When backpacking, we often stay in youth hostels, also known as « Hostel » in English. A hostel is like a hotel but with an extra « S ». The difference is that in a hotel you have a private room, while in a hostel you have a dormitory. In the hostel, there are generally shared bathrooms, a communal kitchen, and there’s usually a friendly atmosphere with opportunities to meet and engage with people from all over the world. While the hotel is individualistic, the hostel is collective. Now that you have a little idea of what a hostel is, let me introduce you to the world-famous Martinique Hostel. Located in the town of Ste Luce, about ten minutes from the beach, the hostel was created in a large house. Renovations have been made to accommodate travelers in four different dormitories: two dorms for six people, one dorm for four people, and one dorm for three women only. There is also a hammock area under a carbet (wooden shelter) where up to eight people can sleep. A large outdoor terrace is where we have all our meals and drinks, along with a big pool for refreshing ourselves when needed. Can you visualize? Very well, let’s move on to the atmosphere of the hostel.
In an inn, travelers come and go all the time. That’s the point of the place. Some stay for a night, a week, or even a month. You create a bond with one person, then another, and soon you become a small group, spending our days and evenings together, laughing and sharing stories. In short, it’s great. Some even find love there! Friendships form quickly since travelers are often alone. « I’m going to the beach today, do you want to come? » A widely used approach technique in hostels, often leading to the beginning of a friendship. Or, simply, « Happy hour! » Simple and effective. Meetings happen very easily, and soon we form a small group and organize outings every day. A day of lazy beach fun, going for a hike, shopping at the local store, snorkeling; in short, everything we do is better with two or more, right?
It’s in this place that I arrive in early December at the inn to do some volunteering. For the most dedicated blog readers, it’s like in Croatia or Slovakia when I was at Chillout or Wild Elephant. For the newcomers, go read the previous articles, and for those who are feeling lazy, volunteering means working a few hours a day in exchange for room and board in most cases. The rule in most volunteer opportunities is a maximum of 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. I meet Dani, the inn owner, who built everything from A to Z all by herself. She lives there with her faithful dog Sexy, a Mexican hairless breed. She gives me a tour of the inn, then we discuss my schedule, my tasks, basically how things are going to happen. Without going into details, we divide the day into several « shifts. » We create a weekly schedule so that we can organize our free time and outings. I welcome new guests, take care of life at the inn, and gradually become more comfortable with the place and the people.
Time passes, faces come and go, friendships are made and broken. I take advantage of my days off and free time to discover the island with the people from the hostel. One day, we head to the West Coast, to Les Anses d’Arlet, Anse Dufour, Anse Noire to swim with the turtles, admire the corals, and at each stop, we visit Michel. Michel runs a tiny snack bar next to Anse Noire. He makes paninis, sandwiches, cakes, fruit juices, and spiced rum. Everything is homemade with fresh products! And each time, we end up chatting for an hour. Another day, we go surfing on the Caravelle Peninsula, we do the washing machine for an hour but still manage to catch a few waves (at our beginner level).
December means year-end festivities! With Dani, we’re organizing a Christmas Eve celebration at the inn: everyone cooks a dish from their region, and we all enjoy a big meal together. A Tartiflette, provincial stuffed peppers, a Nantes cake, little toasts, in short, we had a great time! Everyone played along, and for those who didn’t have time to cook, a bag of chips and a bottle of rum will do just fine. For our Christmas, there are no presents under the tree. We just offer each other a wonderful evening together in a good mood, which is the best gift of all!
The next day we set up under the gazebo on the beach. We bring a table, chairs, hammocks, and supplies for eating and drinking for 3 days and 2 nights. The people from the inn arrive and we simultaneously start the barbecue. We grill meats, some vegetables, cheese, and a little bit of everything that crosses our minds. We feast all day, taking breaks for swimming, badminton, petanque… Like all good things, the day comes to an end as we return to the inn in the evening and finish the night quietly over one last drink. The Christmas group will generally remain the same until New Year’s, which we will celebrate at the beach! For New Year’s Eve, we change the atmosphere and head off to a Rave on the beach! A rave is an unofficial electronic party, often featuring intense techno music. An hour before the event starts, we receive the GPS coordinates. It’s a half-hour from the inn. We quickly set off with our belongings for the evening (and night). We arrive early at the party location, but the DJs are already pumped up! Everyone dances without issue, and there’s always someone to help if needed. 10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! 0!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAAAAR! Welcome to 2025! In reality, it’s just the end of a year on the calendar, but it gives us an excuse to celebrate. The party is in full swing, but I start to feel exhausted around 4 AM. I set up my tent a bit away from the party and drift off for a few hours until dawn. We gather some party-goers who were still celebrating at 7 AM and then take the way back. Our eyes start to close, and soon the entire back seat is asleep, lulled by the hum of the car engine.
