Hammock on the beach.
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Big momma (Leatherback turtle) coming on to the beach to lay her eggs.
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Laying her eggs.
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Heading back to the ocean. I used this one to show the size of these big turtles.
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This is a nest coming alive with babies. They all come out of a single hole. Its pretty crazy seeing this swarm of little guys in the middle of the sand.
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Turtle Sushi. Only kidding. I would never hurt these cute little guys, although you can punt them a mile. Kidding.
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This is a quick picture on my sprint out of French Guiana. Got Euros, don´t got Steve. This is from Cheyenne the capital.
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That night things opened back up and I found a Italian restaurant that sold a pan pizza for 5 euros. I was stoked. I got my cheese and 3 olive pizza (not three different types of olives, but three round olives dropped in the center of the pizza.) I grabbed a couple of Sprites and went to my room. I added some crackers to the top of it to build up the bulk and then downed that sucker. It was great. I could have ate another one, but wanted to see how my stomach would react. That night I planned on playing on the computer but when I turned it on, it showed that I had a wireless network in he area. I quickly logged on and bam I was on the net. I was ecstatic. I quickly uploaded the couple of stories that I had and answered e-mails for the rest of the night. Had I found out earlier that I had access, I definitely would have figured that I got my moneys worth.

My plan for the next day was to get up early (the taxi driver suggested by 6am) because that is when most people head out so they can get to the border and cross in enough time to get to immigration and also to set up a ride to Macapa or beyond. My goal was just to get to the Brazil side and a cheap room for the night.

During the day I did my duty as a tourist and explored the town. St Laurent Du Maroni was an old prison town back in the day. They used to house the prisoners there before they were shipped off, many to Devils Island. The movie Papillon starring Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen was about Devils Island. I didn’t get to see the islands but at least I got to tour the semi-related prison complex.

Later that evening I found out that he had a group of three teachers and another group of a family of three coming as well. Now the carbet at this place was just a shed a guy built in his back yard. It held at most seven people and he actually had to pull out some items so that there would be enough room for everybody. The teachers showed up first. They were some French athletics instructors. Later on that evening the family showed up. It was the father who lived in Guyana, a teenage daughter, and a younger daughter whom were visiting him for their summer break. It was tight but we all fit rather well. I got to talk to the father who gave me some valuable insight on French Guyana. He had actually done the Devils Island one day tour. He also gave me the actual pricing for hotels in that area. I knew they were expensive because the young couple I met at the turtle beach had stayed there. I thought they might have just picked an expensive place, but actually they were cheaper than what the father had quoted me. In the end, with the information he gave me I nixed the idea of visiting the islands. It would have been cool, but the price tag would have been around $300 Euros for two nights on the island and that was based on me using my hammock to stay on the beach and not paying anything for lodging. They had places where you could stay, but that would have added another $150E to the price tag. There was just no way, so I made the final decision to get my ass out of French Guyana as fast as possible. It would be Sunday the following day and rather tough, but I hoped to get to the border of Brazil by the end of the day. If I ended up getting stuck in French Guyana for the night it would be at least $30E a night minimum for a hotel. I was already going to have to spend $35E per leg to cross Fr. Guyana and there was three legs. The same distance in Suriname cost me $4 US. It is insane. I was already prepared for the pricing and had originally bailed on the idea of Fr. Guyana, but the turtles and the island made it seem worthwhile. There would be other islands and I had to learn that it would be impossible to see every sight out there, so I would just have to pick and choose as I went along.

That night they had a marathon that the competitors ran right along the house. I ended up following them and it concluded at a little carnival/fairground. They had music, food booths, rides, games, and cheeseburgers. I was so happy when I saw the sign for the cheeseburger. I had cravings for the last month that I had been traveling in the Guyanas. It was a bit difficult communicating but I got my burger and fries. It was wonderful. Beef, it does a body good.

With a full stomach, I was first to hit the hammocks. I had a nice hot shower, I was relaxed, belly full, and my guide as reading material. I just hung out until everyone came in and got settled. I hit the lights and we all dozed off.

