Farsighted Fly Girl

The island of Guadeloupe  offers so much more than a pretty landscape. This French Caribbean beauty is drenched in culture, history and it's no surprise, food. I was familiar with the artful blend of African, French and Indian cuisine from visiting neighboring Martinique but I had never heard of Guadeloupe's famous bokit, until I stepped foot in the island's main city of Pointe-a-Pitre. On every other corner and on food trucks, I glimpsed signs for bokits and long lines of locals eagerly awaiting the chance to bite into the delicacy. So what is a bokit? It's also called a creole burger and it's two pieces of fried dough or johnnycakes, stuffed with everything from lamb, chicken, conch, shrimp and everything in between, plus cheese, salad and sauces. It's basically a portable meal and it generally lasts me two days. It is absolutely essential to try a bokit whenever you visit Gwada. I wrote an in-depth exploration of my discovery of bokits for my new column ...

2018 was really some kind of year! It was filled with unexpected situations as well as familiar scenes and there was a clear pattern to the year's travel. I embarked on new, unforgettable journeys to countries that start with "G": Greece, Guadeloupe and Ghana.  And I returned to beloved, familiar destinations; St. Lucia, St. John, Tobago and Montreal, for a whole new perspective. "The Year of Return" is also the theme for Ghana's year-long commemoration of 400 years since the first enslaved African arrived in the U.S.. A celebration of the resilience of the African spirit, the 2019 Year of Return welcomes all the Diaspora to return home and re-connect. That's exactly what I did during my life-changing trip to Ghana. From the time I stepped onto the streets of Accra, I was welcomed like a daughter returned from a long trip. I cried during most of my time at Cape Coast Castle , shown above, the site where thousands were imprisoned and then shipped...

I'm not a fan of wandering through cemeteries and hanging out among the graves but Guadeloupe's Mourne-a-l-Eau cemetery is a beautiful exception. Set atop a hill, most of the crypts are covered in black and white tiles that resemble little checkerboard houses. The first thing I learned is that you should never enter a Guadeloupe cemetery or church without knocking first. So I knocked on the gate and roamed though the rows of intricately decorated tombs. The black and white design is supposed to represent the black color for mourning in Europe and the white color for mourning in Africa. Many of the crypts looked like miniature homes, complete with spaces for mourners to sit and commune with their ancestors. Some people even hire architects to create their tombs. I've never seen anything like Mourne-a-l-Eau, although I did spot smaller versions as I traveled through Grande Terre. To me, the beauty of these final resting places reflect Guadeloupe's respect...

The islands of Guadeloupe  presented me with quite a few surprises. I didn't realize that the main island is really made up of the twin islands of Grande Terre and Basse Terre .  And there are also three other islands that make up Guadeloupe to add to the confusion. That was just the first unexpected experience. Spotting a mural of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on a Grande Terre street was another. I've always been a big fan of graffiti art. It gives a creative glimpse of the local communitiy's focus and concerns. Seeing MLK told me a lot about the locals pride and awareness. I actually watched the artists complete this mural, they had just started it the night before. Street art is always interesting but witnessing an American icon be painted on a French Caribbean wall was certainly an image I'll always remember. Photos by R. Cummings-Yeates

This week, I'm honored to travel to Guadeloupe and explore the island's extensive black history.  This French Caribbean territory boasts a long culture of resistance and I will be documenting it all, including the battles of Louis Delgres , who fought Napoleon's attempt to return slavery to the French Caribbean, Gwo-Ka music and dancing rituals, and the Memorial ACTe,  a global initiative to tell the history of slavery and the institution's effect on the world.  Of course, I'll also be capturing Guadeloupe's unspoiled natural beauty so please stay tuned!