"How much for a two hour tour? $40? Too much!" Such went our conversations after disembarkation from our Carnival ship and arriving in town after a $2-3 cab ride into town. We really weren't planning on going into town at that point, but fellow passengers at the dock approached us about going into town, so their cab would be full and thus take off for town. Most publicly hired vehicles don't move until the vehicle is full, maximizing the fare for the cab driver. Having a full taxi or tour bus seems to be the rule in the Caribbean.

Shopping
Once in town, we went to the various tents that were set up, with lots of goodies to tempt the tourists. LOTS of dolls were on display, made with various components of coconuts for the dresses, as well as banana leafs. These small dolls started out at $3.00. Beaded jewelry was everywhere, as well as leather footwear and cloth that women wrap around themselves at the beach -- sarongs? Carved coconut shells, made into bird feeders, were $6.

Post Office
We asked if there was a local post office around, so we could mail postcards. We were assured there was and it was pointed out, a yellow sign, about a block away. We purchased the postcards and went to the post office. The door was locked, but there were folks inside. Someone opened the door for us. We waited our turn and was told through some sort of sign language, since the locals spoke French, that the place we wanted to be was around the corner, same sign. We entered the REAL post office and there was a line of about 15 people. We began searching for a low cost tour instead. Post card stamps are $1.00 apiece. We decided to mail our postcards the next day on Barbados. We gave them to the ship's pursur and they have yet to arrive, 2 weeks later.

Enter Charles
"How much for a tour? $20? No, I only want to spend $15. OK. SOMEONE will want to take us on a tour for $15 apiece." Charles was from Rhode Island, a fellow Carnival ship traveler, who we had just met. He was very shrewd, wanting to get the best bang for his buck. He asks a few other cab drivers, same response.

Enter Dave and Ivy
This is one of the couples we tended to run into where ever we went. We met them at breakfast a couple of days earlier and 6 out of the 8 folks at our breakfast table were on the same tour bus, of 16 people, later that day, totally unplanned. Here they were on the street corner, them, too, looking for an inexpensive tour.

The 5 of us teamed up, and Charles agreed to spend an extra $5 to fill the tour cab, a Kia Carnival, for $20 apiece, giving the driver $100. Most taxis are Mercedes Benz. We asked how much gas cost the driver, $6 per gallon. The truth? Who knows. Charles got a recommendation from the cab driver who drove him to the shopping area that the cab driver we hired spoke good English. Yeah, right... That was pretty much the last English we heard from the driver.

The cab driver was polite, however and the tour was longer than 2 hours. We stopped at a couple of tourist shopping areas, tented areas with various hand made items, along with $6 sarongs. The landscape was beautiful, with lush, green forests surrounding us. Darn, I wish I'd brought more money with us. As it was, Charles had agreed to cover our taxi costs, since all we had was travelers checks with us. We would repay him when we arrived at the ship.

We passed an area, on the way back to the ship that had rock walled ruins, across the street from the black sand beaches. Due to the language barrier, I would not tell what these were. We also stopped at a large Catholic Church on our way out of town that had a few souvenirs for sale, outside its doors.

Bring on the rum, mon!
One of our stops along the way was a trip to the local rum distillery, with a self guided tour, a large mansion gracing the background, off limits to tourists. Once we passed all the equipment, we went into the gift shop, where they gave out medicine cup sized samples of rum. I learned that white rum was aged in stainless steel containers, while the golden rum was aged in oak casks. We also learned that rum is a product of sugar cane, which grows abundantly on Martinique.

Crops
Another crop growing on Martinique, is bananas. We saw banana plantations where bananas had blue bags covering them, controlling insects and ripening. A banana tree only grows one crop of bananas before it dies. Baby banana plants grow at the base of the mother plant to take its place.

We also saw mahogany trees, with its characteristic red wood, lying in pieces along the roadside. Bamboo also abounded on this island, whose uses include protection from soil erosion, crafts and fishing poles. Unfortunately, abandoned, pieced out autos also "graced" the roadside. Perhaps metal recycling is not popular here. Roads are narrow and have potholes, despite its warm climate.

On Foot
We walked around the city of Port de France. We saw street vendors selling items such as preserved small fish and a baked sandwich. They charged the local money. We got change back from our $1.00 bill we gave to the woman. We wondered what to do with it, and she took it back and gave us another small fish, about 1/2 the size of a cucumber, basically two fish for the price of $1.00.

We went to the tiny local grocery store, without air conditioning, and saw few beverages that one would see back home, such as Coke and Pepsi. We were hot and thirsty, but saved ourselves. One of our dinner partners back on the ship, found a new drink for himself. He went to grab a Heineken beer. He grabbed a nearby bottle instead. He opened it up and found it very fizzy. He took a sip and I forget his reaction to the taste. He looked at the label and it had a MARIJUANA leaf on it! Oh, my, and his wife is a drug counselor! This was certainly a mistake on his part, but he was concerned that the THC would stay in his bloodstream for 30 days.

Local language
Very little English is spoken here, French, creole and Patrois being the most common languages on this part of the island, which is owned by France. Living conditions along our two hour tour were primarily the poor areas. There are three main economic classes, rich, middle income, and poor.

Geography, Details
Martinique is part of the West Indies. The island is about 50 miles by 22 miles. It is part of the Lesser Antilles or Windward Islands. It is surrounded by both the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans. It is located about 1965 miles from New York City. There are over 357,000 inhabitants in this county. 90% of the residents are black, 5% white, 5% other. The literacy rate is 93%. Life expectancy is 78 years. The island is 95% Catholic. A natural disaster, such as a hurricane, happens about every 5-8 years. Most of the sugarcane production is made into rum, with bananas being exported to France. Most meat, vegetables and grain must be imported. Services account for most of the income.* It is OK if you use the "thumbs up" signal. Do not put your index finger and thumb together for an OK sign. It has derogatory implications on this island, meaning, "worthless."

I am liberal in my recommendation of Martinique. A traveler would probably enjoy this island more if they were able to speak the local language, as few of the residents speak English.

Mt. Pelee Volcano
Did you ever hear of Mt. Pelee and its volcanic devastation? It is located in the city of St. Pierre, at the north end of this island. It last erupted on May 8, 1902. The blast, killed 29,000 folks from its fumes. One man survived. He was in jail.

References*
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/mb.html


Recommended: Yes