The volcano is situated in the northwest corner of the island, next to a town called Saint-Pierre. At the time of the eruption, Saint-Pierre was the capital of Martinique, and, as the sophisticated art and cultural center of the Caribbean, affectionately known as the "Paris of the West Indies."
The eruption killed all but one of the 30,000 people living in Saint-Pierre at the time. The lone survivor, a prisoner in the Saint-Pierre jail, lived only because of his exceptionally thick-walled cachot (cell).
With the total destruction of Saint-Pierre, the capital was moved to Fort de France, about 30 kilometers south. Though the town was eventually rebuilt, Saint-Pierre today is, so they say, but a shadow of its former self.
Mount Pelée is still an active volcano, and apparently one of the most dangerous in existence. Though I’d never even heard of it before I came here, it's actually quite famous in the geology world -- the 1902 disaster gave rise to the term "Peléan eruption.”
Here’s a picture of it from Saint-Pierre, in all its glory.
On Wednesday, I climbed it with some other assistants. As you can see from the photo above, the mountain is perpetually obscured by clouds, so it was like one of those foggy days in San Francisco, where you can't really partake of your greater surroundings. Thankfully, though, this also means you’re not pummeled by the blistering sun. The hike to the top, nearly 1400 meters in altitude, was hard enough as it was.
The grasses, shrubs and trees along the path were short and low-lying and growing out of rocks – quite a change from the lush rainforest on the interior of the island. And the sentier was steep. At times, we were using all our limbs, like l’escalade. And though the top was windy – almost cold -- every so often, a break in the clouds would afford a spectacular view of the north coast, the town of Saint-Pierre, and the Caribbean Sea, stretching infinitely west. It was, without a doubt, one of the awesomest things I’ve seen here. How many people can say they’ve climbed an active volcano?
And then this weekend, I visited the ruins of Saint-Pierre. It’s cool how they’ve just left them there in the middle of town, untouched, for people to see and walk amongst. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. It was hard to imagine that a century ago, everything around us would have been en ruines.
Here's what's left of the prison.
Here's Louis-Auguste Cyparis's (the sole survivor) cachot.
And here are the ruins of the theater stage, right next to the prison. Jolie, n'est-ce pas?