During the day a couple of French twenty somethings stopped by. I told them the set up with the owner and how bad the mosquitoes were. We exchanged info on the Brazil trek to the Guyanas since I was about to do that segment. They also had a French guidebook that had more information about the Devils Island which was the other thing I wanted to see. That evening they went off to check out the village and then hit the beach. I stayed in my hammock until about an hour after complete darkness. The mosquitoes were not as bad because a breeze was keeping them away. I trudged down to the beach and made the long walk down the side that the other lady had seen the baby turtles. I got almost to the end of the beach area when I came upon an old Indian fellow walking back home to the village. We kept each other company as we walked back. He was an interesting fellow who only spoke a little english but we communicated with hand signals. He was getting pounded by the mosquitoes since he did not wear any repellent so I gave him some of mine and he was fine. One freaky thing was that I was using my flash light to look for the turtles and I pointed it on his back. His whole back of his shirt was covered with mosquitoes. He must of had two hundred or more mosquitoes sucking on him at that one time. Luckily, the breeze and the repellent kept them at bay and we continued our stroll back. I had not seen one turtle and was kind of pissed off. This time I had actually tried and still no luck. Just then one of the French couple stopped by to say that he had run into some people he had met before and they were throwing together a quick get together. He asked how my turtle hunt went and I told him nada. He kind of winced because while he was talking with his friends a bunch of babies just broke out of the sand so he got to watch them emerge and waddle to the ocean. They had also seen two babies during the day so they were feeling kind of sorry for me. With that news I grabbed a quick bite under my mozzie net and cooled off. Then I headed back out. I was going to find me some turtles. Since the one direction was a bust I decided to try the other side. There was hardly anybody on the beach unlike the prior night when it looked like a flash light convention. I got maybe thirty yards down the beach when I noticed some big lines heading up from the ocean. Then there was this huge lump sitting there in front of me. Then these paddles flung out and it started to walk. It was one of the adult Leatherback Turtles coming to lay its eggs. Not only had I got to see my turtle, it was one of the adults. I had struck gold. I got to see the entire process from waddling out of the ocean, to picking a spot, to digging the whole with its back flippers and tail, to dropping each egg in a specific spot, then gently covering the whole nest, and finally swimming off into the ocean. I felt totally lucky getting to see that since the chance of a late spawner was really nil. It made the whole process almost worth it. I said almost because I did not see any little ones which would be the cooler part of the process. With my attitude much better I headed on. Just a little farther up I saw a flash, then another, I followed the lights until I came up to a family who had found the end of a pod of baby turtles waddling into the ocean. It was cool because they were cute of course, but also because they would follow the light when you pointed it at them. With that knowledge we used our flashlights to make them go away from the ocean and onto the road. Only kidding. We helped them get to the ocean quicker especially the ones born without the innate ability to detect the sea. I got my photos and then I felt that all the hassles was worth it. Once they were all gone we kind of just stared out into the ocean like proud parents sending there babies out onto the freeway, just kidding. We walked a bit farther down and found a few straddlers but that was it. We all kind of decided that we had seen enough and started to head back. They formed a kind of line and did a last minute check of the beach as they walked back to their car. I kind of hung back and took my time scanning up higher where the little sand edge was. Just then I almost stepped on a oodle of baby turtles just coming through the sand. I called the family over and they came running back. They were thanking me in French for including them. This time we got to watch as they dug out of the sand and waddled into the ocean. Their daughter and I each adopted a little retarded turtle (call them what you want to call them, I choose retarded.) Hers was just kind of tired and mine had a weak paddle of a front arm so it kind of just went in circles. I picked it up and got it closer to the waters edge where the sand was more compressed and it did not take so much effort to move forward. We both let them go and watched them race their way down. We used our flashlights to guide them. Finally a big wave came and sucked mine out into the ocean while hers got knocked back into the sand. I had won. We watched hers finally make it to the ocean and then we walked back to the camp/car. With the destiny fulfilled I took a shower, and hit m hammock. It was a good night.

Somewhere along the way I lost my cell phone charger so I don’t have an alarm clock any more. I had to be in front of the camp place at 7am or I would miss my ride. If I missed that, then I was screwed. That was one thing I kept an eye on was the number of cars that passed through there and it wasn’t much. Mainly it was in the evening time when the tourists drove up for the night time turtle hunt. It was imperative that I get up early.

