Blogs from Cayenne, French Guiana, South America

Our port of call on Friday, March 10, 2023 was “Devil’s Island,” French Guiana. The prison, often referred to as “Devil's Island,” operated from 1852 to 1952 and is, in fact, three islands called Îles du Salut (Salvation's Islands), as well as a larger penal colony on the mainland. The island group’s name was given by missionaries who encamped there to escape an outbreak of plague. In 1852, the government of Emperor Napoleon III established the islands and part of French Guiana as a penal colony. The main part of the penal colony was a labor camp that stretched along the border with Dutch Guiana (present-day Suriname). Most prisoners were first sent to St-Laurent-du-Maroni on the mainland coast, where they would be assigned to work gangs to clear forests and build roads. Political, dangerous, and incorrigible ... read more

Day 414 Wednesday 28th November Up early and packing our bags for our departure from Belem and voyage along the Amazon River to Macapa. When we went to check out at 9 we discovered that the hotel had a problem with their credit card reader, which unfortunately is a common problem that we are sure is deliberate so we have to pay cash. At our hotel today I had half an inkling that once again the machine was deliberately turned off, but it is hard arguing in Portuguese when you don’t speak the language. Had to then run around the block to an ATM machine and withdraw the cash. Paid our bill and got a taxi to the port for 10 reais ($5). Inside the terminal we had to find the guy who sold ... read more

Sidan sidast…. Eftir sidasta blogg gengum vid upp Champs Elysees i leit ad godum veitingastad, thvi midur voldum vid ekki vel… Vid letum blekkjast af fyndnum buningum thjonanna sem voru i sjolidabuningum, rondottum peysum med hvitar kollhufur. Maturinn vakti ekki eins mikla lukku, franska lauksupan var meira eins og kjotbollusosa en supa og crepe-id var gratt a litinn, bragdid var lika frekar gratt.. En eftir ad hafa fengid okkur godan eftirrett annarsstadar forum vid upp i Sigurbogann thar sem Svenni tok margar margar flottar myndir. Thegar vid komum nidur vildi hann lika taka myndir af boganum upplystum i myrkrinu og sa ad best vaeri ad gera thad liggjandi a gangstettinni, thad thotti folki skondid en myndirnar eru geggjadar. Daginn eftir, a manadar brudkaupsafmaelinu, aetludum vid heldur betur ad gera vel vid okkur og fara m.a. fint ... read more

My visit to French Guiana started well, with a guided tour of St Laurent du Maroni in a police car. The first shop I saw was a boulangerie and that's when I realised “I'm in France! This is home! Well... Kind of...” Then I stumbled across a couple of French supermarket chains and was almost laughing to myself. It felt good to be “home”, probably better than it has felt going back to France every now and then over the last few years. It was a bit like having a break from the travels without actually having to fly half way around the world. I was only in St Laurent for a couple of hours, waiting for the bus that would take me South, to Kourou. With all the Suriname débâcle, I was arriving a little ... read more

We left Paramaribo in the morning via bus along a ridiculously rough paved road to the border town of Albina. We crossed the river by boat and got stamped into French Guiana. We would use the country’s capital Cayenne as our base so boarded further transport to take us the rest of the way. The country, as a French territory, uses euros and is a horrendously expensive place. Thirty five euros to travel the three hours confirmed the rumours! Our journey wasn’t without drama, a young lad and an old man were talking away before the conversation turned a little nasty. It seems that the young lad was from Paris and had moved to Cayenne because that’s where his family came from. He wanted to get away from ‘racist Paris’ but found the people of French ... read more