Successful Launch!

Few days ago on the Remire Montjoly beach, some of us saw baby turtles hatching from the eggs laid by the huge leatherback sea turtles last April. These three months of incubating period correspond exactly  to the duration of our MSG-3 launch campaign in French Guiana.

Credits: Christine

Like this small turtle entering the new sea world, MSG-3 enters, since the successful launch of this evening, its trip into deep space. For sure both need a bit of time and preparation before they become adults able to fully perform their respective missions. They will have to face multiple dangers and hostile environment...
As we wait for the first news coming from our "baby", let's wish them anyhow a good trip into their respective media and, on the top of that, a fascinating life!
Don't we say that turtles can live more than 100years? ... A good perspective for MSG :-)

Few local restaurants

There is a large choice of restaurants in French Guiana. Though there are held by people from different origins (Chiese, Brazilian, Surinamese, Creolian...), some typical Guyenese dishes are often available on the menu, for instance: Pimentade d'accoupa, Grilled Mérou sauce chien (or maracuja), Ragout de cochon bois (Pécari or Pakira stew), Fricassée de poulet au curry (Chicken carry), Crevettes au lait de coco (Shrimps in coco milk), stuffed crab, Rougail de Porc (Porc Rougail) or boucané, etc... and  as side dishes, salade the couac, lentils, red or green beans, rice are the most frequent ones...
Never forget the gratin de papaye (or sometimes the choucroute de Papaye) which, when finely prepared, are so delicious that you would not be surprised to find them on the menu of a three star restaurant in Paris or Lyon...
Regardless the way they are prepared, ALL restaurants serve outsanding fish dishes. This can may be explained by the the fact that they are extremely fresh i.e. they are cooked (almost) the same day they are fished. Fishes seem to be still abondant along the Guyenese coasts and local fishing is not as massive as in in the rest of the world. On the top of that, fishing seems to be a national hobby here.
As far as meat is concerned, one can see cattle grazing around as we already reported in this blog. Mainly: zebus and water buffalos. Beef meat is also imported from Argentina (via Paris!). Games is very popular on the menu but fortunately controls punish regularly places that served protected species (click here to see the list of endangered species in French Guiana).
Funnily enough to be mentioned: No italian restaurants around, but pizzas are served everywhere and most of the time you would be amazed by the quality.
So in one word: Food in Grench Guiana is really a nice surprise to be discovered with a bit of patience, education and curiosity. Just dare, you will never be disappointed :-)
Last but not least we should never forget few talented members of the Thales crew who prepared meals for the whole team at certain points in the campaign. Namely Salvatore (speciality: Spaghetti ai gamberi), Gerard (Pissaladiere) and Roger (please pronounce "RoDger", don't forget the D). One of his numerous recipes is the Marinade d'Acoupa (he fished and prepared the fish himslef). Certainly the best guy to have with you if by mistake you get lost in the jungle or the rain forest :-)
The few pictures below will give an idea, not on the food, but about the atmosphere you will enjoy in the various restaurants which have been visited by the MSG-3 teams during the launch campaign.
1-Le Saramacca, quartier Simarouba, Kourou (French/Creolian)

2-Le karting, Kourou (French/Creolian). Excellent grill. MSG-3 "canteen". if you ask for Erci, you will be red carpet treated!

3-Chez Mathilde (Dominican Republic), Kourou, Pimentade de Mérou and Gratin de papye***

4-Le Mistral (Brazilian), Quartier Monnerville/Monnerville district, Kourou. Excellent Pancakes.

 5-Mansoa del dorado (Pure Creole), Mana. Don't look at the menu just listen Sylvain, he will advice the best you can have.

6-Chez Modestine (International local cuisine :-), Saint Georges sur Oyapock

7- Wayki Village (Creolian), Roura.  Marinade d'Acoupa à la tahitienne **

8-Oiapoque, Carbet restaurant on the river. The view is likely the best there.

9-Breakfast at Hotel Floresta, Oiapoque, Brazil. Gorgeous fruits ***

10-L'Ancre Bleue, Vieux Bourg, Kourou. Guyanese specialities for a very reasonable price.

