Did you know France borders Brazil?
If you are a regular visitor of this humble blog, you will have seen several examples of the EU’s reach outside Europe, including these two intriguing islands off the coast of Canada. But did you know the EU is present in the Amazon rainforest?
That’s right! This time, I’m in South America, in Guyane, a French DOM – Département d’Outre-mer (county/province). Arriving from Paris on an internal French flight, there is no border control at Cayenne’s Félix Éboué Airport. No customs, no showing passports. Feels a bit surreal.
Also a bit surreal, is the fact that I’m 7,000 km from Paris, clear across the Atlantic. Yet I speak French and pay for coffee and croissants with Euro.
Look for this non-descript little shop in Cayenne’s town centre for truly delicious flaky pastry.
Exploring Cayenne
Most visitors to French Guiana are here for the European Spaceport and/or the old penal colony. So are we. That – and to explore a new region of the world. But the capital doesn’t seem to get much attention. Some even skip it altogether. I suggest giving Cayenne a day or two.
In Cayenne, we are staying at the pleasant little Hotel Ker Alberte, within walking distance of almost everywhere.
Place de Palmistes and the surrounding colonial streets
Place des Palmistes is Cayenne’s main square, shaded by tall palm trees. Also tall, is the Colonne de la République from 1890, built to commemorate the storming of the Bastille – and the end of France as an absolute monarchy 101 years earlier. That’s Marianne on top there, the very personification of the French Republic.
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
Across the street from the square, is a bar/restaurant with a large terrace that seems to be the central meeting place in town. A chill place to people-watch. Before travelling, I read several reviews complaining about dismal service here – and pretty much anywhere in Cayenne. Our experience has been quite the opposite. Friendly folks all round.
Day and night: good food and easy-going service in this gorgeous Creole building.
Cheers to terrace views!
Fort Cépérou
Fort Cépérou is on top of a hill, overlooking the mouth of the Cayenne River.
The original wooden fort was built in 1643 to protect Cayenne – and named after the indigenous chief who handed the land over to the French. But these were combative times, and over the centuries, France lost the fort several times – to the Dutch, the Portuguese and the British. It was torn down and re-built more than once.
At the end of the 17th century, all of Cayenne was fenced in by fortifications constructed by none other than Sébastien de Vauban (remember the military architect from Aquitaine?) Sadly, these were destroyed during the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s, and not much is left of the fort today. The building in the middle photo is Phare de Fort Cépérou, the lighthouse.
Kontan Wè Zot
Welcome – in all the relevant languages
Cayenne’s cathedral and market
The colourful colonial-era Cathedral of Saint-Sauveur is a protected monument and the largest church in French Guiana. Nice enough, as churches go.
More interesting, though, is Cayenne’s main market. On Place Victor Schoelcher, it is open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with perfumes, souvenirs, local arts and crafts, spices, fruits and vegetables for sale. Don’t miss the herbal remedies section. Trouble with your knees? Diabetic? Arthritis? Sleep? Stress or fatigue? Cayenne market will sort you out. You’ll find herbs for just about every ailment here.
Those pear lookalikes are cucumbers.
This restaurant serves up creative juices and Hmong dishes from Cacao… segueing nicely into our first road trip:
The Hmong of Cacao
Cacao is a charming inland stilt-village on the River Comté: small, green, and unlike anywhere else in the region because of its unique Hmong heritage.
Hmong! In French Guiana! Interesting! Of course we must investigate. Public transport is rare, so we have to drive. It’s possible to join a tour, but we appreciate freedom to roam, so we rent a car instead. Easy-breezy! Just remember to bring your international driving permit.
The 70-km drive to Cacao takes about 1.5 hours. Soon, we are in the heart of the valley, surrounded by lush rainforest and farm fields. The climate is still tropical, but we’re at a slightly higher altitude, so it feels a little cooler than in Cayenne. A little less humid.
We have timed our visit to a Sunday, when the village hosts its legendary Sunday Market, where Hmong farmers sell fresh produce from their farms: strawberries, pineapples, herbs, and various exotic vegetables. You’ll also find handwoven baskets, embroidery, knives, wood carvings, and huge butterflies.
If you want to see even more butterflies, Le Planeur Bleu, the local bug- and butterfly museum, also has beetles, stick insects, scorpions and live tarantulas.
