Guadeloupe, and taking a shower or not

After our short stay in the US, it was time for another language adventure, French. We originally wanted to stay here for over two months, but as our exciting adventures in South America continued and extended, our planned time in Guadeloupe shrunk to three weeks.

We arrived after a three-hour flight from Miami. This was a very different world to southern Florida. The buildings looked old and not well maintained, but that is all part of the adventure. However, the roads were well sealed and easier to drive than in Costa Rica.

When we arrived at our accommodation it looked old and worn down from the outside, but it was a well-renovated clean, peaceful oasis on the inside with views over Pointe-à-Pitre Marina. We wouldn’t have internet but with our starlink that was “easily fixed”.

After having a quick induction on how the apartment worked, the hostess, Melene showed us an entire cupboard full of refilled plastic water bottles and cautioned us that unfortunately water outages were frequent due to local infrastructure problems. We quickly turned on the kitchen tap, and surely enough the water supply was indeed off. Melene optimistically said the water usually comes back on about 6 pm before she left.  It should have been time for a shower after the day travelling, but this would have to wait.

We soon realised we would definitely use the 50-plus 1.5 litre bottles just for toilet use, washing and dishes. They were not a luxury or an insurance - they were very much needed to survive on a day-to-day basis. Drinking water was separate which we bought at the supermarket down the road, as we were also cautioned not to drink the tap water even when it was working. It turns out many areas of Guadeloupe do not have a reliable water supply.

Six pm came and went, unfortunately, the taps ignored Melene’s forecast. For our first 48 hours in the country (after an international flight), we did not have any running water to shower with and had no idea if or when it might turn on. By day three the air in our unit became unpleasant due to four individuals who had not showered. We had run out of all our 50+ bottles, this was being very conservative with water and learning how to utilise it very well. We were seriously considering our options and thinking we might have to start filling up bottles from the water in the marina to flush the toilets with.

Luckily in the evening of the third day the water turned on and we started running around like lunatics into the shower and filling up over 50 bottles. We also quickly washed the dishes and some clothes; however, the laundry machine also broke and then the water turned off again for unknown period. The rest of our time in Guadeloupe followed this description every couple of days, there was now rhyme or reason to when the water would be on or off and for how long. Over the length of our visit, the water would be off more than three quarters of the time.

Why was there no reliable water in Guadeloupe you might be asking, like I was. I did some research into why this was the case, and it is known that a variety of issues result in residents enduring intermittent supply, poor water quality, and high prices. What I found was that Guadeloupe’s water crisis is a stark example of systemic neglect and environmental vulnerability, stemming from decades of neglected infrastructure and poor governance. A key problem is the massively leaking distribution network, where over 60% of treated water is lost before it reaches consumers. For island nations there is also the growing threat of climate change, which intensifies droughts (for which they are already vulnerable with small water catchment areas) and damages to infrastructure through severe storms.

Although the water was safe to drink according to some reputable sources, other sources state that toxic pesticide pollutants like chlordecone still contaminate water sources, contributing to alarming health risks. Meanwhile, governance failures ranging from faulty billing systems to even suggested attempts at silencing public debate have drawn condemnation from UN experts, who call the situation a violation of basic human rights.

What I learned from this is that running water is not a given for everyone, even in places that are still colonial outposts (Guadeloupe even now is directly administered by France) where you would expect that first-world nations would ensure such facilities and standards were present, in the developing lands that they administer. I'll likely forget when I next have running water, though I'll make an effort to appreciate it after this experience.

The next blog is on a Health Scare. Don’t worry, we are all still alive.