After arriving on Wednesday 9 July in the airport, we then took a cab to our hotel, Hotel de la Pagerie in Trois-Îlets. The hotel is situated right near the harbor and there are a few shops around. That evening, we just wandered around the little town a bit.
The next day, we arranged to go on a little boating excursion for the following day. Since we didn't think we would be able to go on a different boat ride that afternoon, we decided to take a ferry into the capital, Fort-de-France. While there, we walked around for a bit, stopping in various stores and checking out a local market. We then headed back on the ferry to Trois-Îlets and relaxed for the rest of the evening and afternoon.
On Friday morning, we took a boat ride out to see the Mangrove forest. While the captain of the boat was speaking about interesting things regarding the local fauna and flora, he was nice enough to translate some stuff for us when we asked. 
At one point, one of the passengers started explaining what the guide was saying in French. The lady, a German who was with her husband and two children, was tremendously helpful in translating what our guide was saying.
After the trip, we got a little food and relaxed in the afternoon, including getting feet massages at a nearby place, before spending our evening in our hotel room.The following day, we spent mostly in our hotel room and I got a lot of reading done. As mentioned previously, we were nowhere near the synagogue for shabbas, which is why we spent it in the hotel. In the evening, we got full massages, which was nice and honeymoon-appropriate (and also my first full massage).
The next day was Sunday and, as a lot of things were closed, we mostly hung out (I learned Talmud and read) for the day and swam in the pool.Finally, the next day, we set out to return to the US.
One other thing: the hotel was okay, but since I must've gotten used to the comfy American mattress on which we slept at La Toubana for the previous three nights, I had such a difficult time sleeping the five nights we were at Hotel de la Pagerie.
(yup, another honeymoon posting)After checking out of our hotel, we then put our luggage in a luggage storage room at the hotel and headed to the nearby Guadeloupe Aquarium. At the aquarium, they have posted four different names for each species: French, English (with the Union Jack), the Latin scientific name, and the Guadeloupean [Creole] name (if there was a name). 
All of the species are native to the Caribbean (except for some Amazonian species). For any English-speaking person, all of the signs were in French. There were some interesting fish and tanks (combination of fish, etc.). We thought the lookdown fish had a cool color. There were calming sea sounds music all throughout the aquarium to provide some of the ambiance. One of the new additions to the aquarium was the shark tank, although there were only a couple of different types of sharks there. Also in the tank was a very gracefully moving ray.
After the aquarium, we then went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage, then we headed to our new hotel, La Toubana, which was quite nice. It was, by far, the nicest hotel of our trip. One thing that made it unique was that it was the only one of the hotels that had American mattresses in addition to there being a DVD player in the room (although this hotel had the fewest TV stations, but that didn't seem to be such a bad thing). 
As such, we ventured into the hotel's tiny DVD library and found mostly 1980's American action or scary flicks. So, it was slim pickings, but we enjoyed watching a DVD or two that evening. One of the cool things about the place was that there was a small pool of some sort that surrounded and went beneath the wooden walkway upon entering the hotel property that had lobsters and two nurse sharks in the water (those nurse sharks were so gracefully swimming about, it was pleasant to see them swim). The guy in charge when we got there, Laurent, was very nice and helpful and would be so for the duration of our stay there. Also, the hotel had a pool next to which you could swim up to the bar (though we didn't end up doing that). Also, the hotel had a decent work-out room with mostly fairly newish equipment that was not worn out at all. Also, the views were excellent, as the hotel is located at a clifftop. By far, La Toubana was our favorite hotel on the trip and we got a good deal on our stay, as it was during the offseason, though it definitely cost a pretty penny to stay during the winter.
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This morning, we woke up earlier than the previous two days, as we were checking out today. Just as in the previous two days, I got in some QT with my Talmud learning, although it was not as relaxing, since there was no rain this morning, plus it was hot (I was sweating just sitting there). There was a lady giving massages, so Rachel got her much desired massage. We also were not as rushed, also, since we were able to check out at noon, rather than eleven, the hotel's standard check-out time (it wasn't a problem since business was kind of slow this season (by the way, they charge about 100€ more during the winter season, when they are busier)).
