Fast Food

The fast food restaurants in Guadeloupe are McDonald's and KFC.  There are more than six on our island. Some are  in malls, and one is a big restaurant with a playland. I have eaten at five of them. I usually order hamburger and french fries happy meal. It comes with a toy and an apple sauce. The menu is a tiny bit different but mostly the same.

Uncle Max will be happy to know there are three KFCs. I have eaten at one, and it has a big playland. The menu is way different. I usually order chicken wings, and they come in a bucket with chicken fingers. Also at the KFC they have corn on the cob, and a juicy chocolate brownie so Mom can eat there too.

I love both restaurants and love the chance to get there.

By Odin

In Guadeloupe I like to do my work. My work is colouring in the colouring book and connect the dots and reading my cards. I like to swim in the pool. In the pool I wear goggles so I can see when I swim deep. I like to catch the marbles on the bottom of the deep end of the pool.

mommomodinodin

The Donkey At My School

The donkey at my school goes hee haw a lot. There is people that live at the house with the donkey and I think that the donkey wakes up all the people at their house in the morning. The donkey is tied up close to the road by my school. At school I hear him when I am working and I hear him when I have recess and I hear him when my teacher is reading a story and I hear him when the parents pick up their kids. And the donkey scared Odin. Some people in my school laughed.

The Cows

In our neighbour's backyard I saw three cows. They are on a leash. We see lots of cows in Guadeloupe, but no milk cows, only meat cows. And they are all on a leash. I've seen cows on the beach, and on the soccer field and beside the road. They are usually eating grass and there is a kind of bird that keeps care of the cows. The bird is white and looks like a crane. This bird stands beside a cow, and sometimes on the cow, and likes to eat bugs. In French he is called a garde boeuf which means take care of meat cow.

A Beach of a Weekend

Saturday we beached at Plage des Raisins Clairs. This beautiful white sand, swimming beach is just 5 minutes drive from us.  The boys love to kick the ball around in the wide expanse of sand. Floating in the water is so relaxing (check out Odin below), and many locals grab a tube and just hang out for hours in the water.  Young boys are also in to surfing the waves along the shore.  They run, drop the board on the sand and catch a wave. So fun to watch.


Sunday we went exploring and so glad we did. Past Saint Francois we followed the signs toward Pointe aux Châteaux and stopped along the side of the road. We followed a trail through the trees to the shore, and came across a beautiful protected cove.  The sand was nice, the waves were not overpowering and lots of room to play catch with Stanley.  Just up over the rocky cliffs we found a shallow pool, with waves crashing into a blowhole showering water upon us.  I felt like a mermaid! Such a delightful spot. We can't wait to share it with visitors.

The Zoo in Guadeloupe

At the zoo in Guadeloupe I saw some raccoons. There were about 19 raccoons in the zoo behind the fences and they all came over to say hi to us. I liked the green parrot talking to Peter. He was loud. I saw one jaguar. I saw turtles swimming and some sitting and lots walking. There were also crabs walking right on the walkway in front of us. I like walking on the ropes in the trees, and I liked playing on the playground in the middle of the tall trees.

Not Hallowe'en, but Toussaint

Hallowe'en is a favourite holiday of ours. In Toronto we delight in creating costumes, carving pumpkins and decorating the house. The excitement of trick or treating is as much for admiring the efforts of our neighbours and saying hello, as it is for the junk food haul. As Hallowe'en is not celebrated here in Guadeloupe we celebrated a few of our cherished traditions on our own. The kids threw together some costumes and we did some impromptu trick or treating around our home. Instead of our usual post-treat pig-out dance party, the kids jumped in the pool for a night swim, then we finished off the night with our favourite Hallowe'en stories.

This time of year is devoted to Toussaint, the All Saints celebration. Families spend the week prior to November sprucing up their family cemetery plots (which are above ground). Beginning the evening of Nov 1 the cemeteries are open and welcoming. Snacks and flowers are sold at the entry way.The dark night is lit up with candles on all the graves. Family and friends gather around their plots with flowers and rum to pray, give thanks, and reminisce about the good old days. There was such a powerful sense of community and belonging among the candles and we truly appreciated the opportunity to experience this unique Guadeloupe tradition.