We organised a taxi to take us the two hour drive to the border with French Guiana. The driver brought his young son along as it was school holidays and he doesn't go back to school until October. The road was smooth and well sealed with no police check points at all. Every small community had a supermarket with a Chinese name or red lanterns hanging out the front.
At the immigration office we were stamped out and headed to the pier for the ferry to cross the river to French Guiana. A customs officer told us the ferry would be about 20 minutes away. While we waited a couple of women arrived to join us. A long boat driver approached us and offered to take the four of us across to the French Guiana immigration office and then onto the dock where the minivans wait for passengers at St Laurent du Maroni.
We negotiated a reasonable rate and chatted to Maritsia and Mercedes from Colombia. They had been school friends since they were 7 years old and did a trip together every year. Maritsia lived in Georgetown with her husband and Mercedes in Madrid.They were only visiting for two nights and had not booked any accommodation or done much research. We gave them our book to look up information so they could find somewhere to stay that was in their budget.
At the minivan station were were mobbed by van drivers wanting to take us in their vans. We ended up in a van with four French nationals who had been on a jungle trip camping in the rainforest. They were able to give us all sorts of useful information as they all worked in Cayenne. When we were checked at a police post they told us many pregnant women from Suriname, Guyana or Brazil try to come to have babies in French Guiana so they can get a European passport.
We checked into our hotel and had a quiet room on the third floor at the back of the building and away from the main street which was thankfully quiet. There was a sign at reception letting us know that the staff spoke French, English and Portuguese.
French Guiana is a department of France.They use the Euro and it is the most expensive country in South America. The cars have F on their number plates as in Europe and they carry French passports. As well as French the locals speak Patois, a mix of Creole, Amerindian languages, French, Indian, and English. All public functionaries are staffed by people from mainland France- police, civil servants, teachers etc.
It has a brutal past being a penal colony and we remember reading the book Papillon by Henri Charriere. We could see Ilses du Salut where he was a prisoner, 15 kilometres off the coast. It is not possible to visit Devil's Island where he was but there were tours to the other nearby islands.
We walked to the highest hill in town to look over the city and get our bearings. Of all the Guyanas it is the tidiest and the best laid out place. There were very few open drains and the footpaths were properly formed so you didn't have to dodge cars. It had some lovely old wooden buildings and a huge grassy square with palm trees in the middle of the city.
At 6pm the square is lined with food trucks. Some sell ice cream and cold drinks while others sell either hamburgers or noodles and some crepes. The menus all look the same and no one does anything different. There is grandstand seating and the locals come out with their babies and children to enjoy the cool of the evening. Kids ride bikes and practise their tricks. Military men drink beer and eat their burgers while mum's treat the toddlers to the merry go round.
We were very surprised by the number of Chinese supermarkets in the city.Some were only one shop apart. They sold foodstuffs as well as plastic goods, bicycles, blankets and household goods; whatever they could squeeze in or onto the footpath. As well as these supermarkets there were dozens of clothing shops with clothing from China. The Chinese run shops were open everyday and they were the last ones to close at night.
The hotel offered us breakfast for 12 euros but we brought food from Suriname to keep our cost down. One night we went to a Haitian/Creole/Guiana restaurant and it looked closed although the sign said it was open. We spied a passage way alongside the restaurant and noticed a lady selling takeaways. When we spoke to her she showed us a bell we needed to ring to get the doors opened to the restaurant. We were the only ones that came to eat.Quite strange really.
We enjoyed walking around the seaside areas and spending time in the shade enjoying the sea breeze. We watched some Frenchmen playing petanque and during a close call two of the men got out their measuring tapes and checked their distances from all angles. They were so serious about the game and they were pretty accurate with their throws so we guessed they must play frequently.
We called our grandson Tyler for his second birthday and he asked us to come out of the phone. He was so cute. When we showed him a banana he tried to grab it. He loves to give us a kiss on the screen.
One of the things we wanted to do in French Guiana was to visit the Guiana Space Centre but they were all booked out and the only space available was after we had left. It is a French and European spaceport. The European Space Agency used the spaceport to send supplies to the International Space Station. The place was chosen because it is close to the equator so the spinning earth can impart some extra velocity to the rockets for free when launched eastward and the lower stages of the rocket and debris cannot land on human habitations.We also wanted to visit the cultural museum but it had closed too. We didn't have much else planned during our stay as we were also waiting for my visa to be prepared in Paramaribo for Trinidad and Tobago.
It was my birthday while here so we went to a bistro restaurant for a meal. It was nice to have some fresh salads and delicious desserts.
There are many Laotians in French Guiana and they grow a lot of the vegetables for the market. On our last morning we were told to be ready for the minivan to the border
by 6 am. We got ourselves organised but ended up sitting n the minivan waiting for it to fill up and didn't leave until 10 am. We went the same way we had come and enjoyed watching our driver Magnifico talk non-stop switching from English to Spanish and Creole.
