500 Miles

First session at 7 AM, at the hotel.  Walked up to Hotel Bakoua (.4 miles) for session #2 at 8:20.  Walked back to Hotel Bambou (.4 miles) for 9:20 session, which was promptly cancelled.  Did some shopping (1 mile), then walked back to Bambou to drop off stuff (1 mile).  Walked to Carayou Hotel for 10:30 session (1.1 mile).  Walked back to Bambou (1.1 mile) for lunch.  Next session was at Bambou.  I skipped the 1:50 session to go to the beach.  Walked to Carayou (1.1 mile) and swam for an hour.  Walked back to Bambou to get ready for dinner.  Did you add all that up? Lol.  Dinner was at the Pineapple Restaurant, the food was good, but there was loud music, and it was crowded and hot.  Took the bus back, and packed a little to go home tomorrow.  Total damage done: 17,420 steps and 7.61 miles.

Sugar Sugar

 Same as yesterday, sessions in the morning, then lunch.  At 3 I went on a tour of La Pagerie, the area where Empress Josephine’s family had a sugar plantation.  I was disappointed that the house was gone, but the museum portion (in the old kitchen) was interesting.  After hopping back on the bus, we stopped at a sugar museum, also very interesting.  It’s so hot here!  Very humid, too.  Dinner was good, as usual.  No dancers tonight.

Arrrrrrr

Started out early with some sessions, they’re all over Trois-Îlets, I had 7,000 steps by noon.  After lunch at Carayou, traditional French food, I rested up a bit, went to one more session, and then walked up to the Marina.  Almost a mile, but after walking to each hotel for various sessions, and the walking tour, it ended up being 7.5 miles.  It’s 84 degrees, but with the humidity, it was more like 94.  You better believe I slathered on the sunscreen.  The walking tour was interesting, led by two pirates.  I learned at little about Fort de France.  Sometimes the accent here can be harder to understand.  After a post-tour appetizer, I went to dinner late.  After dinner we were treated to traditional music and dancing.  A long day, but a good one.

Man cannot live by bread alone-unless he has a tray of pain au chocolat in front of him.

Today was day 1 of the conference, so I walked over to the Bakoua Hotel to register at 6:45 this morning.  It started to pour on the way back, it did that off and on all day.  Breakfast was good, then we got on the ferry to Fort de France.  Lucie, Béatrice and I walked around a little.  I saw a man.  I saw lots of men, but this one was a bit different, because he was stark naked, walking down Schoelcher Street.  Nobody paid attention to him.  I hope someone helped him find some clothes.  The opening session was at a hotel in town.  Unfortunately, the keynote speaker couldn’t get to the hotel, we never did find out why.  Lunch was a buffet at the hotel, and then a few of us wandered around the city for awhile.  During a downpour, we talked to a local for a long time.  I didn’t get her name, but she was interesting to talk to.  At 3:30 we caught the ferry back to Trois Ilets, and I’m currently in the AC, recuperating.