December 23 Original Martinique Post

December 17-18 Marin and CarenAntilles, Martinique
We are now in Martinique and plan to stay here through Christmas. What a fun and new and exciting place to be. Neither of us ever having traveled to Europe, what struck us first is how much this place truly feels like a foreign country. St Martin was frenchy-fied; Martinique is French through and through. The streets are lined with shops, bistros, bars and coffee shops. Everyone speaks French although a few shopkeepers speak good English. It is somewhat easy to immerse in a Spanish country and fake the language, not so here.
Marin and the neighboring CarenAntilles are huge yachting centers. The marina holds several hundred boats and the large anchorages hold a couple hundred more. If one needs parts or boat work done, this is THE place. Fortunately we need neither and so have enjoyed exploring the area and both towns.
We found a McDonald’s. None throughout the entire Caribbean. Some of you may remember the famous scene from Pulp Fiction in which John Travolta and Samuel Jackson discuss not being able to order a quarter-pounder with cheese because they do not know here what a pound is. We are pleased to report that we have personally verified that this is indeed true and that it is called a Royal with Cheese. Also of note is that 90% of the population here is very thin. The only 5 fat people in the entire country were in the McDonald’s. Everyone else was at the market buying roasting chickens, leeks and baguettes. The markets are fun…very well stocked and reasonably priced with lots of fun, new things. The labels are all in French but thankfully there are also pictures. My favorite find today was coconut yogurt.
Bathing suits here are crazy sexy. I tried one on but decided that I did not have the guts to wear it in Texas. Expensive too. The dollar is weak against the euro and with the exchange rate it would have been $207 for a scrap of lycra…a girl has got to draw a line when unemployed so I decided that diesel fuel would be a much more fitting purchase for that amount.
Miscellaneous weird things. Pay toilets. I should have investigated further but we were still trying to find an ATM that accepted American debit cards (many do not). Security grocery carts outside the market. You have to put in money to unlock them but it is refunded when you lock it back. Inside hand carts are free. A French equivalent of Pier One Imports. Christmas trees in every color BUT green. I might could go with blue or red but felt sorry for the brown Charlie Brown tree…still on the shelf a week prior.

On Sunday we moved around the corner to St Anne. A quaint little village with a church on the square whose bells we can hear pealing from the boat. The anchorage is beautiful and not nearly so crowded with excellent snorkeling. We have reconnected with our friends from Bold Endeavor and Alianna and are planning a Christmas dinner on the beach. The town is having a Christmas celebration on the square for Christmas Eve complete with a live Nativity. We are looking forward to it.

We will pull out of here the day after Christmas to go to Fort de France. It is the capital city of MArtinique. We want to check it out and will check out of the country before heading north to Guadaloupe and Antigua. Hopefully they wil have internet in the bay. Writing today from a sidewalk cafe....
Merry Christmas!!!!