The taxi driver for our trip to the airport was a talkative one who knew some English and heavily encouraged me to work on my French (it's important, a lot of people speak it, and one never knows if one will use it when traveling or on one's job, he said). So, for the ride, we worked on my conversational French (he said it takes just ten minutes everyday to work on it). I found out why there are cattle all over Guadeloupe (and, for that matter, goats): after slavery, the land for people to place their cattle was in their front yards, tying them to stakes that they have to move everyday so there is grass for them to eat. Anyways, at the end of our journey, he said something about Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible at which point, we said we are Jews and he tried persuading us, etc. He said he was a seventh-day Adventist and that he also doesn't work on Shabbat. His interesting message to us was that Shabbat, in addition to refraining from forbidden stuff, to work on ourselves and to somehow show love [like Jesus(?)].
Anyways, we got to the airport and got our liquor from customs and got on the plane (after having to wait an extra hour on account of the plane having been delayed from Panama.
The flight was about 25 minutes long, probably the shortest plane ride of my life. The plane on the Air Caraibe flight was a nice small Embraer jet (much nicer than the old small plane we took from San Juan). When we went through customs, they didn't ask us about the liquor, but that's probably because we were coming from Guadeloupe.
We then took a taxi cab to our new hotel.
We walked around town in the evening and took it easily.
Another honeymoon posting.
On our first full day of our honeymoon, we went over to Philipsburg on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten. Some things we hadn't known prior to our trip: the island is duty-free, there are lots of jewelry stores (especially on the Dutch side), there is more going on on the Dutch side. So we walked about, doing some shopping, getting, among other things, some jewelry for Rachel and some liquor (the prices were fantastic! Generally, bottles of liquor were half of what they are in the US). We chanced upon Nick Maley's That Yoda Guy shop. Maley helped create Yoda and worked on the Mos Eisley Cantina scene in the first Star Wars movie. When we walked into the store, an Englishman greeted us and, at first I didn't think it was him, but, indeed, it was. I got a picture with him after purchasing something. He was a very nice guy, who said he has plans to expand his store and has some stuff from the Star Wars movies, as well as some other movie memorabilia.
We also saw the Guavaberry Emporium, the building of which is described on their website as "The old cedar townhouse on Frontstreet is a local landmark & legend. Built on the site of an ancient synagogue (abandoned in 1781), it was once the Governor's home. Now it is the Guavaberry Company's World Headquarters." So, as far as I know, this was the only point of any Jewish interest on St. Martin (although, apparently, on the nearby island of St. Eustatius, there is an archaelogical dig of a synagogue (thanks, Barry!)).
After about five o'clock, the streets were clearing out as most of the people walking on the boardwalk and along Front street, as the two cruise ships which were docked were departing a little after that point. So, around six o'clock, we took a taxi ride back to our hotel and that was our evening.
After checking out and taking a taxi over to the airport (which was fairly empty, but it could just have been the morning), we then caught our flight to San Juan where we had our connecting flight to PTP.
When we arrived in San Juan (yes, we were briefly in the US for Independence Day), instead of just going to the next gate over to catch our next flight, we went through customs, then picked up our checked luggage, then deposited it with the TSA agents, then had to go through another security checkpoint, even though we had already gone through one in St. Martin, and then finally were at our gate.
After we got to our gate, we got on a bus that took us only about 200 feet away(!) to our plane. After we were on the plane and started to taxi, we then waited for an hour to take off - apparently, it was due to some radar problems in the Guadeloupe area(?).
We then arrived in Guadeloupe and took a cab to our hotel. Whilst leaving the airport, we noticed cattle grazing nearby. In fact, as we went, we kept seeing more and more cattle, which was weird to me (finally, on Wednesday, I would find out why).
Eventually, we got to the hotel and it was fine - we then looked at the bar, the pool, and then the beach on the hotel property, which was neat.
We then walked over to the synagogue, which was about a ten minute walk from the hotel, and inquired as to when services would be that evening. We headed back to our hotel and got ready for shabbat and headed over to the synagogue.
There were between 30 and 50 men there and several women there. For Kabbalat Shabbat, they were using the regular Sefardic tune thing until they reached Mizmor LeDavid, when they used the tune that is commonly sung in America. Some of the youths were wearing shorts, though all of the adults were wearing pants.