11-Kaz Kréol, Au Grand Pavois, Montsinéry. Good cooking and service, extremely nice location

12-Le Massalé (Pure Creolian), Quartier de Roches/Roches district, Kourou
Photo to be published later
 
13-Restaurant of the Ariatel (Novotel), Kourou, nice location...

14-l'Oasis Plage, located in Remire-Monjoly, excellent shrimps prepared according a secret recipe :-)

15-La Belle Amédéee, 5900 route des plages, Remire Montjoly, Cayenne 97354

16-Le Delili, 68 Avenue des Iles, 97310 Kourou (Chinese)

17-Le Pakira, 22bis rue C. Verderosa, 97315 Sinnamary. Nice location with a carbet terrace situated along the river. Excellent Guyanese cuisine (Pimentade d'Acoupa, Columbo de porc…)

18-Le Perroquet, 1 rue Jérémy, 97356 Bourg de Montsinéry. Cuisine Créole. Beautiful view on the river

This list is of course not exhaustive and may surely be complemented by other nice discoveries...

At the border again: Saint Georges-Oiapoque

Driving 200 kilometers southwards on the RN2 road from Cayenne will lead you to Saint Georges a border village with Brazil set on the Oyapock river. Note that the asphalted portion of the RN2 road between Regina and Saint Georges was completed in 2004.

Saint Georges is a quiet typical Guyenese small village where the connection with Oiapoque (Brazil) is made with pirogues commuting on both sides of the Oyapock river. In 2011 a huge cable-stayed bridge connecting the two cities was built. The road on the Brazilian side is not yet completed therefore the bridge is not open yet to traffic. This is planned in 2013 (?). Therefore, a kind of cathedral in the desert at the moment...

Before having a glance on Saint Georges, the short history of the border line between French Guiana and Brazil is worth to remind. This argued border was initially set by the Utrecht Treaty in 1713.
In the Contesté franco-brésilien, the following sentence of the 1713 treaty was the causing the issue:
"Que la navigation de l'Amazone, ainsi que les deux rives du fleuve, appartiendront au Portugal, et que la rivière de Japoc ou Vincent Pinson servira de limite aux deux colonies."
It took roughly 200 years to understand what the diplomats at the time meant with spelling of the word  "Japoc". For Brazilians (who became independent in 1822)  this word was clearly designating the Oiapoque river but for the French the Araguary river (part of the Japoc region?). A Swiss arbitration in 1900 gave right to Brazil on their interpretation of the treaty adding a surface corresponding to half the surface of France to the Northern part of their territory!
En passant, the history of the western border (between French Guiana and Suriname) is not more glorious for France. There is even still an area situated on the high Maroni river which is under argument...For further reading on the topic click here...
But let's come back to Saint Georges. The most active part of the city is organised around a large square sitting, on one edge, along the Oyapock river. On the opposite side of the river, a refreshed town hall can be observed, the rest of the perimeter being filled with small restaurants, a grocery and some usual houses. In the middle of this square, a memorial sadly reminds the names of the local citizens who lost there life in the first world war (1914-1918).

A closer view on it unveils the long list of people who were sent to remote european battle fields in 1914 somewhere between other borders: those of France Belgium and Germany. They likely had no clue where it was before leaving French Guyana and what were the reasons of this conflict. Considering the small size of the village and the amount of human losses, it easy to understand the importance of the 1914-1918 tragedy.
Today, it should be reminded all the time that the period of ca 70 years of peace and growth that benefited  Europe since 1945 was due to the development of the European Union process between the the old fighting nations. Contemplating this monument, it is easy to understand why this process should be pursued and consolidated today to face the challenges of the new surfacing world.

The town hall can be easily be identified by its blue and yellow colours on the facade. The city blazon with the bow in the left corner can be noticed. A slogan beneath the city blazon "M'arc boute  POC à POC" reflects an onomatopoeia, related to the noise of a bow when it is arched. The presence of a  Jaguar fighting with an indigenous man on the same blazon is peculiar enough to be mentioned as well.

