Bernie's Travels

Travels in Latin America (Best Photos)

2010-03-19T20:58:00.096-04:00

In 2008 I began a journey of 16 months traveling around Latin America and the Caribbean. Along the way I visited with friends and family and traveled through 25 countries. Below you will find a map that shows my travel route. To sum it up, I first visited with my sister in Jamaica then returned to Arizona and traveled all the way to the bottom of South America entirely by land and sea. I returned to the top of South America in similar fashion, and then flew back to the States in time for a trip to Canada. The only flight on my journey south was from Central America to Cuba and back.

Double click on the map and click again to enlarge image.

The people, landscapes, mishaps, and adventures of my overseas experience were unforgettable. To condense this journey into a paragraph or two would not come close to doing it justice, still there are flashes of experiences that come to mind – Hearing the deafening crack of calving glaciers in Patagonia, seeing both ends of a full double rainbow above the ruins of Macchu Pichu, hitch-hiking the entire length of Cuba, visiting with my sister Jenny in Jamaica, being charged and thrown by a bull at a festival in Colombia, catching thieves and literally making them pay in Buenos Aires, traveling with my sister Katie in South America, dancing in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, sailing along the San Blas Islands from Panama to Colombia, reuniting with my Peace Corps community in Honduras, hitch-hiking the desolate route 40 to the bottom of Patagonia and meeting incredible people along the way, Sailing the keys of Belize and camping on small uninhabited islands; then there was Mexico, all of beautiful Mexico and the special people I met there. I have written about each of these amazing experiences and many more in separate blog postings. Below are links to some of the most entertaining stories of my trip. Below those links are the best photos I shot from my trip. Enjoy!

Hitch-hiking Route 40, Patagonia, Argentina

Visiting my sister Jenny in Jamaica with Jeremy

Reuniting with Peace Corps friends in Talanga, Honduras

Machu Picchu

Hitch-hiking through Cuba

Adventures with Flora

Colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Another beautiful town in Mexico, Guanajuato

Sailing from the north to the south of Belize

Traveling with Mike through Costa Rica

Festival in Colombia

Sailing from Panama to Colombia through the San Blas Islands

Fighting crime in Buenos Aires

Breathtaking Peritio Moreno Glacier in Patagonia, Argentina

Curritiba, Brazil

Gorgeous Valpariso, Chile

Algonquin Park, Canada

2009-09-15T20:32:00.003-04:00

From New York I decided to take the Greyhound bus back to my home state of Ohio for novelty sake. I had just spent well over a year taking hours long bus rides all over Central and South America, how bad could it be? Pretty Bad. Almost all of the decent buses I ever took in Latin America easily beat the Greyhound with its stinky bathrooms and mentally ill passengers . The bus ride wasn't so exciting but It was great to finally be back home with my family. And, as great as it was to be back home it was only a few days before I left the country again! For several years I had missed an annual canoeing trip to Canada's Algonquin and this year I made sure to make it back in time to make the trip. One more hurrah to round out my trip through the Americas and enjoy the waning days of my temporary retirement.

I went with my surrogate father Jim and his two fraternity brothers Randy And Dan. They had been coming up to Algonquin park for almost thirty years and founded the aptly named group of DEPRAVITY (Dedicated Enthusiasts Planning Return to Algonguin's Vast Interior Tracks Yearly) . I had been initiated years ago and I was finally returning to once again to test my liver, and this year my back, in the beautiful Algonquin Park.

Algonquin Park covers a huge tract of land, nearly 8,000 square kilometers or roughly twice the size of the State of Rhode Island. Spread throughout the park is a network of trails that connect more than 1500 lakes and hundreds of rivers and streams. The park is traversed by canoeing through the waterways and carrying, or portaging, gear across the trails connecting them.

