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Home Travel

Caribbelgium—It’s Better On The French Side

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Jan 15, 2010
in Travel
0
View from the shore of clear blue caribbean waters. Tropical plants and a palm tree in the foreground and some fluffy white clouds in the sky
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Caribbelgium—It’s Better On The French Side

“Caribbelgium is what this island ought to be called,” writes Correspondent Paul Lewis, continuing his New Year’s Caribbean cruising.

“Half-French and half-Dutch, St. Martin or Sint Maarten has no internal frontiers, and its two linguistic communities mix freely, united by a common ability to speak English, run duty-free shops, and extract money from visiting cruise-ship passengers.

“If only Belgium’s perpetually feuding French- and Dutch-speaking communities could make common cause like those of St. Martin or Sint Maarten.

“Legend has it the island was discovered simultaneously by Dutch and French warships whose captains, with improbable good sense, decided not to fight over it.

“Instead, they agreed to set off on foot in opposite directions to see how much land they could cover in a day and claim for their respective countries. Impaired by a heavy beer intake, the Dutch captain was able to claim only 16 square miles, against 21 square miles hiked by the more sprightly Frenchman.

“Philipsburg on the south coast is capital of the Dutch half. It boasts an 18th-century courthouse with a pineapple on top and has a shipyard doing repairs. Otherwise, the town is made up mostly of duty-free shops, sheltered by a line of palm trees, selling the usual selection of watches, clothes, and jewelry.

“Neither in the capital nor elsewhere in the Dutch half is there the faintest hint of Dutchness. In smarter areas, the shops and malls seem transported straight from Florida. Elsewhere, Dutch Sint Maarten seems rundown and poor, with tiny, decrepit houses and narrow bumpy roads.

“French St. Martin, on the other hand, is better organized and definitely French.

“The postage stamp capital of Marigot has everything you would expect a French town to have–a Boulevard de France; an Avenue Général de Gaulle; a Prefecture; a Hotel de Ville; gendarmes riding bicycles along its miniature streets; and, above the town, a tricoleur fluttering from the ruins of Fort St. Louis.

“In an elegant little wooden marketplace on the waterfront painted blue and white, native island women sell fish, fruit, vegetables, long sticks of cinnamon, and mysterious potions in reused bottles. Hippy French vendors are moving in on them, setting up rows of stalls selling the usual tourist nonsense–homemade jewelry and printed clothes from China. Not all is lost, however. The Marigot waterfront still has airy French-colonial restaurants, offering real bread, grilled shrimp, and cold rosé wine.

“Unfortunately, bottom line, neither Sint Maarten nor St. Martin is particularly attractive in a part of the world that is still very attractive. But of the two, St. Martin is definitely better.”

Kathleen Peddicord

 

 

***

MAILBAG:

“My wife and I are registered for your Live & Invest in Panama Conference in February and really looking forward to it. However, we were watching the ‘Househunters International’ episode on Panama the other night and were concerned to hear the couple featured in the program talk about how much they miss their dogs, as the pets have had to be in quarantine for four months. That is unacceptable for most dog owners, including us. Could you send us the official Panama regulations regarding this?

“It would be a great service to add a short session on this subject (even if it is a negative for moving to Panama) to your conference schedule.”

— Jeff C., United States

Panama Circle Member’s Liaison Marion de Mena replies:

“No, no, no, that’s absolutely not true! I just confirmed with the Panama Ministry of Health that the process remains as I have always known it to be. There is a veterinarian at the airport. When you enter the country with your pet, you must be prepared to show the pet’s medical report (indicating all vaccinations), in either Spanish or English and bearing the Apostille, to the vet on duty. In addition, you must pay a processing fee of US$130. However, you then take your pet home with you the same day. You are meant to keep your pet in quarantine at home, but there is no patrol for this.

“Note that no vet is on duty at the airport on Sundays. If you intend to arrive in the country on a Sunday, therefore, you must make special arrangements in advance and pay an additional US$50 to have the vet meet you when your flight arrives. If you do not make these arrangements in advance, you will be required to leave your pet at the airport until the next working day.

“Even if you are not arriving on a Sunday, it is a good idea to confirm that the vet will be at the airport when you’re due to land. The vet is normally there Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. But this is Panama. Better to double-check.”

Tags: St. Martin St. Maarten
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

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