We are now officially in 2025, and a new year means good resolutions! January will be a month without alcohol for me. When you live in a hostel, there’s always someone new arriving (which means happy hour) or someone leaving (which also means happy hour). I’ve decided to take a break and switch to fruit juices and non-alcoholic beers, and after a month of not drinking—yes, I made it to the end for those who didn’t believe—I found that I didn’t notice a big difference physically, but I think it did good for my internal organs. The annoying thing is having to justify not drinking alcohol, isn’t that crazy? Anyway, in the Caribbean, January also marks the beginning of carnival season, and the carnival here is a big, very big event. Every weekend, there are parades in towns and villages, meaning music and dance groups parade through the streets, and people join in dancing with them. In January, there are smaller parades to announce the big carnival that will be celebrated in early March, both in Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, and other islands. With some friends from the hostel, we went to the carnival in Lamentin and Marin, of course in costumes, and we saw colorful groups parading from head to toe, dancing like crazy! We even ended up being invited to a lady’s snack bar in Lamentin for an after party (after the night) and we zouked all night long!
In January, we hike quite a bit too. With some great people from the hostel, we set out to climb Mount Pelée (I had been there in November, but I was in the clouds). This time we wake up at 4 AM and leave at 4:30 AM to reach the foot of the volcano an hour later. We are a big group of 14 who have motivated each other. We start the ascent, and very quickly we see the first light of day appear in the distance. We gain altitude; it climbs fairly steeply, but we all manage well.
We also go canyoning in the wild in the Alma gorges, in the north of the island. I went there twice in January: the first time with a small group and the second time with a large group of 13 people. It’s quite a physical canyoning experience where we ascend waterfalls with the help of ropes set up by others. We swim in pools and climb with the waterfall in our faces. The gorges are beautiful; I would even say it’s my favorite hike on the island, but the downside is that both times I went, it was pouring rain, so no sunshine. No sunshine means no warmth. No warmth means it’s cold. Aside from the temperature, it’s really great to go there (you still need to be careful when doing this kind of activity; it’s usually necessary to have a guide).
Ah, and I almost forgot, I went back to Tartane (for the 37th time). With NJ, Manon, Agnès, and Loïc, we headed to the Caravelle Peninsula for a little surfing session. It was NJ and Manon’s first time! Agnès and Loïc weren’t keen on catching waves, so they stayed at the beach to chill out. NJ and Manon took a lesson for their first time on the board. We watched them from a distance, and they managed to stand up several times! When they returned, Manon was still up for surfing, so we rented another board for me, and we headed back to the water. The waves were perfect, and we managed to stand up quite a few times. Manon was pretty tired after her lesson, so she decided to head back in, while I stayed in the water to catch a few more waves. The waves were beautiful, the water was fine—overall, I was having a blast.
But I’m not just going out; I also spend a lot of time at the hostel. I welcome new people, make sure the hostel sparkles when guests return in the late afternoon, and I grumble about those who don’t clean up… Little by little, Dani and I are making small improvements: a mirror in the living room, hooks in the showers, a new hammock… There’s always something to do, fix, or install in a youth hostel. Every morning, we also have a yoga session with Dani and Gwen (a guest of the hostel) and others if they feel like it. After a month of yoga, I feel like I’ve opened my chakras; I feel in harmony with myself and the world around us. I can bend my legs behind my head—wait, stop, not at all. The exercises really hurt when you’re not used to them. We discover parts of the body that haven’t been used since the time of the pharaohs, so we need to loosen all that up. It still did me good in terms of stretching and flexibility, so it’s not just anything after all.
February is approaching quickly; a lot has happened in January, but I can’t tell everything here— it would take too long, and I need to keep some stories to share.
February announces the departure! Emma, my Scottish friend whom I met in Croatia a year and a half ago, with whom I went hitchhiking in the Balkans, arrives in Martinique on the 6th! We’re going to take a tour in Dominica, the island just north of Martinique, to hike. I’ve heard so much about it and been told many good things that we have to see for ourselves. The ferry is scheduled for February 9th, which gives her time to arrive, acclimatize, and for us to organize. Well, that was the plan… What if we went by sailboat? It’s longer but much more fun, right?
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