Budget Car Rental

 The two Skippers from the two entangled yachts last night, came together early morning, and with lots of luck only a fender popped and everyone sighed relieved.  An old washing machine packed up during the morning and landed in the river, but another happy wife got one similar to mine.  Johan went together with Michelle from Yacht Grainedo to Budget to find out about the cost of the glass, and luckily the owner took pity on us, and we only paid 179 Euros, better, but still a lot of money for such a small glass!

Thanks to Michelle for all the translation from French to English !!!!

Friends

The evening we were invited for drinks and snacks to Yacht Grainedo.

 We spent the evening with Tipi punch, the local rum and lime drink, German Beer and enjoyed liver pate on crackers and the French `sausisse seche`, something like salami, but don`t tell the French I said so!

Samuel, from Yacht Ercolausa suddenly couldn`t see the anchor light of his yacht anymore, and suddenly the party was over. The afternoon a new boat arrived, and dropped anchor close to him, and in the strong tide started dragging. The current pushed him onto Ercolausa and together they moved towards the jetty with all the other boats. The men jumped into their dinghies to help. At last they freed the boats from each other to seek safe anchorage for the night. Everyone tried to get some sleep, and had to wait till morning to assess the damages.

Budget Car Rental

Today we have to return our silver little Huyndai, and I wanted to do a last bit of shopping. When we got to the car, we got a surprise. Our little back window was smashed. Luckily we left nothing inside, coming from South Africa. To the Police we went to report this, and then to Budget. We had insurance of 12 Euros a day and were hoping for the best. But of course the Budget Rental Car, Kourou do have a first payment and for glass irrespective of size it is 300 Euros! I was so close to tears! In a foreign country with a foreign language in times like this, I miss home… The owner, a very good man made an arrangement with us to only deduct the true expense for the little glass...that to be find out only the next day. Rental cars do have huge risks with small prints etc. Maybe in the long run taxis is much cheaper and with limited risks....time will tell.

Zoo de Guyana

 I washed yesterday and I washed this morning with my little machine!  Of course it is good and great and washes beautifully, anything is better than my hands! My Skipper is also not complaining too much, because it is using only 15 Amps for a short period, and I am still recycling water! Life is good!

We still had the car and has to get the moneys` worth, and we were off to the Cayenne Zoo! (Adults R150, children R90 entrance fee). The zoo is very well kept and the animals in good condition. We saw the anaconda, caiman, tigers, puma, lots of birds and monkeys and a sloth high up in a tree. The tapier entertained us, eating the dried leaves through the fence, sniffing our hands, showing his yellow teeth.

A thunderstorm came down in buckets! The rain was soaking our clothes, but we couldn`t leave. The animals, touched by Nature in their cages, went wild! They screamed and jumped and bathed in whatever water collected in poodles in their cages, and stretched their feathers, and we stood in awe. We could feel the energy of Nature flowing through the animals into our bodies and soon we were laughing  and giggling and hugging each other, all part of the Animal Kingdom!

Cayenne French Guiana

Cayenne, Capital of Guiana, is about 50km from Kourou and it is an average town with nice Supermarkets like Carrefour and Super U. We could buy everything we needed, and if you are interested in how much stuff cost check the page on prices.  Marco had directions to two toy shops, and was spoilt with lego blocks.  It looked like I was a good girl after all, and I received a long overdue Mothers` Day present!  My washing machine! A little 3kg top loader was on the seat between Joe and Marco, to be tried and tested within the guaranteed period of 24 hours,

We enjoyed the old part of the town, with little shops and restaurants, but I was in a hurry to get back to the boat, of course.

Guiana Space Centre

CNES-Centre National D`Etudes Spatiales.

Very excited we drove to the Ariane Space Centre just out of town.  The tour has to be booked in advance and is for free.  You have to take your passport along and exchange that for a visitors` card,   which you receive back after the tour.  Lots of people were loaded into buses with a guide in the front. 

