day 7, and day 8

Before I tell you about the next two days,I am sending a pic of roof top hot water heaters, pretty well on every indiviual home in Martinque. What a great idea-- but maybe not for canadian winters! So day 7 was a long tiring day, on the bus at 11am heading to the airport for our flight to Guadeloupe, which was to go at 2pm, but was delayed -- so nearly 330 before we took off. that meant that we didnt get to the hotel till nearly 630. Got our room, washed up and went for dinner at 7--if we cpuld find our convuluted way! So now I will tell you about this hotel! 6 buildings, we are in building #5, one of the furthest away from reception, or restaurant--only one chair in the room, a shower in the bathtub, that works or doesnt. Neil and I are fairly adgile, but there are many who are not! It will be a miracle if no one falls. No balcony that you can sit out on, but you can open the glass sliding doors and look out, but we can see the ocean thru the trees,and the grounds are beautiful. Enough of the gripping!! Day 8 Guadeloupe is made up of 2 islands, looks like a butterfly, seperated by a river. So our hotel was on the right island called Grande Terre, we drove across the river to the other island, thru the lush tropicsl forest in the center of the island, then north along the coast enjoying views of the carribean ocean. first stop was the 'Crayfish' waterfalls, pretty but sure not spectactular. Next stop was at another Botanical Gardens, wonderful tropical plants and flowers, including colouful birds, lorikeets, macaws, and flamingos. Then we had lunch at a creole restaurant, fish again, but very good. Next we walked thru a medicinal garden with a guide, very interesting. There is even a plant leaf that you can use for sandpaper, very tough. Finally finished with a cocoa workshop, where they showed us the cocoa beans and the process to get it to powder-- had a small cup! Very good. Oh, and I forgot to mention, we were held up with a marti-graw parade. Over 500 dancers, singers and drummers. colourful and noisy! but very important the this culture.