St Chamas revisited

When I had this idea for a French experience, I was looking for a small town.  Dan agreed, so we settled on St Chamas.  Once here, we discovered a couple of problems:  no wifi; limited transportation.  Buses stop running at 6…. so our day trips had to be ended in a neighboring town so we could catch the 6 p.m. bus back to St Chamas.

We frequented three of the local  bars.  We settled on one for our favorite.  Marcel and Josephine are the owners, and they speak no English.  The second day we were in "Le Petite Cafe de France" we were approached by a young woman who spoke English…her name is Nayma.  She teaches English at a local technical school and loves to practice.  She also took us under her wing and gave us maps, suggestions, translations and help when we needed it.  She goes there for lunch regularly, so when we needed help, we could find her.

One day I ordered a sandwich and Marcel asked if I wanted Mayo…I did not understand.  A really obnoxious Frenchman mocked me for not understanding Mayo, saying "Mayonnaise, mayonnaise."  The next day he mocked me again when I ordered wine.

Two days ago we saw Nayma at the bar and stopped to visit….and he was there.  He looked at us and said, "Ah, the Americans…."

Next came a great French experience.  He mocked us, I mocked him.   He laughed, we laughed and three hours later we were hugging each other.  Not only that, Marcel closed the bar.  When someone came for a drink he said, "Non…open for only my American friends."

Wednesday night we went back and Yves came and sat with us for an hour, talking in broken English…. which is better than our broken French… and we had a great time.

My sunglasses fell apart and the local eyeglass shop put them together with no charge.

We actually know about 9 people…. who smile and sometimes wave when they see us.  We don't always know their names….the Wifi lady, the sculpturer… and sometimes we do…. Jerome the pizza guy, Siverene the baker..Chantel the housekeeper.  Dan is taking their pictures as we see them so we have a visual remembrance

OK, maybe we didn't see all the towns we wanted to see.  I know we missed some of the must see sights.

But what we have found here is friendship.  It crosses borders and bridges languages.  

And it has made for a great trip.
Our bar, the living room one half; living room other half; stairs to the first floor!  Don't attempt in socks or while under the influence of rich red wine!!