To get to the park we drove all day with Canoes in tow and made it up to Huntsville, Ontario for the night, Just outside of the huge park. In Huntsville the guys rested up for the big trip while I went out to see the town. I met some friendly Canadians, had a fun night out, and somehow made it back to head into the park with the rest of the crew. Before making it to the park we stopped off to visit our good friend Red, then ate lunch at Tek's Seafood Restaurant, both were DEPRAVITY requirements.

This year's trip was not as strenuous as some other trips. We stayed on the first lake, Kiosk, for two nights before continuing further into the park, making a loop and returning back to Lake Kiosk. The first couple of days were spent relaxing at and soaking in the calm beauty of the park, and of course drinking plenty of scotch.

After a couple of relaxing days and a bit of rain we moved on, canoeing and portaging our canoes and packs to Mouse Lake. There we stayed for another couple of days with rain showers coming and going.

From Mouse Lake we began our trip back to Kiosk by way of Birch Lake. We broke the trip up this time staying on Birch Lake before our last night back on Lake Kiosk. On the way back I took on the challenge of carrying both a pack and canoe across the trails to help lighten the load. So Strong... not so bright.

Our last day of canoeing and portaging went smoothly and we made it back to Lake Kiosk for one more night. Our original campsite was taken but we found another to enjoy one more campfire and the remaining drops of our scotch. The next day we paddled onward into a dense morning fog to make it back to the truck and civilization. On the way back Red had a cold beer waiting for us and we had another quick visit before making the drive back home to Columbus.

The final stop of the outing was back in Columbus at my sister's very own bar! She had opened it while we were away so we had come to congratulate her and give it the DEPRAVITY seal of approval. We made had made it back safe and sound and I was finally home to stay for awhile.

Railroad Trestle

New York, New York!

2009-09-11T12:59:00.000-04:00

From Cartegena, Colombia I flew back to the US for the first time in over a year, and landed in New York City of all places. I embraced the culture shock standing in awe of the craziness of Times Square. It was a great welcome back not only to be in New York but with great friends from the Peace Corps. My friend Doug was getting married that weekend end so I got to see a lot of old friends and have a great time at the wedding.

I didn't pull out my camera very often so there aren't many photos to show. Still, it was great time and great welcome back to the States.

New York Design

Cartegena, Colombia

2009-09-08T22:30:00.006-04:00

From Santa Marta I traveled four hours along the Caribbean Coast to Cartegena where I spent the last few days of my travels in South America. Cartegena was a beautiful city steeped in history, although I didn't take too many photos. It had a beautiful old city surounded by a fortress wall orginally constructed to withstand the regular sieges of pirates. By far Cartegena was the most touristy city that I had seen in Colombia, but it was for good reason. Cartegena was a must see with plenty to do all around.

I spent the last few days of my trip relaxing in the old city then I was on a plane bound for the United States. I was a bit sad to be leaving South America, but excited to make it home. I had a wedding to go to in New York, a quick trip home, then one more trip to Canada to round out my travels in the America's.

Colombian Flag

Festival of the Sea, Santa Marta, Colombia

2009-09-02T00:21:00.007-04:00

From Venezuela I crossed into my Colombia and made it to the small city of Santa Marta, right on the Caribbean. There is so much to see in this part of Colombia, but alas I didn't have much time to see all that I wanted to. Instead of jamming it all in I decided to relaxed in Santa Marta and enjoyed the 50th annual "Festival of the Sea". It went on for all three days that I spent in Santa Marta and it was a blast. I would have like to see some of the other things around Santa Marta, but I think it is safe to say that I ill be back to Colombia. Festivals aside, I decided that Colombia was my favorite country in all of Latin America. They have a tourism campaign that says if you visit Colombia you are at risk... at risk of not wanting to leave. It's true.

The festival was three days of a street fair along the beach then live music on the stages at night. Two days there was a parade. It was a great time but I didn't take too many photos. The photos I did take were just with a pocket camera so the quality doesn't do the experience justice. Colombia is known for it's numerous festivals and they know how to party. I heard somewhere that Brazil and Colombia have the happiest people. I believe it, the Colombian people are awesome.

