The waterfalls we have visited so far have been pretty but not that tall. Today we set out to visit something higher.

This is Les chutes du Carbet in Guadaloupe National Park. The picture shows the top two of three waterfalls. The top and the bottom ones are a difficult hike to get to, but the middle one has a well paved trail. It’s a bit crowded…

… and gets a bit steep in places…

… but there is a great view at the end.

We spotted a pair on mongooses by the side of the road.

He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits. His eyes and the end of his restless nose were pink; he could scratch himself anywhere he pleased, with any leg, front or back, that he chose to use; he could fluff up his tail till it looked like a bottle-brush, and his war-cry, as he scuttled through the long grass, was: “Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!“

On the way back we stopped at Bouillante again to wallow in the hot water.

Most of the cows here are not fenced in, but they are on leashes to keep them from straying. Now I am imagining the Gwada cowboys. Instead of rounding up the cattle on horseback with bullwhip and six shooter, they just have to gather up a handful of leashes like a professional dog walker. This is why French cinema specializes in existential angst rather than Westerns.