With the evening free I just laid around eating my bread and relaxing through the rains of the day. Around 4:00pm we loaded up in the boat and headed off. The boat ride across the river and into the Atlantic took a little over an hour. When we got to the beach area, you could see why the turtles picked that area. The beaches were somewhat narrow, only about 20 to 30 yards deep with a gradual incline to a sandy bank. We had a tough time getting off the boat with the waves crashing down on us but we made it safely. We gathered our stuff and headed in land. We passed what looked like a camping area with a large hut for hammocks and around ten small cabins. We walked to the main road and then down to a Turtle information office. There we checked out the displays and read the literature about the turtle and the beach. It was starting to get late so the guide asked the people where I might stay. They pointed to the camping area that we passed. We all headed back and went to the camping area. There was no one there at the moment but they were due back in an hour to cook dinner for a few people. I told the guide that there was no reason to hold everybody up so I told them that I would wait there until the owners arrived and I got my stuff set up, then would head down to the beach to meet them. We said our tentative good bys. Less than an hour went by when the lady showed up. I asked if she had room and she said no problem. I asked if she took Surinames dollars, no. How about US dollars, no. Uh-oh we had a problem. The closest city was almost an hour away and I had no car. There were no taxis since it was a remote village so I was stuck. Luckily, one of the ladies working there suggested I try the Chinese owner of the restaurant in the village. With that info I went running off. It took only about fifteen minutes to find him, being the village was made up of about fifteen huts. At first he said that he would only let me use the money to buy stuff with. I told him that I needed to exchange because I had to pay for a place to stay. He said no, only for merchandise. Shit. Finally, after a little bit of begging he agreed to cash out the entire wad of $280S that I had for euros. Now, before you start thinking how great this guy was, he only gave me rough $.72 Euros to $1.00US. The going rate is around $.85. He kind of stuck it to me. Oh well, $13US to change a hundred dollars when you are out in the middle of no where with no place to stay, not a bad deal. With money in hand and a smile on my face I ran back to the Carbet (hammock area.) I handed over the money and quickly set up my hammock. There were already 20+ hammocks there but I found an open spot and set it up. Just about then, the swarms of mosquitoes came. They were so fierce that the people who were trying to eat there dinner in the covered dining area had to flee. People who thought they were ready with long pants and long shirts quickly ended up with two pairs of pants and jackets. We were all bundled up like we were going skiing. The mosquitoes were relentless attacking any exposed area even with repellent. I forged ahead and ran down to the beach to see if I could catch up to the group. I had never seen this before, but even at the edge of the water with the wind coming off the ocean, mosquitoes were still swarming. It was actually kind of incredible. I walked up both sides of the beach area and could not find them. I had been gone for a while, but they must have been run off by the mosquitoes because most were just dressed for swimming in the ocean and lying on the beach. With no group to catch up with I changed my attention to turtles. The guides had said that the big turtles were done with their egg laying the prior month but there was a chance at seeing the hatchlings. I did not care as long as I some turtles. A large reason for the whole Guyana leg was the turtles so a lot of money and pain went into seeing these things. Well, after about an hour of walking up and down the beach, swatting mosquitoes, and sticky from the sweat of wearing a jacket in the jungle environment, I was done. I just wanted to go back to the camp site and relax. When I got back there were some people at the dining area so I grabbed my food and headed over. They were a French group down to the turtle area for one night. They had not seen anything. Two of the younger guys who told me about the owner were there as well and did not look like they were having a good time. I was sitting at another table eating when one of the guys invited me over to have a drink and some food. I went over even though the whole conversation was in French. We sat around for about an hour. Another couple came later. It was a husband and wife who were also with the group. They had stuck it out on the beach and had seen five babies. I was in kind of a funk about that, but at least they were seen. At that point I was just uncomfortable and didn’t care all that much about turtles. The lady was really nice and once she heard that I was doing an around the world trip she asked if I would like to visit them on their farm in the South of France. I thought that was really nice since I had only met them. They brought out a bunch of cheese, baguettes, and wine. The usual that you would expect from the French. It turned out to be a better night. After a while the stickiness got to me and I bid them a good night. I grabbed some fresh clothes and hit the shower. It was a quick one since I not only had to shower myself off, but also splash water at the mosquitoes who were trying to attack me. It was insane. They would just fly right into the spray and get knocked down into the drain. I didn’t even take the time to dry off and just jumped into some pants and a shirt and ran to my mosquito net. There I just sealed up everything the best that I could and just relaxed a bit. It was another hour or two before everybody made it back and got settled in. From there I just slept.