Colored chicks

Traveling through Venezuela to Colombia

2009-08-26T22:02:00.011-04:00

I reluctantly left my Brazilian friends Andre and Vinicius on the beach and began to travel west along the northern coast of Venezuela towards Caracas. I arrived in Caracas later that evening and prepared myself to go out and find a place to stay for the night. Then I thought, 'why am I doing this'. I had heard nothing good about Caracas from travelers or even people living in Caracas. It was supposed to be one of the most dangerous cities in the world and it supposedly didn't have that much to see. I originally had wanted to visit Caracas since it was the capital and political epicenter of Venezuela but I had already heard and seen enough about Hugo Chavez and his political movement. I decided to dodge the expensive and dangerous Caracas bullet and hopped on another the bus continuing east to the friendly city of Coro.

Coro was a nice Colonial town with lots of crumbling old buildings. Near the town there was an expanse of sand dunes that looked like something more a kin to the Sahara than Tropical Venezuela. In Coro I met another traveler from Germany, Thomas. We took a short trip to the Medianos de Coro National Park where the sand dunes were.

After a couple of nights in Coro I set off towards Colombia with Thomas. We were hopping to get there the same day, but the trip took longer than we expected and we didn't want to cross the dodgy Venezuelan/Colombia border after dark. Just a day before Venezuela froze diplomatic relations with Colombia and tensions were high along the border. I always imagined Colombia and Venezuela to be similar to one another but they are worlds apart in a number of ways. Currently their national political ideologies are polar opposites. Colombia is probably the most Pro-US country in all of Latin America and Venezuela is the most Anti-US Latin America government behind Cuba.

I went to Venezuela with an open mind towards Chavez not trusting US media conglomerates to paint the most accurate portrait of the anti-US Chavez administration. Venezuela was the most politically heated country I had ever visited and the tensions were clearly apparent. Political signs and graffiti were everywhere showing support or opposition for Chavez and his socialistic movement. Regardless of political ideologies almost everyone I talked to didn't care for Chavez. His bombastic political style was wearing thin and despite Chaves' attempts to better allocate Venezuela's immense oil wealth things were getting worse instead of better. In general Venezuela appeared to be a fractured mess and people were fed up with it. Chaves had taken up the banner the Latin America's socialistic movement leveraging politically friendly countries in Latin America with Venezuela's oil wealth. Venezuelans wanted Chavez to focus more on solving serious problems at home instead of bankrolling pro-socialist countries in Latin America.

Thomas and I split up our trip to Colombia by spending the night in Maracaibo, Venezuela's second largest city and center of oil production. The city was a hole but we had a fun night out. Walking around one of the more upscale neighborhoods we were surprised to see a steak house that had a metal detector at the door. Later on we met some friendly people who welcomed us to a great bar and fun night out.

The next day we continued on to Colombia by shared taxi to the border about two hours away. Leaving Venezuela we were stopped six times at police checks to show our identification. For some reason it was much less of a hassle to enter the country than leave it. With problems between Venezuela and Colombia there was a heavy military presence along the border.

Worn out Venezuela

Travels in Venezuela with Andre and Vinicius

2009-08-03T12:26:00.030-04:00

Even though Venezuela and Guyana share a long border I actually had to briefly cross into an isolated part of Brazil from Guyana in order to get to Venezuela by land. From the Guyana/Brazil border I split a taxi with some friendly Brazilians to get to the provincial capital of Boa Vista. I didn't see much of Boa Vista other than the bus station and a huge Stihl store which made me wonder how many chainsaws they sold to be used in the amazon region.

At the bus station in Boa Vista I bought a ticket to make it to the Venezuelan border. There I met a couple of great guys from Brazil, Andre and Vinicius. They were also going to Venezuela so we ended up traveling together, all the while speaking a funny mix of Portuguese, Spanish and English. We had a lot of great adventures and conversations along the way, and it was one of the highlights of my trip to travel almost a week with them. We all loved photography and they are great photographers so I included some of their photos in the blog.