 But oh my, the whole three hours driving around looking at buildings and trucks were in French!   It felt as if I was paging through a French leaflet about the Space Centre!  We sat back,   got really bored until we reached the new launching site.  At least we could figure out what was going to happen there for ourselves.  Afterwards we heard that it is a new site and has never been used before.  On our return we went to the Jupiter Hall to watch a video,   also in French.  We sat behind the VIP control room watching the video.  It is a pity no one bothered to put sub titles in English for some tourists.

For the French people on the tour it must have been very interesting, because it looked like the guides were very well informed, but for us…?

Kourou French Guiana

We were anchored in the mud of the river, but kept a close eye on the anchor.  We were about 8 yachts on anchor and a couple on the pontoons,   laying in the mud at low tide.  The Chinese shops were colorful and full of stuff,   (made in China) and it was fun snooping around the shelves.   It felt a bit like China Town!  I found a scale in there and with a Donald Duck winking at me, I stepped on it and called out to Johan.  Great,   we are still in the green,   and we treated ourselves with a big packet of Chips for R25.  We found well stocked supermarkets and we could fill up.  Fresh fruit and veggies were expensive and not really the best of quality.  Brown spotty potatoes:  R45 per kilo,   tomatoes:  R60 per kilo, eggs R70 for two dozen, and a loaf of white bread R35!  For some reason the baguettes were R10 and delicious.

We were still looking for a taxi to take us to the Ariane Space Centre tomorrow.  We phoned and asked around but with no success.  Michelle (French) phoned and we got a rental car from Budget for R420 per day. (R300+R120 insurance).  At least we had wheels!

We are busy filling up our water tanks with the municipal water, suitable for drinking from the jetty at Kourou (for free).

Kourou French Guiana

Salvation Islands are only 7nm from Kourou, soon we anchored in the river. A couple of yachts were anchored in the soft mud at the pontoon and we anchored just outside the channel.

 

Some friends were already there! The current is very strong, and we stayed with Catlyn to make sure she was secure. We couldn`t wait to explore, but all the shops are closed between 12h00 and 15h30. A couple of Chinese/ Vietnamese shops were open, and we found fresh baguettes. We saw a vendor selling little round watermelons, and craving freshness we went over. But I couldn`t pay R100 for that little thing! The next day we realized that we should have bought that one, it was a bargain, someone else was selling them for R140!

Ille de St Joseph

Another island to explore!  John and Joanne from the SA yacht,   Out of Africa,   joined us for the walk.  I needed more cocos.  They are on the ground,   and we learnt to shake them.  If they make a gluck-gluck sound you know that the coco inside is good to eat.

The most beautiful cemetery is on this island.  No convicts were buried here of course,   they were dumped in the sea,   but the staff and their families were put to rest here.  And what a place to rest!  I could still read a couple of tomb stones,   a mother and her baby who died after the baby was one day old,   and buried right next to each other.  I wondered what went wrong during the birth?  A young women,   29 years old,   who died.  All the death dates were around the 1830`s and 1850`s.

Marco and his friends had fun!  John and Samuel pulled them on their body boards with their dinghies. 

 We barbequed on the beach,   while the kids kicked a ball chasing the big rats.

Ile de St. Joseph.

The weather changed and the anchors were fighting to hang on to the mud.  No one slept a lot,   watching the GPS or staring into the night to keep their boats safe.

The whole day the boats were rocking and we went ashore, and so did some of the other yachts.   But our Skipper didn`t want to join us, and stayed on Catlyn, to worried for her to drag.  He assured the other yachts to stay in radio contact if needed.

 Late afternoon  Yacht Ercolausa was moving towards the rocks at an incredible speed.  Why do we sail so slow,   but when a yacht is dragging it happens so quickly?   The two Johans jumped into the dinghy,   and saved the day!  Luckily they could start the engine and keep the boat from going onto the rocks.  After radioing Samuel,   a very relieved crew came onto their boat.  We were thanked with a lovely fish caught fresh from the sea.  They picked up a mooring from the charter catamarans for the night,  and soon we followed them,  for a good nights` sleep.  We will leave the mooring before 9 o`clock the next morning when the catamarans are coming with their tourists.