Blogs from French Guiana, South America - page 3

My hammock was out, the mosquito net ready and I was about to look for my wind-up torch when the first rain drop hit me. It was then I was reminded: the little dry season was late in Guyane. Like every night it would rain a little here and there with a stronger deluge in the morning and another early afternoon. Sleeping in the car it would be then. For the third night in a row. I hadn't intended it to be this way. I had known that Guyane was expensive. The guidebooks warned me even more-so than Paris. But 43 EUR for the cheapest single bed in the country? No, thank you. The very next morning I looked at the car rental agencies. Not because I needed a ride, hitchhiking the previous day had been ... read more

Mi servirebbero venti pagine per descrivere ciò che ho fatto nelle ultime due settimane. Cercherò d'esser breve. Lasciata Belem in direzione nord mi sono addentrato nella parte più fitta della foresta pluviale amazzonica. Un mondo a sè dove una guida locale diventa indispensabile anche per gli arci-ultra-indipendenti come me. La regione dell'Amapà, la più settentrionale della costa brasiliana è uno spettacolo, un ridotto di ciò che 50 o 100 anni fa si sarebbe potuto vedere in gran parte del mondo e che presto (ahimè) smetterà d'esistere. Il passaggio di frontiera dal Brasile alla Guiana o -stando ai documenti- dal Brasile alla FRANCIA l'ho effettuato in barca. Una lancia motore che da Oiadaque mi ha trasbordato fino a Saint George. La Guiana Francese è un po' un punto interrogativo. Da un lato è evidentemente terzo mondo, direi ... read more

Because of the huge lack of public transport we had to hitch hike to Cayenne. Valerie dropped us on the road to Cayenne and I stood with my thumb out for only 5 minutes again before were picked up by a nice, smiley frenchman in a jeep. No english so it was a quiet trip. He dropped us on the edge of town and walked to the hotel, stopping for coffee and croissants on the way. We booked at the Hotel Central, a little pricey at 59 euros a night but a nice room with a balcony and a cool shower which sprayed horizontal jets from 6 nozzles. The guy at the desk couldn't speak english but he had lots of patience and smiled a lot. We had heard mixed opinions about Cayenne. The girls from ... read more

Today was our last day in the Guianas, but our flight wasn't until 7:40PM so we still had a whole day to explore. We first went to the Cayenne market nearby, which was probably one of the most organized markets I've ever seen. However it was either too early, or not the busiest day (Friday), there were lots of fruit/vegetable vendors but not many handicrafts. We then started driving towards Cacao, a town of Hmong refugees from Laos settled there back in the 1970s. Sunday is the best time to visit, when there is a local market. We decided to go anyway to check it out, it was maybe an 60-70 minute drive from Cayenne, quite a distance away out in the jungle. We hardly passed any traffic or signs of civilization other than a few ... read more

5-29 Hotel: Hotel Ballahou, Kourou, French Guiana, 55 Euro (triple) (http://www.destination.fr/guyane/hotelleballahoug.html) This morning we woke up early to examine our options for getting to Kourou, the launch point for visiting the Space Center Guyanais and the Iles du Salut. Having re-read our guidebook only to find out the bus for Cayenne had already left at 7 that morning and the next one wouldn't leave until nearly 2PM! We went down to the dock anyway where the minibuses departed, as we were arriving some boys started running towards us, one losing a shoe in the process! They were the touts for the pirogues but they left dejected when they realized we weren't going back across the river. We found a minibus that almost had a full load, but it was going to Cayenne only and they would ... read more