Traveling from Boa Vista, Brazil to the border with Venezuela.

Andre

Andre

After we bused it to the Venezuelan border we hitch-hiked across and stayed in Santa Elena for the night. Since the immigration offices were closed that evening we returned the next day to get our exiting stamps from Brazil and entrance stamps into Venezuela. Upon entering Venezuela we were each given the flu shot as a minor defense against the Swine Flu.

When we crossed back across the border that morning there was huge line of cars waiting to get into Venezuela and fill their tanks. Venezuela is one of the world's largest oil producing nations and they almost give it away at less than 20 cents a gallon. Cars were lined up at the border to fill up in Venezuela and return to Brazil where gas is much more expensive. One of the border guards told us that some vehicles made multiple trips, draining their tanks in Brazil and reselling their fuel at a profit.

Near the Venezuelan/Brazilian border in the south of Venezuela there are a number of natural wonders worth visiting. There is the Grand Savannah, Canaima National Park, the table top mountain of Roraima, and the worlds highest single drop waterfall, Angel Falls. We didn't have a lot of time to do a long trek to Roraima and we were all traveling on a budget so we made the best decisions we could based on our options. We decided to see the Canaima National Park and the spectacular Angel Falls, which was not the cheapest option but something not to be missed. Although we weren't all that far from the park and the falls they were inaccessible by road or boat so we would have to fly to get there.

We hitched to the airport in Santa Elena to see what our flight options were and it turned out that flights to Angel Falls were almost half as much from a city 12 hours to the north. We decided to take a night bus to that city, Ciudad Bolivar, to try to catch a flight to the falls the next morning. The rest of the day we spent in the busy little town of Santa Elena.

Our bus was delayed getting to Ciudad Bolivar and we arrived the next morning just about the time that all of the flights were leaving for the Angel Falls. On top of that we were told that the next two days were completely booked due to people taking advantage of the coming three day weekend. We had traveled 12 hours north of all the natural wonders of southern Venezuela and we were stuck in a noisy city. All of our scheming had come to a halt and it was time for a new plan.

Vinicius and Andre had come with their camping gear prepared to see the natural attractions of southern Venezuela and they had to go back that way anyhow so I thought the latest development would spell the end of our trip together since I would be continuing on to Colombia. They talked about what to do and I had to laugh when they turned to me and said “let's go to the Caribbean!”. John Steinbeck wrote something wise about travel saying that many times you don't take a trip, but rather the trip takes you. Truer words couldn't be said in this instance. I had no idea I would meet these great guys from Brazil, and I had no plans to go to the beach, but it was the way to go. I was in. We quickly made it back to the bus terminal and caught a shared taxi to the coast almost 4 hours away. From the city of Puerto La Cruz we caught a rickety bus to the small beach of Playa Colorado in time to have a beer while watching the sun set over the blue waters of the Caribbean. A rather strange sight considering the Caribbean is in the east.

The beach was great fun and the people, especially the kids, were very friendly. The kids had a great time showing off for us and we had a good time taking their photos.

Vinicius

Andre

Andre

Vinicius

Vinicius

Vinicius

The next day we decided to visit some of the islands and beaches of Mochima National Park. from the fishing village of Mochima we took a boat and snorkeling tour of the park and choosing to spend most of the day on the beautiful Playa Blanca. The snorkeling was really cool. There was plenty of coral and millions of silver fish drifting in huge schools. They were nearly fearless of us swimming around. It was an amazing experience.

Vinicius

Andre

Andre

Vinicius

Vinicius

Vinicius

Vinicius

Getting back to Playa Colorado was a wild experience that I can't fully describe here. We caught a bus full of drunk people that stopped twice to pick up a case of beers. And then were at least two bottles of rum being passed around the bus. At first we were a little concerned about our situation, but soon we got into the spirit and had a great time, laughing until it hurt.