On the right hand side of the square (when looking at the town hall) stands a small restaurant with the lovely name of "Chez Modestine". The restaurant terrace faces the square. From there, you can observe  taxis commuting on the river.

For literature lovers, Modestine refers to Robert Louis Stevenson, a famous Scottish (travel) writer. If everybody knows the Treasure Island, few people only knows Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes. Modestine was the name of this unpredictable but lovely donkey who brought to Stevenson's trip some unexpected surprises... At the restaurant, no donkey, just a nice scarlett macaw on the signboard.

Before starting the river crossing to Brazil, don't miss the only "monument" of the village: the church. It is at this very place, that "donkey's ears" ago, deported prisoners discovered in the soil some Dutch coins representing Saint Georges while they were building the church. This may be the explanation of the village's name.

Eventually it's time to embark to Oiapoque (Portugese spelling) i.e. the Brazilian border city on the other side of the river. At Saint Georges pier, a "taxi"driver is almost waiting for you round the clock. The transfer will last 15 minutes and cost 5 euro for a single ticket per person. Click here to get the journey impressions.
On the other side, this is the Oiapoque "harbor" as you will discover it:

It is not sure that the vast majority of Rio de Janiero or other Brazilian citizens from large cities would recognise Brazil at this very place or even precisely locate this nice city on the map. Anyway, welcome to Brazil!
A warning notice plate written in Portuguese and something between French and Creole languages tells you about risks across the border. For sure this represents a promising discovery as important as the Rosetta Stone for  archaeologists of the next millennium :-)

In case you get homesick, you still have a chance to see the French Guyana bank from the Brazilian side. Then you will realise two things:

First, that the landscape on the Oyapock river and the Saint-Georges - Oiapoque bridge on the background is absolutely gorgeous. 

Secondly, that the river is not a real border but on the contrary a link between the peoples.

The Oyapock connection

The Oyapock river is the border between Brazil (Amapá state) and French Guiana. This rivers which penetrates deeply through the Amazon rain forest is also the unique natural route used daily by river taxis to connect indigenous populations together over a distance longer than hundreds miles. The snag is that the Oyapock river is not flat all along the trip...

Few miles after Saint Georges or Oiapoque cities, large rocks surface, creating rapids and water stream. This place, called Saut Maripa (litterally Maripa Jump), is extremely picturesque but not a real "path" that can be easily crossed by a pirogue.

Whatever your plans are, to make an excursion from the bank to observe this unique site, or to travel upstream to Camopi, you do need to disembark and leave your pirogue on the bottom side of  the falls.

Few meters higher, an unexpected show can be observed. Roughly hundred meters further upstream, a group of people are just waiting with their wrapped luggage standing on a rock in the middle of the river. 

Not very much later, a new pirogue arrives from the other side of the river, making some large curves to avoid dangerous rocks, in order to finally reach this isolated group of travellers....

Crew and freight are carefully transferred from the bank to the pirogue for the next leg of the trip.

Once everything is safely loaded, this heavy carriage slowly leaves upstream  this splendid location up to the next "jump".

How many time this sequence is repeated along the trip on the Oyapock river? How long does it take to reach Camopi?  Four hours or more? May be this is not the right question to ask because there is no other alternative. What is sure is that these river taxis are extremely skilled to maneuver in this unfriendly area and, on the top of that, quite well organised considering the number of necessary connections to get a smooth trip all along the Oyapock river.

Behind the walls

The penal colony has been active in French Guyana over one century (1852-1953). One of the most important vestige of this punishment system can still be seen in Saint Laurent du Maroni, a city set along the Maroni river.  Convicted (but also innocent) people where transported from France up to the "camp de transportation" in this penitentiary township before being distributed in the different forced labour camps all over French Guyana. Working conditions were devastating and mortality extremely high.
This enterprise, despite the promising words* of Louis Napoleon on 22/11/1850 (two years and a half after the Abolitionism was voted by the interim government of the 2nd Republic**) proved to be a total disaster!
Later, thanks to the efforts of Albert Londres, and other less known people, the barbarity of such a system became openly known. Eventually, after the 2nd world war, France was condemned by the United Nation and dropped the penal colony.