After services, we headed back to our hotel, where we had some food and went to sleep.
(another honeymoon posting)
We arose early, finished packing, then we took a taxi to the airport (which was, just like our taxi trip to the hotel, expensive (we had wanted to take the ferry in to Fort-de-France, then take a taxi from there, but since it was a holiday, the earliest ferry was not running (a later one was, though it wasn't early enough for us), so we couldn't take it). Again, just like the taxi ride to the hotel, the Martinican countryside is a nice sight to behold, with many verdant hills and some houses dotting those hills.
We got to the airport and got to our gate and waited and waited - without any notifications that our Liat flight would be late: the boarding time was supposed to be at 8:45 and flight time at 9:30. Finally, at 9:33, they announced that it was delayed to 10:10. Apparently, the previous flight had been delayed. Our flight to Bermuda had a stop in St. Lucia, which was a 12 minute flight. When we had arrived onto the [old American (e.g. the emergency door instructions were in English)] plane, it smelled a bit. We weren't the only ones to notice it - as the flight stewardess came down the aisle and sprayed air freshener - certainly a first for me. And she did the same for our flight from St. Lucia to Barbados.
We arrived in Barbados and they had a nice little fountains and flowers area (pictured) that also had a little free wifi (yay!). We then went through customs, exchanged our Euros for Barbados dollars, then we tried to go and drop off our luggage for our next flight and then head into town.
However, it was only noon and the lady at the ticket counter said that they could not take luggage until three hours prior to the flight - at 3:30. So we waited for a half hour to see if they would pity us and capitulate - no such thing. Finally, Rachel and I decided we would go to the capital and see the synagogue and Jewish museum there and maybe walk around as well. So we went to the capital and went to the synagogue there and checked out the Jewish museum, about which I will write in a future post. After that, we decided that we would just go and try checking in for our flight.
When we got to the ticket counter, at 3:30, we still had to wait for the Air Jamaica agents to get back from their break for 15-20 minutes. Whilst we were checking in, we overheard another gate agent say it was delayed - it was not supposed to take off until 9 o'clock! When we found out that information, it was 4 o'clock. We decided we should hang out at the airport for several hours rather than trying to go back into the capital. Then, two and a half hours later, we found out that it was pushed back another half hour. Finally, around 9:45 or so we boarded.
Although we had thought that they had forgotten about our kosher meal order, lo and behold, they actually had our kosher meals. The kosher meals on the Air Jamaica flight are from Jamaica - Jamaica, NY that is. Made by Borenstein Caterers, the little slip of paper accompanying our meal said, "is the largest Kosher Airline Caterer in North America and a leader in its field. We meet the USDA standards and supply meals to 52 International Airlines."
After the in-flight movie (something that I only watched because it was showing on the plane and would never have watched otherwise), which was okay, I napped for less than hour, before waking up as the plane entered into its descent. Finally, we arrived after 3 am and were back in the States (of course, we still had to go through customs and then collect our luggage before going back to our apartment, but we were otherwise back).
(Another honeymoon posting)
We started off the day relaxing around the pool at the hotel, Rachel reading her book and me learning Talmud, when it began raining, so we went to a table beneath the canopy. That is, until the wind took the rain more horizontally, so we then went inside and sat on couches in the empty hotel restaurant, with the rain falling around us.
After learning, I then went back to the hotel room and set out to get an electric adapter. After walking about a half hour, I arrived at the hardware store, but it wouldn't reopen [from lunch break] until an hour later. It wouldn't make sense to go back to the hotel and back, so I continued walking into town, looking for a place that would sell adapters. Although I found no such place, I did get to see how small Ste. Anne, the nearby town, was. I then returned to the hardware store, getting an adapter and a file to get it to properly receive cords. I then walked back to the hotel and we relaxed and read in the afternoon.
In the evening, we showered up and headed back to Bas-du-Fort to go to the kosher restaurant for dinner. We took a taxi and went to the gate of Fort Fleur de l'Éépe, finding that it had closed one hour prior. Not that it mattered, though, since we weren't there for that, anyways, and we probably only missed out on a great view.
