It’s been a busy couple of days, so I haven’t had much time to blog. However, now I am safely ensconced in a hammock about twenty feet up a tree in Martinique, I have time to write. Unfortunately, the quality of arboreal WiFi in Martinique is not that good, so I may get bored waiting for pictures to upload and cut the soles off my shoes and learn to play the flute instead.

Friday was our last full day in Martinique. We went to a beach we hadn’t been to before, and started walking along the coast road, which turned into a hiking trail. Coming in the other direction we met the couple from Oxford we had gone snorkeling with the other day, so we turned around and walked back talking to them, then went to one beachfront bar for drinks and another for lunch, which I think set a new record for relaxed service. Still, I finally got to try oaussous, the local freshwater prawns.

They’re delicious, more like a little lobster than a shrimp in taste. They were definitely worth waiting for.

Deshaies wanted to say goodbye to us properly. In the evening we had the carnival parade. Our front deck gave us the best view in town. There was a TV camera set up on the deck right next to ours.

I haven’t read up on the folklore of carnival, so I don’t know why this guy is riding in a truck full of hats…

… what the devil is doing in the trunk of a motor car…

… or why this group of kids’ performance included one of them riding a tricycle at high speed into a road sign, dying, receiving CPR, and then dancing…

Death and rebirth? Zombification? Road safety?

Why was there a Mickey Mouse with LED lights on his ears and one lonely starfish?

But enough questions, on with the show.

If you’re wondering about those annoying guys in orange shirts blocking the view, they were the TV crew. Let’s zoom right past them.

There is a tradition of whip cracking here. Parties of kids dressed as zombies and armed with whips and horns will stop cars at intersections demanding money. It’s the local equivalent of, “A penny for the Guy,” except that they don’t burn anyone in effigy afterwards. There were the whip crackers in the parade.

And there we were thinking all those loud bangs were someone being murdered.

The next morning a rainbow from our back deck.