Deshaies, Guadeloupe ~ All This in ONE Day!

The main street of Deshaies.

WOW! What a fabulous day we have had here in Deshaies. This small fishing village has a strong French feel and very little English is spoken. Needless to say, our communication is poor since we don’t speak much French, but that hasn’t prevented us from having fun!

Church bells ring at the hour and half hour!

Today began with 8 am Mass. Fortunately all Catholic Masses have the same format and I had my on-line missal with todays readings and Gospel in hand. Without it we would have understood almost nothing. Once the Mass was complete, the priest and congregation immediately began an additional service of some sort.  I am not sure why or what the significance was as the only thing I understood was the Litany of Saints.  All told, we were in church for two hours.  We enjoyed some delightful music and were able to receive Communion for the first time in weeks.

After Mass, we decided to take a walk we read about in the Chris Doyle Leeward Islands guide book. The book said “anyone ready for a cool, shady scramble should follow the Deshaies River as it winds its way into the mountains.”

Create your own path on this beautiful stream.

Well this “scramble” is actually a pretty intense hike as we had to traverse over, under and around boulders. The “path” is not marked and this hike is really an opportunity to get in touch with your inner child and explore a river without having your mom reminding you to be careful and not go too far!

Photo Op!

After a solid two hours of rock hopping, we found the road that would allow us to walk home. However, the guide book also said the very adventurous could carry on another few minutes to reach the furthest point along the river. Have you ever known us to stop before completing a challenge? Onward!

It was a shady climb.

End of the line….

About 20 minutes past the road, we found “the end” which was a crystal clear waterfall on the backside of a cave that opened into a small circular area before cascading down through the rocky river. Also a perfect place for a very chilly swim!

Looking out from the cave.

After a total of nearly 3 hours of hiking, we started our walk back to Deshaies via a road. One of the first things we encountered was a retreat or convent of some kind called St. Michael the Archangel. It was a beautiful, peaceful area that included an outdoor Stations of the Cross and a shrine to Mary!

The photo doesn’t capture the serenity of the setting.

There are 10 “beads” between each post; a giant rosary!

After this point, the road descended pretty quickly past houses, dogs, cows and chickens. We were quite happy to reach the dock and dinghy back to LIB!

Frank and Captain took naps while I enjoyed some quiet time reading and watching the sun set.

I thought this would be the end of the day.

One more trip to grass for Captain led us to discover that June 21st is the Festival of Music in France and in Deshaies.  So off we went, back to town to enjoy a walk down main street to check out the celebration.

The largest ensemble we saw.

The group with the most unique sound.

There were five tents interspersed along main street and each held a unique musical offering. We enjoyed strolling along and stopping to hear the various groups.

I have to admit, sitting on a street curb, listening to a local orchestra with a quarter moon shining in the night sky was rather enchanting.

I feel very blessed to have this opportunity to experience such a variety of places and people!