Our first wild camp since Brazil did not go brilliantly. We overused the rooftop air conditioning and emptied our lithium battery bank around midnight. Next time we will use more fans and less air conditioning because our batteries are older now and hold less charge, noticeably so. They like the ferry, are due for replacement. Possibly in Uruguay. Such are the gloomy thoughts of a man in a van at two in the morning sweating, snuffling from a persistent cold, and wondering why his dog prefers sleeping outside.
He spent all night outside happy as a clam. He woke me up (I did get to sleep from time to time) barking but by the time I got out all was calm. He owned the night jungle, but I was half impressed and half worried he might make it a habit as he knows what he likes and I like him sleeping safely inside. We got busy with washing ourselves and then driving ourselves back to town. Departmental Road 7 back to Sinnamary from our wild camp:
“Our postal workers love to serve you; respect them.”
And so to breakfast:
My wife got a photo of the young woman who served us breakfast except you can’t see the giant blue orchid over her right ear. You may be surprised to learn this food stall in Sinnamary was crowded with big butch manual workers from the water company and electrical utility waiting to catch her eye…and order breakfast. We got meekly in line and ordered some small empanadas and the last lumpia (soft egg roll made with tapioca shells). The empanadas were filled with custard which was a surprise as we expected something savory and Layne doesn’t like tapioca so le petit déjeuner was a bit odd.
Back on the highway digesting that most bizarre breakfast.
I think there are still some roadway improvements to come on this rather tired highway however traffic was light outside the Kourou-Cayenne corridor so the eccentric one lane bridges were mere curiosities not inconveniences.
And so we came to Kourou in the early morning.
Had we known Kourou was the tourism capital of French Guiana we’d have stayed around here I guess, not in Cayenne 35 miles away. Oh and they like their parks here.
This is just part of a huge beachfront area called Grand Park de la Cocoteraie (“coconut grove”) and it filled to capacity Tuesday evening as launch time approached.
I’m not sure how much they really do recycle but they have bins, trash cans, picnic tables and everything you expect to see in a public park. The thing is, outside Argentina and Chile these facilities are unknown. To see them again is a reminder of the world we left behind, national parks, public forests, roadside picnic areas, stuff you take for granted in the first world. Don’t do that! I miss those public open spaces every day. 
From this small public space at the tip of the city of Kourou you can see one of the major tourist attractions, made famous in books and movies as the home of Papillon, Devils Island.
Above you can see Dreyfus Tower named for the other famous prisoner held on those islands, the Jewish military officer unjustly accused of being a traitor. I have a tour booked on Ile Royale the largest and most accessible island of the three so there will be more to say on the subject of Devil’s Island in my next post I hope.
This place is called Rocky Point, Point Des Roches on the eastern end of the city, and our plan was to come back here to view the Tuesday night launch of an Ariane 6 rocket from the European Space Center, which coincidentally is Kourou’s other claim to tourist fame.
It’s called Point des Roches or Rocky Point because it’s a point and it’s rocky. Imagine that! We went on a walk about in the afternoon heat:
It was hot as blazes. 
The Hotel des Roches has apparently passed its peak but a dozen years ago reviewers raved about the views and how this hotel was unique on a sandy waterfront with ocean views.
A muddy foreshore is not tourist ideal.
We went to visit the space center on our way to Cayenne to check in to our apartment rented to escape the relentless heat. But first le déjeuner and for lunch Layne had noticed a food truck. 
We had a baguette sandwich with chopped steak under the pine trees in the breeze. It was lovely and we lounged with Rusty under the table. Our landlord had told us sternly we could not check in early so we had time in hand until 3pm in Cayenne an hour and twenty minutes away. So we went food shopping. 
Rusty needed the rooftop air in this parking lot.
We saw a lot of very high prices and some weird stuff because food shopping is always a cultural ice breaker. Who, for instance, makes sandwiches shaped like this sliced cheese?
You want weird chips? The French have them and we dove deep trying the funky goat cheese flavor.
I am used to wine snobs looking down their noses at boxed wine so wasn’t I surprised to see the French of all people embracing this American convenience?
Then we took a detour to check out briefly the scene of the rocket launch. Security was tight, police and gendarmes were all over the place, military patrols were all over the space center and there was a sense of stress in the air. The launch was scheduled at 6pm, our check-in was at 3pm and we needed to be back for six.
Who needs Cape Canaveral say the French.
Our plan is to come back Saturday to check out the museum. We just drove straight in and parked, very easy, among lots of people coming by no doubt getting ready for the launch.
We drive to Cayenne 33 miles away checked in to our tiny $100 a night apartment (with outdoor kitchen and swimming pool) tons nap and drive back to Rocky Point with fifteen minutes to spare. 
We sat at the base of the Dreyfus Tower.
What a night for it.
And then it appeared silently but exactly on time popping up over the roof of the hotel. 
It’s an Ariane 6 rocket hauling I believe a navigational satellite but I’m not sure. Honestly it was just astonishing to watch.
I saw a launch at Cape Canaveral years ago but this rocket seemed so much more intimate and close up in this wild tropical setting. 
There was a comment from a reader saying they had seen it in Maryland which I thought was a misprint. 
But what do I know? I was sent a news article saying the plume was widely seen over the northeastern US. I was surprised to put it mildly. 
And so it went with the inevitable sense of let down when we realized it was time to turn away. 
It was time to go. We expected a mad rush for the hundreds of cars but no such thing happened.
It was actually very orderly as most people were staying behind for an evening of the park. 
And so home in the dark. It’s France it was easy.
What a day.
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