Up until this point, this day was the most relaxing day of our trip.
We then headed down the road to hopefully find the kosher restaurant beneath the synagogue. We didn't see a restaurant, so I went up to the synagogue (Or Sameah). When I arrived, I found them about to pray minhah, so I joined them. Between minhah and ma'ariv (the evening prayer service) (or 'arvit), I inquired of someone regarding food. It turns out that there is a restaurant open for lunch, but not for dinner. But, after talking to this person, I was able to talk to the pizza maker. So, we returned for 'arvit. At 'arvit, not only were there many more men, but there were also a lot of women who showed up (and there were none for minhah). Afterwards, the rabbi, Rabbi Benisty spoke and I thought we would then get pizza. Nope. Another guy got up to speak for 5-10 minutes. And then another, at which point I left, mainly because I didn't know what was going on and to check on Rachel, but also because I was too hungry to try and concentrate on the words I could understand. After departing, we asked what was going on. Apparently, a community member had died eight days prior and this was a special evening for him. Had we only known. Then the pizza maker lady informed us that she had to set up food to follow the speaking.
Finally, at 8:20, we went with the pizza maker lady, her husband, and three small kids into their car for a brief car ride to their apartment. She told us that they had had a dairy/pizza restaurant up until four months ago, but there were not enough people interested in keeping kosher for dairy, but they are interested in making sure that the meat they eat is kosher (although there are people like that in America who do that, I realized that halav stam is in America, but not Guadeloupe, France, etc., so kosher cheese and milk are neither common, nor inexpensive), so she didn't have enough business to keep her pizza store going. When we arrived at their apartment, we saw that they still had all of the equipment from the restaurant at their house, including the refrigerator for drinks (a "souvenir", said the pizza maker's husband). We chatted mostly with the pizza maker's husband while she made the pizza, speaking in Hebrew, French and, when necessary, English. At almost nine o'clock, the pizza was ready, although, for the two medium-sized plain pizzas (or, as Rachel called them, personal pizzas), it cost 26€ (although, I figured, the cheese had to be what was particularly costly about it, having to be halav Yisrael, coming from, perhaps, France). On our way out, the pizza maker's husband told us that the blessing on the pizza was mezonot.
We then got a taxi to take us back to the hotel.
Upon our return, we ate our pizzas (three and a half hours after we had planned to eat dinner), which were actually tasty.
We were kind of tired and Rachel fell asleep, whilst I watched a movie I would never have otherwise watched or of which I have heard - Raw Deal, a 1980s Schwarzenegger movie (which made me appreciate his acting in 1990s movies).
(For now, I am posting what I have and will be working on filling in the gaps in my postings about our honeymoon, so the posts may very well be out of order.)
Today was definitely a chill day throughout. After waking up again to rain, we made it inside to the hotel's restaurant's couches and Rachel read whilst I learned Talmud. After a while, Rachel returned to the room to nap. Later on, I joined her to read in the air conditioned room.
Eventually, we decided to go into town to see if we could watch anything of the first day of the 21st annual Gwo Ka festival. Well, although we didn't see any of the festival, we meandered around Ste. Anne and we got some bread, some ice cream, drinks, and wrote some postcards (but got to the post office after it closed). Rachel also got some cute jewelry and I stopped at an Internet Cafe to check e-mail and Facebook (even though there was some wi-fi at certain places at the hotel, it was easier to type at a computer).
Upon our return to our hotel, we tried going swimming, but there were bugs all across the surface of the water, so we quickly decided to return to our hotel room.
After I showered, Rachel pointed out that there were plenty of bugs in our room (after all, the windows were not glass, but rather kind of like shutters, leaving small openings when they were "closed"). After killing a dozen or two dozen bugs, I figured out that since we had turned off our patio light, bugs were attracted to the lights inside our room, the patio light should be turned on, as it had been the previous two nights - indeed, it worked. After showering up, we saw The Bounty and went to sleep.
My wife and I are back from our honeymoon and I hope to be posting about our trip (fortunately, I was keeping track of our goings-on on our iPod (iTouch) and will be able to get a lot of stuff up soon.
