I wanted to blog more about our stay in Italy, the journey home via Mont Blanc in which we had a burst tyre and a stopover in a dilapidated Chateau as the only guests but sadly I have got behind and the next chapter of our year of living adventurously must begin.

Martinique.

Yes, dear readers. Try to restrain your envy when I tell you that I am now on the Caribbean island of Martinique. The temperature is a totally tropical 30 degrees. And we are here for the next six weeks!

We flew from Heathrow to Paris (Orly) yesterday and then from Paris to Fort de France, the capital of Martinique. Martinique is a Department of France, as opposed to a French colony, which is to say it is part of Europe. So we can continue to spend our Euros and speak French.  We didn’t even have to pass through customs when we arrived. The flight was classed as an internal flight.

We picked up a hire car at the airport and drove to our home for the next week. Weird not to have the Campervan! It was only 7 pm local time but it was already dark and on English time it was midnight, so we felt quite confused and disorientated. Fortunately, David had packed the Satnav, uploaded with a ‘worldwide’ programme so we didn’t have to suss out the route – and driving in France for six weeks meant that driving on the right felt quite natural.  We even managed to stop off at a supermarket (Carfour, just like in France. Wait – this IS France!)

Our accommodation is situated on La Plage de la Pointe Marin, Saint Anne’s, which is on the southern most tip of the island. It is a caravan which goes by the name of Oklahoma. Caravan is a bit of a shabby word for this place – it is a super cool silver Airstream trailer on a wonderfully eccentric site called Airstream Paradise.

If you haven’t heard of an Airstream, you will almost certainly recognise one when you see it. They feature heavily in the movies. A sign in the caravan informs me that all the Airstreams here have been purchased from Warner Brothers. Our one, Oklahoma, was used in the filming of ‘Jurassic World’. They are also pressed into service as trailers for the stars on movie sets.

Compared to the campervan, it is seriously spacious, with a sitting room, kitchen, loo and bedroom. Outside, we have a deck with barbeque, dining area, jacuzzi, and full sized bathroom. I swanned around channelling my inner trailer queen –  Laura Dern in ‘A Perfect World’ or perhaps Kim Basinger in ‘8 Mile’. After arriving we hit the sack pretty quick. Then today we woke up to discover that we are within spitting distance of the archetypal Caribbean beach,  white sand fringed with palm trees. Move over, Laura Dern. This is the life.

Before arriving, we were concerned about the impact of Hurricane Ophelia. The news told us that the neighbouring island of Domenica was badly hit but that Martinique got off relatively lightly. However, as soon as we hit the beach, we saw that a yacht had been blown off its mooring and was now lying on its side on the beach.  On closer investigation we saw a sign on the hull warning the owners that they have another couple of weeks to claim the boat or it will be towed away. It’s pretty clear that the yacht has no real value anymore as all the windows have been removed and anything of value has been “salvaged”.

We ventured into the local village and had a look around the shops. Rum seemed to be a bit of a theme – rum bars, rum themed T-shirts, rum flavoured food. We came across some women selling local produce and were persuaded to sample their homemade rum punch, the bottle stuffed with tropical fruits. There was also a strong French flavour to the town.  The melding of French and Caribbean culture feels quite surreal.  I saw a Rastafarian leaving a Boulangerie carrying two Baguettes.

Back at the Airstream, we sat outside for lunch, and were joined by a variety of birds and insects. At the unwelcome end are the mosquitos, which are active day and night, and at the welcome end are the birds, most notably a hummingbird dipping its beak into a hibiscus flower.

In the evening, we took a couple of beers onto the beach to watch the sunset, but unfortunately it clouded over before we could see it go down.  Crabs started to appear all along the beach, popping out of holes in the sand. David threw one a peanut and he caught it in his claw. On the way back to the Airstream, we spotted a huge toad moving at surprising speed across the path. As night fell, the noise of cicadas rose to a crescendo, but was soon drowned out by the beat of music from a bar just across the way. Of course! It was Friday night. David barbecued some Marlin and I kept an eye on the bar, but didn’t spot a single customer. We are on the cusp of the low season here, and apart from a few French tourists at Club Med along the beach,  it feels very quiet. We seem to be the only residents of Airstream Paradise. Just us, the toads, the cicadas, the lizards and the birds!