Next to the market, small family-run restaurants serve noodles, stir-fry, and pho. Coffee is locally roasted — and ice cream comes in creative flavours.
Sampling Hmong cuisine in the Amazon
If you can’t make it to Cacao on a Sunday, no worries. Weekdays are quieter and good for getting out in the jungle. You can hike into the misty rainforest or paddle along the Comté River in a kayak or canoe. And you can always stroll through the village. There are a few accommodations options.
Where the Amazon meets the stars
Our next road trip in French Guiana goes west along the coastal highway, to Centre Spatiale Guyanaise in Kourou, ca. 1 hour from Cayenne.
In a world where forests are disappearing fast, there’s still a place that’s 90% pure jungle, making it a sanctuary for jaguars, giant otters, sloths, agoutis, howler monkeys, anteaters, and various species found nowhere else. But it’s more to this corner of the EU than pristine rainforest and quirky wildlife. This, you see, is home of the European Spaceport, which means you can watch rockets launch from the jungle.
The location is ideal; it’s sparsely populated and near the ocean, so you avoid accidentally dropping rocket parts on people’s heads from way up high. The Earth rotates the fastest at the Equator, and since we’re only 5° from the Equator, rockets launched eastwards here get a proper boost. Also, it’s just the right distance from seismic zones and storm paths. No cyclones or hurricanes here. In short, this tiny jungle spot is the best place on the planet to launch rockets – and hardly anyone knows it exists.
The only place on Earth where the Amazon rainforest has a front-row seat to a rocket launch
Ariane, the quiet giants of space
As opposed to NASA, the European Space Agency is a well-kept secret. And ESA is not just a centre for space exploration, but a big, collaborative one, made up of 22 member states. Its missions are joint efforts, funded and staffed by many countries. It’s basically the real Avengers of space programmes.
Global navigation system: The EU has the highly precise Galileo, often more accurate than GPS, designed to ensure Europe’s independence from Russian and U.S. systems.
The first ever landing on a comet: in 2014, the Rosetta mission made history when its lander, Philae, touched down on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
A huge technological milestone: ESA helps run the International Space Station, and even sends robots. In 2008, the Columbus science lab landed on the ISS, and their ATV cargo ships has made 5 successful autonomous dockings to the ISS.
Mars: The ExoMars programme (with Russia’s Roscosmos) is searching for life on the red planet. In 2003, ESA sent its first mission to Mars. The Rosalind Franklin rover will head that way in 2028.
Mercury: In 2018, ESA launched the BepiColombo mission to explore Mercury.
Space weather is a European specialty. The Solar Orbiter mission studies sun activity, which helps protect satellites, astronauts, and even power grids down here on Earth from solar storms.
Ariane: ESA’s Ariane launchers (especially Ariane 5) have been amongst the most reliable heavy-lift rockets in history, carrying satellites and spacecraft for agencies and companies worldwide.
You can tour the Jupiter Control Centre and the Ariane facilities; it takes ca 3 hours, is free and in French. Reservations essential! If you are lucky – or plan well – your visit in French Guiana will coincide with a rocket launch. About 9 spaceships are launched each year, and you can reserve a ticket (also free) to see Ariane 6 or Vega-C launch – or wander down to the beach and see it from there. Launch dates are here.
The land of hidden gold rush towns and a forgotten penal colony
French Guiana still carries echoes of its past, from 19th-century gold-mining villages swallowed by the forest, to prison ruins.
The penal colony in French Guiana
Continuing our road trip, a further 2.5 hours west, we reach Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni. The city was founded in 1858 as an arrival point for convicts from France, and we are here to learn more about their fate.
The penal colony consisted of Camp de la Transportation, the processing centre here in Saint-Laurent – and Îles du Salut, Salvation Islands, three small granite islands off the coast of Kourou: Île St. Joseph, Île Royale, and the infamous Île du Diable. Today, Devil’s Island is not open to the public, in part because it currently hosts a radar station as part of the Space Centre. But it is possible to visit the other two, and wander amongst remains of penitentiary buildings, the church, hospital, madhouse, and the death-row quarters.
Due to the ferry schedule, you will need most of a day to visit the islands. As we have things to do and places to go, we decide to concentrate the prison experience to Camp de la Transportation here on the mainland. Plenty of reminders of horrible history here, as well.
