I digress, to finish October since there was more to report!
A week after the dinghy was stolen my i-pad was snatched from my hand and the robber made away with it. Both Malcolm and Samuel had heard my dismay and Samuel even took chase on his motorbike. This meant another trip to the police station to report it missing and woe is me all the work involved removing drop box and changing all the passwords to all accounts stored on the web. Fortunately it has not been on line since it was stolen because if it had been I would have received an email telling me where it was! Such is the state of technology!!! We also managed to change the code to unlock it so even using it after being on line would have caused the robber a problem.
Of course this meant that all my preparation for out trip to Cayenne had to be repeated. Here are the highlights:
26th October. We hired a car from BudgetGuyana.com and travelled to Kourou
with Rick and Amanda (from S/C Duplicat) where we checked in at the hotel Ballahou . I must say at this point the whole country had been suffering from power cuts which had not affected us aboard ’Piano’, so on arrival we found the hotel had a power cut. No problem we were going out for lunch anyway. After lunch some sightseeing around Kourou. It being a Monday most shops were closed so not too much to see. Although we did get to look at the Atlantic coast and the area used for fishing/sailing. We finished the day with a walk near the space Centre which was a track in a forest and while walking we heard monkeys! Which we watched for 10-15 minutes
A kindly lady in the tourist office suggested our evening meal that night -which we managed to find despite the black out- a local eatery called Gaou Gaou. It was fortunate that Eric was watching out for customers and flagged us down (since there were no street lights nor housing lights either. The choice was Nasi (chicken with rice) or Bami ( chicken with noodles) and a cool beer.— Note to self choose a house near a hospital as these seldom are affected by power cuts.
27th Breakfast at Le Croissantiere in the Total Garage and then back to the Space Centre for an 8 o’clock start to a tour. This was a really worthwhile trip since we got to see all the areas behind the scenes to the launch.
Back to the Croissantiere for lunch now not selling Petrol due to lack of power and then a short drive to Cayenne.
and all the colonial buildings made this a colourful city, plus the shops were open too! We had sun-downers mid afternoon over-looking Place des Palmists.
Later we checked into the Hotel La Chaumiere and chilled in their pool.
They also did a great evening meal so no driving that night and no power cuts either. However, there was no wifi as it had been taken out earlier that day by a power surge as the power had returned.
Breakfast was available the next morning so we tucked in and then set off for more of the sights of downtown Cayenne. Namely the Wednesday Market with a display of traditional dancers
with vegetables galore and various crafts made from wood.
Next St Saviour Cathedral which has recently been renovated.
And finally the Botanical Gardens which provided a cool interlude in the baking hot midday.
We had lunch at Café Nath
which had quite a selection of coffee and teas plus fresh made Mango smoothies and savoury pastries.
The drive back was only marred by an hours queuing on the flyover out of town. We had a pleasant meal that evening with Amanda & Rick, Marcie & David (S/Y Nine of Cups) and Chris & Kerryn (S/Y Noontide) and planned a trip to the local Leper Island for the next day.
We had been borrowing Noontides engine and Della Myras spare tender while at St Laurent du Maroni so took Chris up river with us and brought Kerryn back down. While there we BBQ'd and chilled out with cool beers until the tide turned to take us back.
By the time you read this we will be in St Georges Grenada but I'll leave that until next time.
A week after the dinghy was stolen my i-pad was snatched from my hand and the robber made away with it. Both Malcolm and Samuel had heard my dismay and Samuel even took chase on his motorbike. This meant another trip to the police station to report it missing and woe is me all the work involved removing drop box and changing all the passwords to all accounts stored on the web. Fortunately it has not been on line since it was stolen because if it had been I would have received an email telling me where it was! Such is the state of technology!!! We also managed to change the code to unlock it so even using it after being on line would have caused the robber a problem.
Of course this meant that all my preparation for out trip to Cayenne had to be repeated. Here are the highlights:
26th October. We hired a car from BudgetGuyana.com and travelled to Kourou
with Rick and Amanda (from S/C Duplicat) where we checked in at the hotel Ballahou . I must say at this point the whole country had been suffering from power cuts which had not affected us aboard ’Piano’, so on arrival we found the hotel had a power cut. No problem we were going out for lunch anyway. After lunch some sightseeing around Kourou. It being a Monday most shops were closed so not too much to see. Although we did get to look at the Atlantic coast and the area used for fishing/sailing. We finished the day with a walk near the space Centre which was a track in a forest and while walking we heard monkeys! Which we watched for 10-15 minutes
A kindly lady in the tourist office suggested our evening meal that night -which we managed to find despite the black out- a local eatery called Gaou Gaou. It was fortunate that Eric was watching out for customers and flagged us down (since there were no street lights nor housing lights either. The choice was Nasi (chicken with rice) or Bami ( chicken with noodles) and a cool beer.— Note to self choose a house near a hospital as these seldom are affected by power cuts.
27th Breakfast at Le Croissantiere in the Total Garage and then back to the Space Centre for an 8 o’clock start to a tour. This was a really worthwhile trip since we got to see all the areas behind the scenes to the launch.
 |
| Ariane Launch Pad |
 |
| Jupiter Control Room |
Back to the Croissantiere for lunch now not selling Petrol due to lack of power and then a short drive to Cayenne.
 |
| Downtown Cayenne |
 |
| Ceparou -remains |
 |
| Place des Palmists |
 |
| Centrepiece sculpt of Felix Eboue |
and all the colonial buildings made this a colourful city, plus the shops were open too! We had sun-downers mid afternoon over-looking Place des Palmists.
Later we checked into the Hotel La Chaumiere and chilled in their pool.
They also did a great evening meal so no driving that night and no power cuts either. However, there was no wifi as it had been taken out earlier that day by a power surge as the power had returned.
Breakfast was available the next morning so we tucked in and then set off for more of the sights of downtown Cayenne. Namely the Wednesday Market with a display of traditional dancers
 |
| Indoor Spice and Craft Market |
Next St Saviour Cathedral which has recently been renovated.
And finally the Botanical Gardens which provided a cool interlude in the baking hot midday.
We had lunch at Café Nath
 |
| We almost thought it closed! it was a Halloween theme. |
which had quite a selection of coffee and teas plus fresh made Mango smoothies and savoury pastries.
The drive back was only marred by an hours queuing on the flyover out of town. We had a pleasant meal that evening with Amanda & Rick, Marcie & David (S/Y Nine of Cups) and Chris & Kerryn (S/Y Noontide) and planned a trip to the local Leper Island for the next day.
We had been borrowing Noontides engine and Della Myras spare tender while at St Laurent du Maroni so took Chris up river with us and brought Kerryn back down. While there we BBQ'd and chilled out with cool beers until the tide turned to take us back.
By the time you read this we will be in St Georges Grenada but I'll leave that until next time.
