I’m on a journey with Madventure that started in Rio de Janiero in February. This is the third in a series of posts. The previous 2 can be found here:
Exploring Brazil: Highlights from Rio to Salvador
Traveling Brazil: Highlights and Hidden Gems

March 13-15 day 24-26

Carolina to Imperatriz

We were on the bus taking us to the bus stop when the lady from the hostel flagged us down and …. Passed us a lemon cake! WOW! Several of us had commented on how much we loved it for breakfast. So kind of her!!

Another long bus ride got us to Carolina. Here we stayed in a really nice hotel. Pousada dos Candieros is an old, spread out building filled with Knick knacks and antiques, a small pool and lots of character. The host was lovely

Some of us spent a good part of the day at Chapada Diamantina National Park. What a gem that is! it covers approximately 1,520 square kilometers. Chapada boasts rugged mountains, deep valleys, extensive cave systems, and cascading waterfalls. We even climbed behind one of them. Cath had a go pro so we even got pictures being pounded by water.

A morning bus ride took us to Imperatriz. There’s not much there but it’s a way to break up the long journey to Belem. A fish dinner by the river was cooked for us by a lovely family run restaurant.

Belem

Belem is a big city with 2.5 million people and lots of things to see. We only had one day. A few of us chose to visit the Basilica of our lady of Nazareth, the theatre, the Forte do Castillo and the Mangal das Garcas (botanical garden and zoo) led by David who has become our defacto walking tour guide. We do tend to lose people along the way though so I’m not sure it’s a good career choice for him. There was much wandering and many coffee, beer and/or snack stops. There are seedier areas so walking in groups is a good idea.

Wednesday, March 18.

The ferry to Macapa

Upon boarding the ship there was a mad rush to find a place to hang your hammock. Since all of us are newbies we watched what the locals do. I managed to find a spot with Angela and Catherine. The nice young couple next to me helped with the knots.

The next 27 hours was spent trying to amuse ourselves. The upper deck had a snack bar with tables and chairs. We played cards and tried to chat but the music was so loud it was impossible. There was lots to see as we cruised down the river. People’s homes, the odd village, boats and kids in dugout canoes and the odd bird are great entertainment. There was a restaurant downstairs that served dinner, breakfast the next day and lunch. You pay and they load up your plate.

It’s actually a half hour drive from the port to Macapa. We checked into the hotel and set off to find food. We chose a more “upscale” restaurant on the pier, hoping to get a really good meal with vegetables. Nope. I could have eaten street food for a third of the price. Lesson learned.

I spent the next day tied to my room as I had to be close to a toilet. I haven’t been that sick in a LONG time. I missed out on visiting the equator in the pouring rain among other attractions. I hate missing things. We did drive over the equator at least twice. Later I found out several had similar afflictions. Something we ate/drank on the boat didn’t like us. Once whatever has offended the system is passed, drinking electrolytes very much helps with recovery.

Oiapoque

March 21 Day 30

Reunited with the beast we loaded up and started the 580 km journey to Oiapoque. Less than 2 hours in the truck broke down. Again. Martin had driven her all the way from Salvador without issues. Maybe she just doesn’t like US?
Roseanna connected with the Oasis crew who we met at a gas station. Some of us went with them and the rest in a bus she hired.

The last 100 km was dirt road filled with potholes and sketchy bridges. Our speed ranged from 5-25 km/hour so it took forever. We finally arrived at our hotel after midnight, sweaty, tired and grumpy. Well. I was grumpy.

French Guiana

March 22-25. Day 31-34

Entering French Guiana was interesting. There were a lot of confusing rules for crossing as to whether someone could drive you across, etc. So we piled into boats to cross the river Oyack. They call them canoes in Brazil and pirogues in France. Once there we ended up needed to drive back over the bridge into Brazil to get stamped out, then drive over again into French Guiana to get stamped in. I thought it was my 90th country but it’s not as it’s a department of France, not its own country.

We drove to Roura and our accommodation for the next 3 nights. Woohoo! It had a pool! Lodges Oyack was luxury for us. We all shared the 2 and 3 bedroom chalets and enjoyed a kitchen and lovely grounds for the next few days.

Nothing was open in town on Sunday so the Top Boys taxi service drove us to Cayenne for supplies. Even in town there wasn’t much open. Some went for Chinese for dinner. I bought supplies and kept it simple as I was still dealing with a dodgy tummy.

The next morning we took a boat tour to a local village. I can’t say I enjoyed it. It’s hard to explain. The guide was lovely but the village appeared to have little future. The people I saw weren’t at all welcoming and seemed indifferent. Considering the guide says he brings people from cruise ships here I thought they might capitalize on tourism a bit more.

I spent the afternoon in the pool and relaxing, trying to recover from my physical ailments. I also spent a ridiculous amount of time on the Suriname declaration form. We all agreed it was tedious.

The next day was spent wandering the streets of Cayenne. We never did find any pepper but we did enjoy an amazing lunch during the worst of the rainstorm.

That night Roseanna and some of the team cooked a fantastic pasta and salad meal. Oh my. Food never tasted so good as I was finally hungry.

Kourou

March 26-28 Day 35-37

Our beautiful, massive air conditioned bus took us to Kourou, stopping at the space museum on the way. It’s an interesting precursor to the visit of the actual European Space centre in 2 days.

Camp Marinas is lovely! There were even enough covered options for putting up a tent. Yes, my tent is waterproof and never in Canada would I put it up in a shelter…but, it rains constantly here. If covering is an option I grab it. Getting in and out of a tent in the rain. Setting up. Taking down. PACKING a wet tent is the worst. So. We were happy campers. Literally.

We also had a full kitchen here so could cook without the truck. Again we were treated to amazing meals. Vegetarian curry one night. Delicious!! My cook group made chili and sides and all enjoyed that as well.

The next day we took the ferry to Devil’s Island. Actually the ferry lands on the biggest of the Salvation islands. Then a small boat took us to St Joseph’s island. There is an armed forces outpost now but years ago was a prison. This island held the worst prisoners in solitary confinement. It’s eery. Nature has taken over and it resembles Angkor Wat, though not nearly as old.

Back on the big island we walked around and poked our noses in buildings. On both islands there was lots of wildlife like agouti, monkeys and we even spotted turtles in the water.

Devil’s island is famous for holding the prison Papillon who later wrote a book which was made into a movie. Some dedicated travellers read the book in preparation and shared details gleaned from that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papillon_(2017_film)

The next morning was relaxing. The camp is on the river and has lots of its own wildlife. I spent much time trying to get the perfect shot of the gold footed monkeys playing in the trees. They make the most interesting sounds!

Our visit to the European Space station was scheduled for 1 pm. There we transferred into their bus and were taken to various parts of the space station. The location was chosen due to it’s proximity to the equator among other things.
We learned a lot about placing satellites in orbit. There are a LOT out there and a lot of space junk since once out in space, they never come back. It costs a minimum of $25,000 USD to put a small satellite in space and retrieving it is not financially viable.
There’s lots more information about it here if you’re interested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiana_Space_Centre#

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for the next post. On to Suriname!