Guadaloupe - Mr. Hardware

We got to the car rental place early, and despite the language barrier (so far no one says "yes" when I ask if they speak English) we managed to get one of the last available cars. We had two missions: 1. see some cool waterfalls in the rainforest, and 2. get the nuts and bolts we needed for fixing the bimini.

When Kevin was looking at the bimini problem, he discovered that the two main front support posts were only held on by 3 tapping screws each. No bolts or backing plates, just some really short screws barely penetrating the fiberglass. We're just surprised the thing didn't fall apart sooner. It looks like the manufacturer had fiberglassed some nuts into the hull, so at one time maybe the thing was put together properly, but Kevin guessed that somehow it had broken once before and the previous owner just drilled through the glassed-in nuts and put in screws instead of bolts. So because someone did a half-assed job of fixing it last time, it is up to us to full-assed fix it. But to do it, we needed to buy some really big washers and some longer bolts than we have in our toolkit. So, armed with my "French for Cruisers" book, we headed off in search of the "magasin de bricolage" (hardware store). Of course no one knew of one nearby, the three local people we asked directed us to Destreland which is in the middle of the island near Pointe a Pitre, their biggest city. Once we got close, we pulled in at a Shell station where I proceeded to go through an old Abbot and Costello routine with the clerk. Roughly translated, the conversation went something like this:
Me: Good day, sir. We look for a store of hardware, to buy something like this. (Holds up nut and bolt)
Him: Yes. Go straight and it is near the Carrefour.
Me: Thank you. Please you will write the name of the store for me?
Him: (something I didn't catch) hardware store.
Me: Yes, I understand it is hardware store, but what is the name of it?
Him: (mumble) hardware store.
Me: No, I need the name of the store, please.
Finally another guy steps in and enunciates very clearly "Monsieur Bricolage". Aha! The name of the store is "Mr. Hardware Store"! Easy enough. We find the place and of course they only carry metric hardware (damn you, imperial system!) but we find some bolts that will work. We also find a huge mall, as nice as Scottsdale Fashion Square, and have lunch. Then, off to the rainforest.

The rainforest in Guadaloupe is absolutely breathtaking. Huge canopy trees with ferns, bromeliads, orchids, and massive elephant ear plants with leaves shaped like...well, I guess the name is pretty self-explanatory. The 30 minute hike to the waterfall was enjoyable, we were up so high that we were actually in a cloud and the moisture just hung in the air. The waterfall was about 300 feet tall, people were swimming in the pool below. Our guidebook says that swimming here can give you bilharzia, which is some kind of infection carried by snails, so we took a pass on the swim.