Cirque de Salazie

Salazie is the wettest and greenest of the three cirques, a bowl on the windward side where waterfalls come off the walls in every direction and the Voile de la Mariée drops in several tiers beside the road. Hell-Bourg inside it is listed among the most beautiful villages of France, a spa town of creole houses with painted lambrequins and formal gardens that was abandoned after its springs were lost in a landslide. Chouchou, the local chayote, grows on trellises over every plot and appears in most dishes. Cloud closes the cirque most afternoons, so mornings are the time to look.