So far, our track record in terms of where we have lived has been great. Sure, all houses/apartments and places have had their pro’s and con’s, but we wouldn’t have changed anything so far. And considering that we have booked everything online and not seen it in real life before booking, it is quite impressive. Or maybe we just have the mindset of being optimistic and adapting to different situations.
But, all good things have to come to an end. Our latest move, from Fort-de-France to Le Vauclin on the east coast of Martinique, required some emergency re-planning.
Arriving at our place in Vauclin, scheduled for a two week stay, we simply wanted to do a 360 turn in the doorway. The smell was nauseating. It was like entering a bunker with only slits for windows. We realized that the apartment, on the first floor of a villa, had no windows in the bedrooms or living area, and only tiny openings in the three (!) bathrooms. The master bedroom, as mentioned without window, was covered in wooden panels, connected to a bathroom. You don’t require more than a couple of brain cells to figure out that that is not a good idea. We put on our “being sensible”-hats and put our feelings aside and discussed that the smell might disappear if we opened the tiny windows and let the place breathe for a while. We hadn’t paid anything to the landlady because French only accepts cash or cheques, so she was of course pushing me to pay. I paid her no more than a week, and told her that we were very unsure of the place. She blamed the smell on algae blooming in the bay.
We went to the beach and came back, the smell hitting us even outside the house. We put the kids to bed, and tried to forget the whole thing for a while by setting the table for a feast of cheese, hams and red wine. In two seconds, the place was invaded by millions of little flies. It didn’t matter how many times you hit them, they WOULD NOT die. It was so disgusting that we decided to spray the house with pesticide, even though the kids were sleeping. That only resulted in the kitchen being full of ten million dead flies.
Flies that fly no more
No need to tell you that we did not have a lot of cheese, ham and red wine, we both felt sick. We went to bed, and it was so humid that the sheets were wet. And the horrific smell. Words does not describe how disgusting it was. The next morning, all the dead flies were gone. “Something” had obviously eaten them. Then there were bugs. And cockroaches. And more flies. We decided jointly : Emergency evacuation required.
We went through the options; Stay in Vauclin? Head back to Fort de France? Somewhere else on the island? We decided on the latest, and to rent a car and use the day to drive south until we found a place we liked. But the car rental only rented cars for 3 days minimum, so we discarded that plan. We decided to not ruin the day but to walk down to the beach to have lunch, and keep discussing. During lunch, I overheard the waitress discussing an apartment with some guests. I asked her if she knew somewhere we could rent, she didn’t, but sent me to the chef, who took me to the surf shop next door – and I walked away with his card and a list of 10 different people to contact.
Wonderful coffee and fruitful contacts from surf boy
We went home, passing a house that looked empty, and sighed jointly that if only we knew who owns this, maybe it is for rent….
….and what are the odds; on the list of contacts was a webpage displaying this house. I called, and yes, it was free for two weeks! I explained the situation and he asked me to meet me at the house in 45 minutes, he would jump in his car from Fort de France and we could move in right away. But we didn’t have to decide until we had seen it. We did decide anyway, and I gathered some confidence to talk to the landlady and tell her we were leaving, and to try getting the payment refunded. I decided on putting on the emotional face and it resulted in this:
Damn I’m good (yeah, and sunburnt…)
Back to the evacuation. 45 minutes would be just after 17.00. This is the busiest time of day in our family. Two kids and ourselves to feed, and start getting the kids ready to be in bed by 18.30. But, emergency evacuation required operational excellence, so I fed one kid while making pasta and ketchup to the other, B packed all our stuff, meanwhile we tried to get a bite or two of pasta ourselves.
By 19.30, the kids were in bed in our new house and we were moved in. Oh bliss! Evacuation completed. Worth mentioning is that all communication has been done in French, English is completely useless here. And having telephone conversations in French is a real challenge. *puh*!
F thinks moving is fun
NOW we enjoyed it!
