Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine October 2016 | Page 241

Just down the street from Musée St. John Perse, I
was drawn to a statue with the inscription “Vélo”.
This grey likeness of a muscular middle-aged black
man forever frozen in his drum-beating pose gave
me pause: I closed my eyes and could almost feel
the faint pounding of the rhythms from his drums
coursing through my body. “Vélo” was the nickname
of Marcel Lollia, a musician famous for his rendition
of gwo ka or wa aka, a type of traditional folk music
which chants the slave story to the beat of seven
different drums.
Hot and thirsty after traipsing through Guadeloupe’s
rich history, we made our way to Bas du Fort
marina for some refreshments. The panorama of
boats lined up like soldiers gleaming in the evening
sun morphed gently into a multicultural stretch of

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restaurants which beckoned us to stop and sample.
We obliged one and stopped for a drink. The
coolness trickling down our throats seemed to be
divinely synced with the setting sun slowly dipping
below the horizon as it bid us good evening.
The next morning, my ever-present friends Solitude
and Tranquility joined me for some quiet time on
the beach behind my hotel. We basked in the warm,
yellow smile of the sunrise and lay happily contented
to be massaged by the breathy sounds of the palms
fluttering overhead. After a quick breakfast in the
hotel’s colourful eating area, my ¨friends¨ and I
packed up and prepared to leave the newest addition
to our travelling circle, our beloved Butterfly,
Guadeloupe.