Midweek voyage

A few weeks ago, the MGEN (the mutuelle, our supplementary health insurance) sent all the assistants in Martinique a letter saying that because we hadn't sent them our (nonexistent) payslips, our subscription rates would be raised to 1089 euros. Up approximately ten and a half times from the 104 euros it was supposed to be.

And on Thursday, I was called in to the official "hygienic site" of Martinique for the official visite médicale to validate our visas. There, they wanted to do both a chest x-ray and a skin test to determine that I didn't have TB. But I've already been in the country for four months, so if I have TB now, I've already contaminated everyone.

The point is that to régler all this, I had to take a midweek field trip to Fort de France. I stayed there for two days and consequently had a lot of time to kill.

Just for fun, I took pictures of all the stores in the downtown area named after American places. There are, surprisingly, a lot of them. In no particular order:

Wall Street.

Miami Beach. For one reason or another, Miami is EVERYONE'S dream vacation here.

New York Ave. Complete with the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline, at left.

Beverly Hills.


San Diego, CA.

Here's a bonus one, not taken in Fort de France but in the Galleria, the huge shopping center in Lamentin.