Location: St Pierre, Martinique
Head in the clouds, the title of our blog today. As well as shoulders, knees, toes, and about every other part of our bodies, today. We’re in Martinique! And we’ve learnt they don’t speak much English here. We’ve also learned a thing or two about being prepared for anything when climbing mountains, but more on this to come.
The first thing that Nini, Sylver, and Kackie did this morning was launch our trusty dinghy Plaai, but not before Eli had inflated the tubes to spec. Talia, Bennet, Cecily, Ben, Nicole, and Eli weren’t to be found in their bunks, but this was because they had slept in hammocks, just as the sailors of old. They even braved the rain, which, as would turn out, would prep them for what was to come later in the day.
Darien, Olympus, and Dave churned out a masterful batch of pancakes, or what we call crumpets or flapjacks in the rest of the world. These were wolfed down, however, as we were already late for our bus pickup! Our driver whisked us along the diminutive jungle roads towards the trailhead. He was alarmingly driving on the wrong side of the road! But fortunately, by some unbelievable coincidence, so was every other vehicle that passed, so that the net result was a hair-raising, tummy-turning roller coaster ride up the southern side of the volcano known as Mt Pelee, with Darien’s flapjacks tickling the epiglottis at each turn. By the top Darien and Cecily were showing slightly green, the first of many colours they would display through the day.
“Pretty windy, hey? said Isaac”
“What did you say?!” yelled Addi, Maddy and Kiki in unison.
“He said, ‘everybody packed a good jacket, right?'” I replied cheekily.
At this question, Darien, Cecily, Olympus, and Shane turned an embarrassed bright red, the second colour. They had forgotten to pack their jackets, and the colder wind at this higher elevation had spread goosebumps across the bare shoulders. We resolved to proceed with caution and to make wise decisions regarding exposure before putting ourselves at risk on the mountain. So off we trekked, and within 20 minutes found ourselves climbing a near-vertical incline into the cloud base. The majestic views of the Caribbean Sea and the
great Atlantic Ocean were swept away in sheets of mist, which would continue to whip about us until our return to the car park 4 hours later. The group became spread out as the path grew longer and steeper, until we rendezvoused at the base of the La Chinois ascent for lunch. The surrounding landscape was awash with rushing cloud, and we had zero concept of our true loft, but for the all too fresh memories of endless scrambling on all fours up endless sheer, slippery mountain sides. Once the group had rejoined for this lunch break, where they were found huddling in the shelter of refuge 3, it became apparent after a glance at Darien and Cecily’s cyan lips that we needed to make some decisions. We clearly were not going to enjoy that well-deserved view from the tippy top of the volcano, and the chilly wind blasted precipitation of the perma-cloud was becoming a concerning matter for those with less protection. So we opted to come about and make instead for the promise of a patisserie or two on return to the coast. This brought some colour back to a couple of those pale faces.
We made better time on the way off the mountain, though I have little to report for the bus ride back as I and all else but the driver had nodded well off. We split up at the coast, some to explore the petit town and its pastries, others headed back to Argo to begin dinner prep. This is where the final colour was added to the vibrant palette that was Darien’s face throughout the day, as she and her other chefs, Dave, Olympus, and at times Talia, became one with the galley, covered in the white pigment known as flour. This was in the name of home made Gnocchi! And a fine feast it turned out to be. Meghan had been busy with some provisioning during the day to ensure we are well stocked for the next while, I got to work planning out our next few stops. After dinner, we gathered to watch the latest video from Dave, which will be another cracker.
I look forward to it!