Bicycle
Origami In Guadeloupe -
May 11th, 2002
I awoke and
loaded the dinghy with one of our folding bikes. I had to make my way
to the nearest telephone booth, a good two kilometers away, and coordinate
the day with some friends we were to meet. Taking the bike I thought would
be quicker than walking...maybe it was. I got ashore and took the bike
out of its bag, unfolded it and hoped the pieces that fell off were not
too vital to the bike's operation! Folding bikes are really an exercise
in frustration. If cruising is meant to be a relaxing endeavor, the engineer
who deigns folding bikes is jealously sitting in his/her office thinking
of ways to frustrate the cruiser, or at least make him look ridiculous.
After getting the folded metal into the correct shape I hopped onto the
thing and headed off up the road only to discover that the gear shift
lever has a mind of its own. It would shift between gears at strange intervals
and sometimes shift to a mystery gear in which peddling had no effect
whatsoever on the wheels! Being a volcanic island Guadeloupe is rather
hilly and the gear shift problem quickly became an issue. Going down hill
was fine, coasting along at high speeds the bike became a glorified skate
board. Going up hills was another matter. Even when I did eventually find
the right gear the chain slipped if the grade was moderately steep. I
would slow to a halt then have to hop off and push the bike up the hill
with the locals all looking at me in wonder, thinking what a useless form
of transportation this white guy has.
But, I made
it to the phone booth and talked to the friend with whom we planned to
meet for the day. While on the phone we realized if I had walked the bike
up the hill in the other direction, I'd have been at his house talking
to him in person! Anyway, I rode back down to the beach where I had left
the dinghy and spent the next 20 minutes trying to fit the bike back into
the bag from which I had taken it not 15 minutes before! You would think
that there would be one, maybe two ways to fold a fold-up bike. But, I
can tell you there are more like 67... I know, I tried them all. I'm sure
the fishermen on the pier were in hysterics by the time I finished. Each
time I tried a new configuration I would try again to stuff the bike back
into a bag that was just too small. Finally I cracked the code, and was
on my way back to the boat to pick up Miranda so we could go meet these
friends.
We were going
to meet up with Wabe, his brother Simian and their mom. We had met Wabe
and his friend Matthew in Les Saintes a couple weeks before when they
were on a weekend vacation during their 8 month stint of teaching English
in Guadeloupe. We struck up a conversation with them on a ferry and spent
a lovely day hiking with them around Terre De Bas and eating mangos on
the beach. When we arrived in Guadeloupe we looked up both Matt and Wabe,
and as luck would have it we caught them just as their program was ending
and they were getting ready to head home. Matt invited us to his going
away party and we enjoyed an evening of local cooking and local rum. At
the party we met Wabe's mom and brother who had come down to help Wabe
haul all his stuff back to the US. The next day they were planning on
driving inland up to the waterfalls in the rain forest, and they invited
us to come along. We jumped at the opportunity. So the next morning, after
my bike ride, we walked up to Wabe's small cabin and sat around eating
mangos that had fallen from the tree in the yard while we waited for them
to get their towels and suites together. The five of us jammed into the
little Citron and zoomed off onto the winding road that leads around the
coast of the island. A half hour into the drive we pulled up to a point
with a lighthouse on it, a lighthouse Miranda and I had passed twice from
the water. We walked out onto the rocks that surround the house and Wabe
showed us a spot about 30 feet up from the clear deep water which was
perfect for cliff diving. We spent a good hour doing just that, perfecting
our jacknives and cannonballs and working up the courage to do one or
two real dives. Back in the car we drove on, and up into the mountains.
The hills became very lush and green with a cloud of mist hanging overhead.
We parked again and walked down a path for about half an hour before coming
to a spectacular waterfall that reached up 330 feet. We stripped to our
bathers again, and plunged in the water, this time it was fresh and COLD!
The mist and wind from the waterfall flew with such force that you couldn't
look directly at it without it stinging the eyeballs. We swam until we
were shivering and then Wabe revealed a wonderful secret he'd been hiding...
that just up the hill next to another smaller waterfall were a couple
of thermal hot springs. We bathed ourselves in the steaming pools and
emerged very relaxed. The hike back to the car was made as the sun was
getting low, and we drove back to the boat in darkness. Miranda and I
launched the dinghy and quickly rowed ourselves back to Baggywrinkle,
as we were keen to get started on the stir fry we had planned for dinner.
Ben
Shaw
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