I love to spend summer weeks on the Caribbean. In past years I visited several islands and every one of them was wonderful. I went to Aruba, Curacao, Jamaica, Cayman Island, Puerto Rico, Saint Barth and St. Maarten. The one I fell in love with was St. Maarten. This is a Dutch island, extremely Americanized but I will not hold that against them.
Actually, only half the island is Dutch the other half is French. There is a theoretical border but in reality only the pavement and street lighting change when one is crossing over. However, during the covid outbreak the two parts had different rules for prevention, resulting the French side blocking every possible entrance (main roads, streets, alleyways) and thus preventing people from the Dutch side entering.
The Dutch side is independent but under Netherlands control while the French side is under total control of France and obeying all European Union rules, including using the Euro. The Dutch side is preferring the US dollar and everyone speak English. The French side sneers at the dollar and the French being as snobbish as they always are, prefer speaking French, and in some places not even making an effort to understand English.
The Dutch side has very good restaurants but are mainly for the American palate. Good restaurants but with nut much imagination. But the French side claims to have the best cuisine in the Caribbean. That part of the island is filled with French restaurants with various regional food on their menus. If one doesn't mind putting up with obnoxious French waiters these are the places to go.
I can not understand the French behavior. The number of French tourists are minimal, meaning that they are living off the Americans, yet they still resent us. Why?
As far as I am concerned, they can eat merde!
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