Submitted by Harshita Kanderpa on the 2016 winter session program in Martinique sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures…
The highlight of my second week in Martinique was most definitely hiking Mount Pelée, a semi-active volcano in the north of the island. Leading up to the hike on Saturday, we learned about the geography of Martinique, watched a film on the ruins of the city of Saint-Pierre, once known as the small Paris, as well as learned about the immense eruption of the mountain in 1902, which killed 30,000 people within minutes. We learned that the eruption was one of sulfur gas and other particles, and it was after the eruption that the science of ‘volcanology’ really began. It wasn’t until we were walking through the quaint town of Saint-Pierre and it’s new buildings among the ruins of the once-bustling city that I realized the meaning of everything I was experiencing. I was looking out over the beautiful, calm, blue ocean, with the sun setting, after a tiring hike on an active volcano—the same ocean that swallowed the walls of factories and rum distilleries within thirty seconds after the eruption. This city was once the hub of everything economic, governmental, social and cultural a little over a hundred years ago, and one day, within minutes, everything was gone. The fact that this small island country was able to recover from that, able to create a new capital city in Fort-de-France, able to flourish even, astonishes me beyond belief. The capability of human beings to move on from such tragedies and become something to be proud of again gives me such admiration for Martinique, and I am so grateful to be able to not only learn about such history, but also be able to experience it tangibly.