*"Six thousand condemned men in our prisons weigh heavily on our budget, becoming increasingly depraved and constantly menacing our society. I think it is possible to make the sentence of forced labour more effective, more moralising, less expensive and more humane by using it to further the progress of French colonisation."
** Decree dated 27th April 1848

Border line

Saint Laurent du Maroni (French Guiana) is just opposite to Albina (Suriname), both cities being just separated by the Maroni river.
Here under is the nice view on Albina as seen from Saint Laurent du Maroni. Tourists may afford a day excursion in Albina showing an identity document at the border control. For implementing this plan you may just have to cross  the river.

In such a case, the first common sense idea is to go the to official harbour and board the local ferry commuting between the two cities. As you can see below, it is never extremely crowded. This place is only populated by the custom control policeman accommodated  in little hut on the right hand side. Once the control is done, the "Gabrielle", the name of this ferry, is just waiting for you, ready to go...

After a while, you will realise that the speed of the ferry being 0 km/h, the time needed to reach Albina will not be compatible with your initial plans and then you do have to implement the plan B. For this, move first to the (much more dynamic) local pirogue harbour,

where a crowd of hectic "taxi" drivers is waiting for you on the street. Negotiating a single or a return ticket is a piece of cake and few seconds later you are on your way. Forget the passport control.

This process looks so easy that the idea that those two countries have signed up for the Shengen Agreement may cross your mind during the four minute trip. Considering the number of pirogues in both directions you will also realise during the river crossing how intense is the traffic between French Guiana and Suriname...

When you return to Saint Laurent from Suriname by the same type of transportation, you may ask the pirogue driver to drop you at the "official harbour" for personal convenience: a nice opportunity to check if the situation has changed from what you experienced earlier in the day: indeed, the place looks as desert as in the morning. Only the custom control staff may have left (?)

Anyway, it is nice to feel safe and back to France!  After such an experience, you may want to have a drink or a snack. Saint-Laurent du Maroni is not a very large city but you may easily find a nice café or a small restaurant around. There is one in particular where you will notice something peculiar: a stack of caps...

showing evidence that in Saint Laurent du Maroni, custom controllers are getting depressed or have definitely decided to change job :-)

K.B.

P.S.: The situation with Brasil, on the other side of the country is not better despite a brand new bridge (Pont sur l'Oyapock, Oyapock river bridge) has been built between Saint-Georges de l'Oyapock (French Guiana)  and Oiapoque (Brasil). The infrastructure of the bridge is completed since August 2011 but still missing... the  border control personnel on both sides to be fully operational. The commissioning of the bridge in planned for January 2013 (...just the time needed to re-train, re-motivate and re-locate the personnel from Saint Laurent? ).

Colors of Montsinery

Montsinery is a nice and quiet village between Kourou and Cayenne. The Montsinery river passes along the village where some activities are proposed by the Centre Nautique (Yacht club). On the opposite banks the mangroves can be observed with the associated fauna: i.e. Scarlet Ibis (Ibis Rouge), if you have some luck.
Walking around the village, you will notice the colorful wall paintings expressing themes related to nature and music which welcome any curious traveler ...

Observing the Spectacled Caiman

The Spectacled Caiman (Caïman à lunettes), can be observed at night. This is a traditional night excursion made at the Kaw swamp.
We embarked on a pirogue from the "floating camp" at 20:30 sharp in the complete dark. Our guide, Gilbert, had only a light halogen torch mounted on his head. He was standing at the rear side for piloting the pirogue. As the boat was moving, he was regularly sweeping the river bed from left to right and right to left with the beam of his lamp. The trick is that, in the complete dark, the eyes of the caiman strongly reflects the light when on the surface of the water. With such a technique we were able to approach a young caiman after 15 minutes. Great!
We continued our way for further observations. Then, after another evidence of the presence of a caiman, Gilbert re directed swiftly the pirogue in right direction without engine power to reach the targeted place. The boat slided silently in the complete dark toward the flooded bank while he was getting to the front. All passenger lights were switched off according to his instructions, but suddenly we just eared a noise as if  someone fell in the water...