Along the way there was an accident that sobered the party and made us wonder how many people were drinking and driving.

Back at play Colorado we caught another beautiful sunset

Vinicius

Vinicius

Vinicius

The next it was back to the beach chasing the shade of the palm trees, watching kids play in the sand and, meeting more people on the beach.

Vinicius

Vinicius

Vinicius

Andre

Andre

Andre

Andre

Andre

Andre

Vinicius

The next day was another great day on the beach. We ended up meeting a group of Gringos that were celebrating a birthday and taking a boat to the next beach down the coast so we joined the party and had a great time. It was nice to speak English, but it was also fun to meet other locals on the beach. Doing what I do I found my way into a couple groups and ended up having a great time, and some good conversations as well. Other travelers had told me that Venezuelans weren't particularly open, but I found it to be the opposite. One thing I was curious about were the politics both internally, and externally towards Venezuela's supposed great enemy, the US. I had no problems at all being from the States, if anything most of the people I met sympathized with the United States over their own president, Hugo Chavez. In the next blog I will include something more about the politics. For now it is good times on the beach!

Vinicius

Vinicius

Vinicius

Vinicius

Vinicius

Vinicius

Vinicius

Vinicius

Andre

Andre

Back flip in motion

Guyana

2009-07-27T18:52:00.022-04:00

Traveling through the Guyanas, the three small countries in the northeast of South America, it was easy to see why they were divided the way they were. Huge rivers separated the three counties from each other and the rain forests of their interior were nearly inaccessible. From Suriname I crossed yet another river to get to Guyana, the most northern of the three countries. Crossing into Guyana it felt more like stepping into Jamaica. Guinness and Red Stripe were the beers of choice, Reggae music was all around, and the heavy European influences in Dutch Suriname and French Guiana were not to be found in Guyana. Guyana was once an English colony, but it didn't feel very English.

There were two ways to cross into Guyana; the illegal way, or “the back track”, by speed boat, or the standard way through passport control with the ferry. The van I was in stopped by the back track route to drop off some people who didn't need to have there passports stamped or people smuggling goods into Guyana. From there we drove about an hour and half down the river to get to the ferry crossing in South Drain. There we went through the immigration routine to leave Suriname, took the ferry across, then went through more immigration formalities to get into Guyana.

In the French Guyana and Suriname there were very few people living between the cities. In contrast Guyana had people living all along the coastal road to the capital, Georgetown. I travel to Georgetown with some very friendly people that I met on the ferry. Along the way we crossed more rivers and passed plenty of cattle grazing along the road.

In Georgetown I stayed with Kastan, an American woman doing volunteer work in Guyana. There were a number of volunteer organizations in Guyana and the first night we went out to with a number of volunteers. The next day we made a nice dinner.

Georgetown was a edgy city. It had some beauty but it was mostly a chaotic mix of one and two story buildings with wild markets and bustling streets. It's not supposed to be the safest place in the world but the people seemed extremely friendly to me. As a white guy you stand out in Guyana. In some ways you are a target in other ways a star. I've found it's mostly how you carry yourself that determines how you are received. Georgetown was an aggressive but friendly place as long as you could play along and stick up for yourself. I was amused by all of the people telling me I had to be careful. It was ironic to find so much help in a place was painted in such a terrible light. One guy, a random stranger that I asked for directions, actually told me that I had to be careful who I talked to, not to just walk up and talk to strangers. I pointed out that he seemed to be alright. “Of course” he said, then he went on to show me how he dealt with street crime as he pulled out a gun. The next guy I talked to looking for directions was one of the nicest guys I've ever met and he gladly walked with me several blocks to point me in the right direction just being friendly. It would be foolish to think that crime doesn't exist in such an environment but still you have to wonder how much of the “crime” is actually fear. My philosophy,people aren't as bad as they are made out to be.

