K Travel Notes

  As planned, we prepared for the trip to Ìlet La Mère , just for the afternoon. The main risk is that the trip may be cancelled due to the sea conditions, but we were very hopeful. Arrived at the docks, right behind the commercial port of Cayenne, we had a feeling of being in an area where they invite you to, subsequently, remove one of your kidneys . Jokes aside, there were no people when we arrived, leaving us wondering whether we were on the right spot or not. We were, as a few minutes after our arrival other people on the trip arrived. We were invited on the boat by a huge guy, with Pacific traits. As for Pacific islanders, he turned out to be an amazing person, despite the size may frighten a little bit at first sight. He was very welcoming, explaining a lot of things about what to expect on the boat, what to be careful to, what to expect and not to do on the island. To be fair, one of the best guides that I have ever seen. We started our journey in the Mahury river, which is...

  The day before the visit at Îlet La Mère we decided to finish off the week at the beach , in order to start the weekend with the right vibes. That day was not a good one, until we got to the beach. I took off my shoes, enjoying the orange sand and trying to find a spot where to have the end-of-the-week aperitif. The view was amazing: the sunset was taking place behind the palm trees, on the direction we were heading, with a breeze still blowing from the ocean. Such a spectacle! After a couple of minutes a tall blonde guy with glasses told us that a turtle was actually laying eggs. So we hurried up, and after a kilometer we ended up in the same area where we were sat down the previous night. We saw a crowd in circle, some of them (unfortunately) even in the visual field of the turtle. We approached and tried to stay not too close and out of the turtle’s visual field.  It was huge! It was a Luth turtle , which is between 400 and 800 kilograms for a height of 165 centimeters. I...

  We have read about turtles laying eggs in French Guyana on the internet and were excited to see this. Talking with some flat mates we decided to join them. We left at sunset, off to Montjoly beach. They showed us some pictures and videos from previous night and it was great! Traveling through the residential outskirts of Cayenne at that time was quite an experience: the areas were rather calm , not sleeping quite yet, and few people going for a jog. I did not really expect. As soon as we arrived at the beach we got our torches out. It was very dark and windy. We could hear the ocean and its waves breaking into the sand. Yet, we could not really see it at first . Once our eyes got used to the darkness, I managed to distinguish the sky, the clouds, the sand, the ocean and the lather. I took off my shoes, in a sort of freedom gesture.  I realized almost immediately that crabs populate the beach, and the fear of stepping over one accompanied me all evening long. I forgot that t...

  First adventure out in Guyana! We were so excited! The path of Rorota , in the area of Rémire-Montjoly (east of Cayenne), was supposed to show us some monkey and some sloths. You have no idea how excited we were to see some sloths! The path is supposed to be easy, and take between 1 hour and 2 hours. It is good for families and kids . To be honest, I found it a bit more challenging than expected but it for sure due to the heat, at least in the inner part. In the part on the coast, which offers breathtaking views of the ocean and the islands, the breeze made more bearable.  Map of the "sentier du Rorota" The whole path, without the tract to Fort Diamant, took us two hours. The heat had us slowing down, but we also tried to spot sloths and monkeys. We did not see any of those. At least, what we saw we believe they were more termites nests. The best moment to see sloths is right after the rain has fallen: they go towards the top of the snakewood trees (bois canon in French) t...

  This post was supposed to be done earlier but, as you have read so far, a few things happened in between. By now a couple of weeks went by, so the right title would be "the first few weeks ". 😓 The first days were relatively easy, at least for me. I had the time to get the jet lag out of my body. I do know, though, that I struggle more when I travel east than west. I have noticed that I feel it more than I did when I was younger. It makes sense.  Normally, there are four hours difference between continental Europe and French Guyana. Just before departing, Europe switched to Summer daylight saving time (one hour ahead). This increased the gap to five hours. As our arrival was not expected (despite we confirmed that at least one month before), we had to improvise for the first night : we used our towels to cover the mattress and cover ourselves during the first night. Luckily we took extra towels, as we were expecting to swim often in the sea. Our personal flight neck pillo...

  I am writing with a couple of days delay. The last few hours were a little hectic . As you can imagine, no, I haven't been visited by Poseidon. 🐠 The following morning (18.04) the waters were relatively alright. The stream went back to its, and was relatively low. I thought the worst had passed, and it seemed like it. I could catch my breath. Stream even more overflown At 9:30 AM, on the other hand, it started rain cats and dogs. A lot of rain, in a very short period of time and all of a sudden. It lasted no less than two hours. Within one hour from the start the stream went back to being dangerous and it was even closer to the house than the day before. Back to paranoia! 😔 On the top of that, I miraculously spotted that our porch started to have water in it: the drain in front of it was filled with leaves and sand, for a while, and the cover was glued to the ground with concrete. The water started to increase but, luckily, it was not high enough to pass the windows and enter ...