Overdue YouTube videos

I uploaded these videos to YouTube a while ago and just forgot about them. So, here are two videos from the military parade. The third one is of Creole dancers. Enjoy!

Epic!

So this trip home was epic. EPIC.

I'll save the stuff from the last night in Cayenne for another post, and we'll start with the trip to the airport. My Creole teacher— essentially the only person I know with a car— came to my apartment and picked me up. We drove to the airport and he told me much more about French Guiana including a funny story about problems with census taking in the department. The short version is that he was in the jungle in the interior without any means of getting gasoline for his car. He found someone who said to him, "Wait here" (like he was going anywhere— he was out of gas in the middle of the freakin' jungle). An hour and a half later, the guy returned with gas and a few other things, because he knew the paths of the jungle and was able to get to an officially undocumented village settled by Brazilians who immigrated to illegally prospect for gold. Imagine, then, trying to do a census on the interior of the largest department of France, when people avoid the main roads and instead rely on secret paths to get to illicit settlements.

We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. He stuck around for a while, talking to me, correcting my creole (e.g. I said that the airline employee 'spoke to me in English' when I should have said she 'spoke English with me'), and buying me lunch. When he left, I went to board the plane, with no real problems to speak of. After a brief stop in Martinique, I landed in Guadeloupe. And there began the nightmare.

Disembarking was a disaster. We were held in various different hallways, with them not letting us proceed to the airport itself for several minutes at a time, mainly due to us having to go through fire exits. I really don't know why they had us go this way, but that's what they did. In any event, a little bit after we finally got into the airport, we were informed that the flight to Miami was cancelled. I was mortified, as my flight home was unconnected to the flight to Miami, and therefore I'd have to miss it. I didn't have enough credit on my phone to call the airline to switch it either, so I just hoped for the best. Despite this setback I had a pretty good time because AirFrance put me up in a four-star hotel, La Créole Beach. Check it out here. The room itself was over 130€ with breakfast, the delicious buffet dinner was 31€, and lunch was 21€, but that didn't matter to me because AirFrance paid it all. The only thing they didn't pay for was the 4€ bottle of Diet Coke, which I had specifically told the server I was ordering 'because AirFrance is paying.' It was a really nice place to stay for 24 hours, even though I couldn't do many of the fun things like go in the pool or on the beach due to the poor weather.

On our way back to the airport the next day, I made the taxi turn around, as I'd forgotten my wallet (and digital recorder, though I didn't realize it) in the lobby. Once at the airport, things went much more smoothly, except for a further delay in the take-off time. We finally got to Miami after a one-hour stop in Port-au-Prince. By the way, the security at the Port-au-Prince airport consists of one person checking your bag and another frisking you (and a dollop of hope, I gather).

Miami was another story. Quickly making my way through customs, I got to the U.S. Airways desk at midnight, where a sign said they would open at 2 a.m. Rather than trying to sleep I decided to stay up. I spent the time talking to a nice pair of folks who'd met on a flight back from Barbados, one of whom was from the same town that I live in. After chitchatting for two hours, I went to the U.S. Airways desk, which was still abandoned, so I went back to rejoin the two people I'd met, but they had disappeared (one mentioned something about having a hotel room and they seemed kind of into each other). I killed the downtime by shaving and brushing my teeth, eating at Subway, and talking to a very nice Argentinean woman who was visiting her nephew in L.A. At 4 a.m. U.S. Airways finally opened, and I was able to get my flight changed free of charge (though at first they told me it would be $150). From there it was a smooth ride to Philadelphia (where I missed my sister's call to surprise me at the airport), and then to Indy. One shuttle ride back and I was home at last.

EPIC!

