to be choppy. I continue to have the sense of just getting into the swing of things, just as things are ending. I have learned more about my leadership and teaching style, what kinds of jobs I enjoy, and perhaps how I would act differently if I were to hold a similar position again. I have had some very nice moments with students. My sixth graders are very friendly and excited to say “hellooo Janet!” every time we pass in the hallway. And I think some students may be progressing, at the very least some are definitely paying attention more. Others not so much. Listening to teachers complain about their student’s “lack of motivation” is however frustrating and tedious. The struggles kids are having in school are not as simple as a lack of desire to learn or succeed, which seems to be how some (not all) teachers and administrators view it. I recently listened to an episode of This American Life called “School’s Out Forever”. The episode gave me some context about how what I have experienced and observed over the past year is part of something much larger. There is a large community (or potential community) of people trying to figure out what we should consider school, what education is, and how we can have it exist in uncertain times (and how those times likely aren’t getting any more certain). I’d love to have a conversation with anybody about education and schools, if anyone else is craving that sort of thing.

Goodbye for now!

I think that’s all I have to say for now! If you read this whole massive post, thank you. I appreciate that people care about what’s going on in my world. 🙂 The next few months are looking like they’ll be wonderfully busy, so I’ll try to keep everyone up to date!

Lots of love,

Janet

April 9, 2022, Schoelcher, Martinique