Uñt’ayata: 18.03.2024
This Saturday I actually wanted to go on a trip with Nanou, Léa (roommates) and Lilli, but things turned out a little differently. Nanou had a migraine and Léa had injured her leg the evening before, which is why I ended up going with Lilli (Belgian), Thiphaine and Ninon (from France). This actually put me completely outside of my comfort zone, because I didn't know all three of them very well and all three were native speakers of French.
In any case, we set off around 10:30 and I picked up everyone involved. Then we headed west because we wanted to visit the well-known “ trois bassins ” of Saint-Gilles . We parked next to a snack bar and first looked for the entrance to the “hike” (It’s more of a walk). We decided to go to Bassin les Aigrettes first. Instead, we walked through a truly green landscape along an artificial river that was incredibly clear. The basins are actually closed, which is why several small climbs were necessary to get around the barriers. However, we met so many people that it was clear that these barriers really didn't interest anyone, not even families with small children (most of them were simply pushed through the bars of the bars).
After about 20 minutes we arrived. There were really a lot of people there, but the pool is just so beautiful that I can really understand it :D
Of course we also bathed, and the water was absolutely ice cold - we were the only ones who didn't just stick our feet in at the edge :D
Afterwards we dried on the warm stones in the sun like lizards and were repeatedly "disturbed" by three cats. They basically live next to this waterfall and of course always hope that they get something to eat. In any case, the three of them were absolutely adorable and totally sweet!
After a while we wanted to move on to one of the next basins , but had quite a bit of difficulty finding it. Bassin Comoran and Bassin Malheur should actually be waiting for us. We had actually given up and were on our way back when we saw a path about 5 minutes before the start of the hike that probably led to Bassin Malheur . We then walked along this path and it turned out to be one of the coolest and most exciting paths I have walked here so far.
It all started quite normally and looked like the path to the first basin . But then we suddenly had to constantly walk through narrow rocky caves etc. where it was pitch black. I was actually a bit scared at first, but the individual sections are short so you can always enjoy the sunlight in between :D
After about 20 minutes from the start of the path, we arrived at the second basin . Unfortunately the pictures don't do this justice at all, it literally sparkled in the sunlight and had a play of colors from light blue to turquoise to emerald green.
We didn't swim here again, we just enjoyed the view and relaxed a bit. Unfortunately we didn't find the third basin .
When we got back to the car, we bought something to eat at the snack bar and drove on towards Trou d'eau beach.
Finding a parking space was a little difficult, but after a bit of searching we even found one that wasn't far from the beach. We quickly finished eating and then looked for the fourth (or now third) attraction of the day: The Trou d'eau (German: the waterhole). The beach was named after this. It is a water-filled grotto right on the sea that was created by a volcanic eruption. You can climb into these and then swim through the tunnels for a while until you get to a really nice place.
When we were there, there were about 10 teenagers at the entrance, and we weren't in the mood for that at all. So we decided to first take a nap on the beach. And then a little more. And then we were all so tired from sleeping that we decided to do the grotto differently when :D
We drove home around 5:15 p.m., and I was really surprised at how little it ultimately bothered me to only be with French speakers that I didn't even know well. I would say that's progress :)