Last Day (for a while)

Today was a pretty good last day. Done with all the formal work I wanted to get done, I spent the day mostly having fun and taking care of things that needed attention (e.g. sweeping my room, cleaning the sink one last time, etc.). I spent most of the day with my Creole teacher, who took me on a tour of Cayenne. Unlike other tours that I had done myself, he was able to add personal touches, pointing out where he went to grade school, where he learned to swim, which neighborhoods were ethnic enclaves now and back in the day, etc.). We also went to some of the surrounding towns, which are much less developed and far more beautiful than Cayenne. We stopped at a local cocoa farm which used to be the plantation of the King's doctor in the 1700's. Across the street from there was an abandoned fort, which was underwhelming-- so underwhelming that even the colonial French people never really used it for much of anything. We also went to a beach on a dirt road full of potholes (or 'chicken nests' as we say in French), and we happened to meet a couple of friends of his who were fishing. Just after we got there, they caught a burbot (poson krapo 'toadfish' in the local creole). This fish sells for 25€ per kilo (16 bucks a pound) in France. But as seen in the picture from the web, it's an ugly fish.



After a quick visit to see some Amerindian stone drawings along the road, we then picked up his wife and went back to his house for lunch (keep in mind I was taking lots of vocabulary notes the whole time). At his house I had a very special meal called bouyon wara. Though its name indicates that it's a broth made from the local awara fruit, it's actually more of a stew with smoked fish, chicken and pork. It was quite yummy. The superstition is that anyone who eats it is doomed-- I mean, 'bound'-- to return to French Guiana someday. So I guess it's official.

In a few minutes I'll go to a bar to meet a friend and tomorrow I'll head to the airport, so in all likelihood, I won't post till at least Wednesday night. I do plan to keep posting once I'm back in the U.S., particularly pictures of things that I haven't been able to post yet due to the loss of my camera cord. So if you've enjoyed the blog, keep checking in for at least a little while.

Parépou

Yesterday I bought a container of parépous. Parépous are a local fruit, and I bought them thinking they'd be a nice, refreshing snack. I was wrong, but the results weren't that bad. It turns out that it's actually salty and starchy. It's like eating a cooked potato that tastes like an artichoke. Quite yummy and inexpensive. Below is picture taken from another blog.

Interview!

So here's what happened: A half hour before, I called the interviewer and one of the interviewees, both of whom had asked me to remind them shortly before
and the interviewer could make it, but the interviewee had, for the second time, completely forgotten about it and was far away with no transportation. I arrived at the house of where the interview was to take place, and there I was informed that the other interviewee could not be reached. He was out wandering or whatever. So, while waiting for my friend to call me back to see if she could arrive late bu still make it at all, a Haitian friend of one of the men passed by. We told him what was going on, and he agreed to help us out. So now, I have an interview with two of the same participants, and a third, new participant, but they are all Haitians. Now I can directly compare the changes in speech, if any. It's not the interview I wanted (with two new particpants, including a woman), but it's an acceptable replacement.

Art and conversation

So tonight is one of those nights I really wish I had my camera cord. After my elicitation session, my Creole teacher took me to his friend's house a town over (Matoury), where the friend was exhibiting some of his paintings. Really impressive work, even if the style wasn't always something I'd want hanging in my home. I met the son of an important local playwright (whose book I have in my suitcase), which was kind of cool. We stayed there for a while and they all spoke in creole and seemed impressed with my ability to speak (on the rare occasions when I saw fit to interject). It was a very productive night in terms of my own linguistic competence, which is half the reason I'm down here, after all.

Food, glorious food

Today I fulfilled two more food cravings, since I've run out of food in the house and I forgot to go to the supermarket. The first was for a crêpe; that one was a waste of money. The crêpe itself was bland, the cheese was a weak Swiss (tolerable), and the ham was good but I needed more flavor. I really shouldn't buy crêpes that don't have sugar in them; I always wind up unsatisfied.

Then tonight, I had a local specialty. They're called accras. It's a type of fried dough, but with meat ground up into the dough itself, then fried.They were 8 for 2 €, and I bought one order each of cod (pictured above) and chicken (below) thinking I could eat them all. But I got halfway through both and I was full, though I might heat up some frozen veggies and have them with leftover pasta sauce if I have room and I'm feeling guilty about the amount of fried food I had.