Georgetown and coastal Guyana was one distinct part of the country, another part was the peaceful, sparsely populated interior. Unlike French Guiana and Suriname, one part of Guyana's interior was accessible. Traveling southwest into the interior the rain forests opened up to the beautiful Grand Savanna on the way to Brazil. In order for me to get to Venezuela, Guyana's neighbor to the north, I actually had to travel the the extent of Guyana's interior to cross into Brazil to the be able to travel north to Venezuela by land. Guyana and Venezuela have no legal border crossings.

To get to the interior was interesting. On the evening I was leaving the bus was full so I rode in the only other transportation option available, a cramped minivan. We left in the evening with a full load and banged along a pot-holed, dirt road all through the night. The road was notoriously bad and it was the end of the rainy season so getting stuck was not out of the question. The driver was well prepared to dig his way out of the mud. I asked him how he got “unstuck” and he just grinned and said with a smirk that he has his ways. That was convincing enough so I knocked myself out with Dramamine and didn't worry about a thing. It was a crazy ride from what I remember of the beginning. We apparently made such great time that we arrived to the river crossing at 3 in the morning! River crossing? That was a surprise for me as well. I was in a deep Dramamine coma and surprised to wake up to people shuffling out of the mini van. They were going to sleep in rented hammocks at a camp a few miles from the river crossing. We had made such great time driving like maniacs that we had to wait another 3 hours to cross the river on a ferry which began to operate at six in the morning. I was a bit confused why we raced like hell to crash in hammocks for a few hours in the middle of the night. I didn't get the logic but I must not have cared too much since I crashed across the bench seat for the next few hours.

The next day our friendly driver pulled open the van door and woke me up. He was a Guyanese driver but most of the passengers were Brazilian. As I was stretching out and waking up to the dawn the energetic driver was getting ready for the day and made the comment that the Brazilians were pigs as he collected their loose trash and threw it out the door onto the ground. It was an interesting insight in to the concept of littering. Apparently it was only liter until it was out of the car. Notice the plastic bottles in front of the van.

At this point there were now two mini-vans and the bus waiting at the camp, cued up to cross on the same ferry. Our van backed on to the ferry first and everything was going smoothly until the bus attempted to drive onto the ferry. One of the boards that served as a ramp broke as the bus was backing onto the ferry, which resulted in lowering the bus just enough to catch the transmission and pull it apart. The bus was immobilized on the ferry for almost an hour until a piece of heavy equipment rolled up to drag it off the ferry. Once the bus was out of the way the second van drove on and we were off. I guess it was good that I couldn't ride on the bus after all! After the ferry made a turn and a quick chug across the river we were on the road again!

On the other side of the river the was a police check and lots of jungle. Soon the landscape began to open up and the jungle gave way to the Grand Savanna and Amerindian villages. My van was continuing on to the border with Brazil another two hours away, but I decided to get off in the small town of Annai to see a bit of the life in the Grand Savannah.

It was a beautiful and quiet part of the country with not much going on. it was two hours from the border with Brazil and only one bus a day and few vehicles that passed by each morning. I stayed at the only pit stop between Georgetown and the border. From there hiked around and had a look at the village. People were friendly but there wasn't much to do. I slept in a hammac that night and caught the only bus the next morning.

It was a scenic bus ride to the border before getting to the chaotic town of Lethem. In Letham I went through passport control and then it was over the bridge to Brazil.

Crab legs

Suriname

2009-07-19T15:44:00.020-04:00

From French Guyana my friend Carolina and I crossed the huge Maroni River by boat to make it to Suriname. After making it through passport control we hopped into a van to make it to the capital of Suriname, Paramaribo (“Parbo” for short).