At the immigration office we were stamped out and headed to the pier for the ferry to cross the river to French Guiana. A customs officer told us the ferry would be about 20 minutes away. While we waited a couple of women arrived to join us. A long boat driver approached us and offered to take the four of us across to the French Guiana immigration office and then onto the dock where the minivans wait for passengers at St Laurent du Maroni.
We negotiated a reasonable rate and chatted to Maritsia and Mercedes from Colombia. They had been school friends since they were 7 years old and did a trip together every year. Maritsia lived in Georgetown with her husband and Mercedes in Madrid.They were only visiting for two nights and had not booked any accommodation or done much research. We gave them our book to look up information so they could find somewhere to stay that was in their budget.
At the minivan station were were mobbed by van drivers wanting to take us in their vans. We ended up in a van with four French nationals who had been on a jungle trip camping in the rainforest. They were able to give us all sorts of useful information as they all worked in Cayenne. When we were checked at a police post they told us many pregnant women from Suriname, Guyana or Brazil try to come to have babies in French Guiana so they can get a European passport.
We checked into our hotel and had a quiet room on the third floor at the back of the building and away from the main street which was thankfully quiet. There was a sign at reception letting us know that the staff spoke French, English and Portuguese.
French Guiana is a department of France.They use the Euro and it is the most expensive country in South America. The cars have F on their number plates as in Europe and they carry French passports. As well as French the locals speak Patois, a mix of Creole, Amerindian languages, French, Indian, and English. All public functionaries are staffed by people from mainland France- police, civil servants, teachers etc.
It has a brutal past being a penal colony and we remember reading the book Papillon by Henri Charriere. We could see Ilses du Salut where he was a prisoner, 15 kilometres off the coast. It is not possible to visit Devil's Island where he was but there were tours to the other nearby islands.
We walked to the highest hill in town to look over the city and get our bearings. Of all the Guyanas it is the tidiest and the best laid out place. There were very few open drains and the footpaths were properly formed so you didn't have to dodge cars. It had some lovely old wooden buildings and a huge grassy square with palm trees in the middle of the city.
At 6pm the square is lined with food trucks. Some sell ice cream and cold drinks while others sell either hamburgers or noodles and some crepes. The menus all look the same and no one does anything different. There is grandstand seating and the locals come out with their babies and children to enjoy the cool of the evening. Kids ride bikes and practise their tricks. Military men drink beer and eat their burgers while mum's treat the toddlers to the merry go round.
We were very surprised by the number of Chinese supermarkets in the city.Some were only one shop apart. They sold foodstuffs as well as plastic goods, bicycles, blankets and household goods; whatever they could squeeze in or onto the footpath. As well as these supermarkets there were dozens of clothing shops with clothing from China. The Chinese run shops were open everyday and they were the last ones to close at night.
The hotel offered us breakfast for 12 euros but we brought food from Suriname to keep our cost down. One night we went to a Haitian/Creole/Guiana restaurant and it looked closed although the sign said it was open. We spied a passage way alongside the restaurant and noticed a lady selling takeaways. When we spoke to her she showed us a bell we needed to ring to get the doors opened to the restaurant. We were the only ones that came to eat.Quite strange really.
We enjoyed walking around the seaside areas and spending time in the shade enjoying the sea breeze. We watched some Frenchmen playing petanque and during a close call two of the men got out their measuring tapes and checked their distances from all angles. They were so serious about the game and they were pretty accurate with their throws so we guessed they must play frequently.
We called our grandson Tyler for his second birthday and he asked us to come out of the phone. He was so cute. When we showed him a banana he tried to grab it. He loves to give us a kiss on the screen.
One of the things we wanted to do in French Guiana was to visit the Guiana Space Centre but they were all booked out and the only space available was after we had left. It is a French and European spaceport. The European Space Agency used the spaceport to send supplies to the International Space Station. The place was chosen because it is close to the equator so the spinning earth can impart some extra velocity to the rockets for free when launched eastward and the lower stages of the rocket and debris cannot land on human habitations.We also wanted to visit the cultural museum but it had closed too. We didn't have much else planned during our stay as we were also waiting for my visa to be prepared in Paramaribo for Trinidad and Tobago.
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| A memorial to the slaves and the slave trade |
It was my birthday while here so we went to a bistro restaurant for a meal. It was nice to have some fresh salads and delicious desserts.
There are many Laotians in French Guiana and they grow a lot of the vegetables for the market. On our last morning we were told to be ready for the minivan to the border
by 6 am. We got ourselves organised but ended up sitting n the minivan waiting for it to fill up and didn't leave until 10 am. We went the same way we had come and enjoyed watching our driver Magnifico talk non-stop switching from English to Spanish and Creole.
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