Wow, it’s been ages since I posted here. I mainly post personal stuff to Facebook now, but even there I go through periods of feast or famine. I’m trying to do better. Continue reading
The Caribbean Butterfly
For more about Guadeloupe including some great photos, check out the guest post I wrote for the Lou Messugo Blog.
Guadeloupe: The Caribbean Butterfly.
Note: Guadeloupe is an overseas French department, and up until 2015, 90% of its tourists were from mainland France. This means that French is the official language and English is not widely spoken. To make the most of your trip, I recommend that you learn some French.
Finding Property in Guadeloupe
Though we looked at a few different properties, the one we eventually bought was one we’d seen while we were still planning to buy a house. We were initially attracted to it because the photo on the realtors’ site showed the Îlets de Pigeon – quite simply the best view from this part of Guadeloupe. Continue reading
Understanding Charlie Hebdo
On 7 January 2015, two men stormed the offices of the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo. They murdered 12 people, including the five most famous and beloved cartoonists (one of whom was the editor) and two police officers, and injured 11 others, 5 seriously. Those are the basic facts of the tragedy, which you undoubtedly already know. But what you may not understand is why – beyond the horror of murder and mayhem – this event has touched every French person so deeply. As one internet meme says: “12 dead. 66 million wounded.” Why is Charlie Hebdo so important and iconic? Continue reading
House Hunting in Guadeloupe
Within two days of arriving in Guadeloupe after a hellish move, we started house hunting. Continue reading
Why Guadeloupe?
Waterfall near Souffrière volcano
People often ask why my husband and I decided to move permanently to Guadeloupe – and by permanently, I mean we are actually buying a piece of property to build a home and a small business. Up until now, we have always rented. Though we’ve lived two years or more in a few places – Morocco, France, Pennsylvania – we always knew that they were temporary homes. This time, we plan to stay. So, why Guadeloupe?
There are several reasons, and perhaps the most important is also the most banal: we like the weather. I am très frileuse, as the French put it: very intolerant of cold. We would have liked to stay in France, but after 5 years, I realized it was just too cold. Hyères has the Mistral, which can make even warm days chilly, so after a lot of research we moved to the warmest place dans l’Hexagone: Menton, whose microclimate and protective mountains result in moderate winters. Even so, I was still cold and unhappy for several months of the year, so we had to look further afield. Continue reading