- You've had vacations before -
- now it's time to explore! -
Civilized explorers spend their days trekking through the tropical rain forests of Guadeloupe and their nights enjoying the culture of France.
Your time on Guadeloupe is more than a vacation - It's Civilized Exploration. Guadeloupe is a Caribbean island with tropical rain forests and a volcano, and its also a departement of France with the language, culture, and cuisine of the continent. You can explore to your heart's content without fear of bringing the ills of the Twentieth Century to the native peoples. On the contrary - the Creole culture will work its magic on you.
So spend your days as a Civilized Explorer sweating on the trails in the rain forest, cooling off in the natural pool below a waterfall, and climbing a volcano with steaming fumeroles. Learn about epiphytes. Photograph wild orchids. Wait under the lush foliage for a heavy rain to pass over. Sail to a small, uninhabited island and snorkel a reef.
But after the hard stuff, shower in your air-conditioned hotel room. Rest on the palm-lined beach. Go to the outdoor market in Point-a-Pitre and buy fresh tropical fruit. Have a drink at a sidewalk cafe. Spend your evenings dining in the airconditioned comfort of some of the best French and Creole restaurants in the world.
I'm including here a picture of a nude woman floating on her back, taken underwater from her right side. Her skin is dappled with sunlight coming through the water, and she seems to glow.
On the civilized island of Guadeloupe, there is no cholera, no malaria - in fact, there are no poisonous animals or plants. You won't be sleeping out in a hammock under a mosquito net in 100-degree heat with 100% humidity. Have you read about rainforest dwellers wrenched from Stone Age hunter-gatherers to Post Modern tourist sites? Not on Guadeloupe. You won't see villagers who have been corrupted by tourism, hawking souvenirs for Yanqui dollars, and doing choreographed "native" dances timed for your tour.
You will see an island which does not cater to tourists. Guadeloupe has an economy built around agriculture, not tourism. In fact, it is possible that you will be the only Americans on the island. As a result, there are no phony celebrations, no hokey costume parties, no theme nights. All that you experience on Guadeloupe will be authentic.
NASA has made available a great satellite photo of Guadeloupe, with clouds being blown off La Soufrière and into the ocean towards Les Saintes. And you can find a map of the island at the University of Texas. Naturally, the CIA has thoroughly investigated the island and issued this report, giving a great deal of useful, and much useless, information about the island, its geography, people, government, and climate.
Return to The Civilized Explorer
http://www.cieux.com/fwi.html
