Mud, Lava, and Lunch

My school has an outdoor program that goes on different trips each Saturday. From what I gather, it is mostly exchanged students who are giddy enough to rush the sign ups, so I spent last Saturday sliding around in the forest with some really cool folks from Germany, Spain, Britain, Czech Republic, France, and of course, Martinique.

Absalon: 

The hardest hike of my life. It was 85% mud and 15% tree roots. You can't tell from the pics, but it was brutal. You can tell from the pics that it was really fun. We spent most of the hike just falling on our asses and laughing at each other.

  

Saint Pierre:

Last weekend I also traveled to a more northern part of the island, a small town called Saint Pierre, which is also the hometown of my host father, Joby. It was originally the economic capital of the island, until the eruption of Mount Pelée in 1902. Check out the remains of a house (right) and the theatre (bottom).

The catastrophe killed everyone in the town except one man, Cyparis, whose prison cell wall protected him from the lava, fumes, and ash of the volcano. He had been imprisoned for participating in a bar fight, which was the only reason he survived. He waited for three days in the prison cell, licking the water that dripped down the walls, until he was found by a couple of nuns who were searching through the rubble. He was then hired by a U.S. circus, "Barnum & Bailey's," where he retold the tragedy and showcased his burns until the end of his life. You can see his prison cell on the left.

My favorite part of Saint Pierre was spending time with my new friend, Matilda, who is from Sweden. We spent most of the day chatting on the beach and trying to find cheap food (a difficult task here.) By that point my camera was dead though-- batteries are outrageously expensive here-- so cheesy Myspace pics of us will have to be posted at a later date.

Coco:

Tomorrow morning, our handsome rooster, Coco, will be stripped of his feathers and turned into lunch. Youma is tired of being woken up at 5am-- and so are the rest of us. I was horrified for the first 5 minutes after I heard the news, but then Youma told me that we will be getting a new chick-- a soon to be hen-- and I (shamefully) betrayed Coco. As a house, we have all been being particularly sweet to him in his final days, which has been made easier with the knowledge that we will all be getting a little more sleep in the mornings. Rest in peace, old chap, rest in peace.