Camp de la Transportation
The camp is in the centre of town, by the river front. We buy tickets for a guided tour, and recommend it, as it helps bring the stories to life. Tours are mostly in French, but our guide speaks a little English.
Camp de la Transportation was the grim gateway to one of France’s most notorious penal systems. Prisoners arrived by ship from France, then marched to the camp, where they were registered. Political prisoners and dangerous criminals were then assigned to the islands; the rest to labour camps in the jungle, for logging, clearing land, and building roads. The penal colony system had two purposes, you see: punishment and colonisation. Convicts who survived their sentences were forced to remain in French Guiana afterwards.
Walking through the main gate, we arrive in a large rectangular yard with administrative offices, including the former registry room, where everything was written down: name, crime committed, sentence… Further along are rows of dorm-style cell blocks, where prisoners were sorted by category (first arrivals, repeat offenders, political prisoners, etc.).
Some areas have been restored to their original 19th-century condition, while others are left in, erm… atmospheric decay.
We have a look inside the solitary confinement cells: tiny, dark, claustrophobic…
Conditions here were atrocious: overcrowding, heat, disease, brutal discipline… Many never even made it past this stage — tropical illnesses claimed lives quickly.
Many years ago, when Cat was a mere toddler, the girls and I visited Britain’s worst penal colony, a place so bad, convicts sought execution as relief from suffering. Here in the camp, it becomes clear that prisoners of La France didn’t fare much better. And you didn’t even have to be a hardened criminal. Here’s are the two most (in)famous prisoners:
J’accuse!
The second most famous detainee here in French Guiana was Alfred Dreyfus, an Army captain of Jewish descent. In 1894, he was accused of spying for the German Empire; he received a life sentence and spent 5 years on Devil’s Island. But he had people fighting for him.
In an open letter to the French president, headed J’accuse!, famous author Émile Zola alleged that the Army was guilty of a cover-up. Of course you don’t do that without repercussions, and Zola was sentenced to a substantial fine and a year in prison for libel.
But all the attention led to a new court-martial for Alfred, and as it turned out, the accusations against him were false. Long story short, the real spy was discovered, and Alfred was finally exonerated in 1906. The Dreyfus Affair became a political scandal, infused with injustice and anti-Semitism.
Papillon
An even more famous prisoner here is Henri Charrière, better known as Papillon. I read his memoir at age 12, my first proper grown-up book. A crim from Marseilles, Papillon describes his time – and not least his numerous attempts to escape from Devil’s Island.
In 1931, Charrière was convicted of murdering a pimp. Wrongfully, as it turned out; he was pardoned in 1970. However, our guide at the Transportation Camp, tells us he also was a pimp, hence the nickname Papillon, a slang term for just that. Is it true? Either way, he wore the word with pride, tattooed on his chest.
Few, if any, have attempted escape from this forbidding territory and survived. The sharp cliffs will kill you on impact, and if you survive that, hungry sharks are waiting below. Papillon finally succeeds on his 9th attempt. After various adventures and re-captures, he ends up in Venezuela, and writes about his experiences.
That said, French authorities claim he was never actually on Devil’s Island. Which version is true? Much of his memoir is now considered embellished; even Charrière himself is reported to have said the book is ‘75% true.’
Papillon carved his nickname in his holding cell at Camp de la Transportation.
Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni
We are staying overnight, and have a big flat all to ourselves in the middle of Saint-Laurent. French Guiana’s second largest city is nice enough; slow-paced, with more of a river town vibe than a big city feel.
The city has an interesting cultural mix. Descendants of the French convicts still live here, as do Maroons, descendants of escaped enslaved Africans. There is Creole, Hmong and Surinamese influence, as well, all visible on restaurant menus: Colombo de poulet (Creole curry chicken), fish in coconut milk, and Surinamese/Javanese dishes like nasi goreng and satay.
Wandering around town at night in search of dinner (or running really, it’s raining), we find only two places that are open. A Chinese one that looks a bit rough, and Le Toucan, busy on a Monday night. But we finally secure a table. Friendly staff, excellent fish and yummy daiquiris.
Next up: Suriname
Time to move on. We are crossing the River Maroni to Suriname, formerly Dutch Guyana. By pirogue!
Stay tuned!
All photos by Andrew Morland, Tom Brothwell and myself.
Disclosure? Nope, nothing sponsored here. Not by ESA or anyone else.
The EU has a secret country in South America is a post from Sophie’s World