Two Octogenarians. in French Guadeloupe

Norm and I stayed on the French island of Guadeloupe and stayed at Rose des Ventes, a charming little hotel close to the beach.  The first night we were there I wondered at the loud noise. The next morning I found it was the surf booming in.  We could also hear frogs everywhere all night on the island--they sounded like spring peepers. And the roosters crowed all night.

At our hotel we went up to an outdoor deck where we were served le petit dejeuner of yogurt, hot chocolate, croissant, baguettes and butter, jam--more than we could eat.  The young couple that run the place were very considerate and gave us anything we needed.

The beach sand here is a golden color.  The island was built by a volcano.  In the near distance we could see a smoking volcano, Montserrat.  The water was very warm but the waves were so strong that I got knocked around a lot and came back with a truck load of sand inside of my bathing suit. The boogie boarders were enjoying it though.  Norm didn't want me to try that again so we walked the beach and I snapped a few photos and appreciated the varied sounds of the Caribbean as well as a mix of people enjoying a day at the beach.

There are restaurants on this beach and we ate le dejeuner where we saw the most people.  I ordered red snapper--delicious, and Norm ordered octopus.  I sampled it and it was very tender and tasty. It came with salad and red beans and rice. We did not need to eat for the rest of the day.

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A Journey to Mexico

Lisa and I made a beautiful journey to the Mexican Riviera where the Caribbean is incredible shades of turquoise and deep blue.  We visited Tulum the ancient walled Mayan city overlooking the sea and we swam in a cenote with stalactites and underwater stalagmites in many mysterious shapes.  We learned of the beautiful Mot Mot bird that led people to fresh water with its distinctive voice.  We visited a white sand beach and watched a young pelican fishing. He was not good at it yet.

The last day we took a snorkel tour where Lisa was thrilled to see an eagle ray for the first time. She looked at it and then it turned and looked at her.  When she was a child she peered into her fish tank.  Now that she is grown, she swam in a coral reef teeming with colorful fish and fan corals waving in the currents, huge brain corals and with barracuda smiling at her.

The days in Mexico were warm and sweet as honey.  We returned to a snow storm and Michigan weather.  Sigh.