At the Kaw Swamp

Since 1998, Kaw swamp (reserve naturelle des Marais de Kaw) is a natural park. This place is quiet impressive by its size (94700ha) and the number of (protected) species that can be found, in particular the avifauna.
Located roughly 60kms southwest from Cayenne, the Kaw swamp is a in fact a flooded savanna. During the rainy season (April to June), most of the places, village and farms can only be reached by pirogues. Local tour operators propose various options to visit this outstanding place. An exciting one is to spend a day on a floating Carbet (Lodge Caïman). Wandering on the Kaw river with a pirogue, gives a unique opportunity to observe many rare species as they live here since milenaries. At night, in quasi open air accommodation one can ear the superb concert given by the night "players" of this complex and rich ecosystem...

Along the Baobab Boulevard

Baobab trees (Adansonia) are fascinating trees. At glance their unusual "bottle-like shape" immediately draws attention of any curious hiker. They are many species of this tree originated from Madagascar: They do bear heat and some have adapted to coastal regions. Digging out a bit more, one learns that they don't produce annual growth rings, which make difficult to determine their age. Carbon 14 methods (radiocarbon dating) are then used and confirm that they can grow for some of them extremely old (>1000 years) reaching impressive heights and sizes. In dry seasons they can even store water inside their swollen trunks. On the top of that, seeds, fruits and leaves have edible qualities among other uses.
Last but not least, have you ever seen a baobab flower? At day it looks passed or withered and surprisingly, this miserable flower takes all its beauty at night: the white colour becomes then a little sun in the night.

Young baobabs have been successfully planted close to the Roches district in Kourou. So don't look for the Sunset Boulevard but just enjoy a jogging early morning when it is still fresh between the beach and the Baobab boulevard....

Guyenese Tartans

Even if we are here in French Guiana very far from Gaelic or Highlands Scottish cultures, colors and motives printed on fabrics (may be some are even woven) may remind somehow tartans. They draw attention by their bright colors and combinations rather than by their geometry. Could we say that these colors purposely remind those of the various exotic fruits produced here or the sea and sky shades? Anyway, these fabrics are used in the daily life  as (table) clothes, scarfs... or as decorating marks to identify local products (e.g. jam, syrups...). They are frequently met not only in French Guiana but more generally in the Antilles and known as Madras cloth (or Madras tissu in French).

Les îles du Salut (Salvation islands)

Credits Wikipedia

Several images can be associated to French Guiana (e.g. peper, rain forest, rockets, etc...), but only one image is associated to the Salvation islands: Prisons.
to be continued....

Cacao market

From Cayenne, if you drive along the RN2 in the southern direction for roughly 60 kilometers, you will reach Cacao village. Landscapes shift from savanna after Cayenne into deep primary forest on both sides of the road. Cacao has been given in the seventies to Hmong people, an Asian community of refugees originated from Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. Since the time of their settlement in French Guiana, they did an impressive farming job to transforming the jungle into a vegetable garden or a garden of Eden. This has certainly be a hard time to get there, and the young generation is no longer willing to continue their parent's hard work. They apparently fancy urban jobs more.
Anyway, Cacao is a tiny village famous for its Sunday market, visited Sunday 29/04/12 by the MSG teams.
Here is an overall view on the market from the main village square.

 

Various types of vegetables and fruits from the Hmong production are on sale.

Exotic flowers (Bractées de Balisier) or ...

lovely embroideries, typical from the Hmong culture, are also available.

The typical Asian food is served in open air restaurants aside the market.
Here under MSG team at lunch break (from left to right: Cyril, Rolf, Stéfane, Elaine, Francois and Liliane). Don't try to get a coffee in Cacao, it is not on the menu :-)

Finally, never leave this place without a visit at the village museum "le planner bleu". The teacher of the village, a real fascinating character, will delight you with his guided tour on butterflies, spiders, snakes etc... You will really lean a lot. In a single word he will tell you:
All you ever wanted to know about French Guiana but never dare to ask.

Association le Planeur Bleu, 97352 Cacao

Tel. Fax: +33 (0) 594 27 00 34 

leplaneurbleu@wanadoo.fr