Caroline caught her flight to Mexico and I stayed in Parbo for a couple of days at a guest house. It was a cool city with a lot more life than sedate French Guyana. Suriname, and especially the capital, are known for a rich diversity of cultures with lots of Dutch, Chinese, Javanese, Indian, Afro-Caribbean and indigenous cultures all mixed together. Suriname is a former Dutch colony so they spoke a mixture of Dutch and English on top of their family language. It was an interesting place with lots of unexpected sights to see in a South American country. All of the mosques and Hindu temples were particularly impressive and seemingly out of context in the overwhelmingly catholic continent. Parbo was an energetic place with the most craziness emanating from the massive central market. It was good fun walking around and watching people do what they do. Sitting in the market it felt more like a version of Jamaica than anything in South America.

From Paramaribo I caught a bus to the border with Guyana and stayed in the small town of Nieuw Nickerie. The next morning I would catch the ferry across the huge Corentyne River to Guyana.

Bora beans at market

French Guyana

2009-07-19T13:50:00.019-04:00

In the Brazilian border town of Oiepoque I made it to the immigration office to get my exiting stamp from Brazil. It was there that I learned that I had overstayed my welcome in Brazil and was given a nearly 50 dollar fine. Even though my expensive 140 dollar American tourist visa allowed me to stay in Brazil up to 90 days the person who stamped me across the border in the south of Brazil limited my stay to only 40 days for some reason. I had spent nearly two months in Brazil so I was illegal! After another long wait at a Brazilian bank to pay my fine I returned to the immigration office to leave the country with a clean record. I would be back to Brazil in less than two weeks to get to Venezuela so I would have to pay the fine either way.

Once all of the immigration hassles were taken care of I made it to the Oiepoque River to take a boat down and across the river to the French Guyana and the border town of St. Georges. French Guyana is technically a department of France so they naturally speak French. In the last two months I had learned Portuguese pretty well from speaking almost nothing, now I was back to being lost since I didn't know much French. Eventually I found the immigration post, checked in, and then made it to the only bank machine in town. It was strange to hear French in South America and get Euros from the bank machine.

St. Georges was a very small town with nothing but forest between it and the capital of French Guyana, Cayenne, which was two to three hours away by car. To get to Cayenne there were only two options, a shared taxi or hitch-hiking, there were no buses. The last taxi going to Cayenne had just left so I decided to hitch-hike. Not a bad choice considering the shared taxi would have cost 50 bucks! I ended up meeting a great guy who was originally from Brazil, but living and working French Guyana for the past 8 years. So we spoke in Portuguese and listened to Brazilian music the whole way. In Cayenne my Brazilian friend offered to drop me off at the place I was staying, with Fiona and Francois from Couch Surfing. They were great hosts and a lot of fun. The first night we had wine on the porch and went out with their friend Eve to an impromptu food court on Cayenne's main square. Fine French dining!

The next day my main goal was to get my visa for entering Suriname, the small country north of French Guyana on the way to Guyana. I made it to the Suriname consulate before it opened at 9 in the morning and was surprised to see about 50 people huddled around the door. I started to worry that I may not be able to get a entrance visa since the consulate only saw 30 people a day, and it would be closed three of the four following days. Quite frankly I got lucky and met a friendly French woman who spoke English and volunteered to put my passport in with hers. She had been there for a couple hours already and was one of the first people in line. She also happened to be in a rush so she made a point to get both of our passports processed by the following Monday. The other people would not get their passports back for five days, after Bastille Day (France's Independence Day). Thank you Caroline! Of course the tough news is that Suriname charged me the extortionate rate 100 euros, roughly 130 dollars, for the Visa. Still it was cheaper than flying over Suriname to get to Guyana. After the visa stuff was taken care of we walked around Cayenne, I invited her to lunch, and then we went to the beach. I was also lucky in that Cayenne had a special street fair going on so the city had a lot more excitement than normal.

Later that night I went out with Francois and the boys for one of Francois friends' bachelor party.

After we recovered the next day went to the beach again, this time with Fiona and Francois. The beaches in the Guyanas are a breeding ground for the largest sea turtle, the leatherback. I came back to the same beach the next night to see several of these 500 pound giants lay eggs on the beach.

The next evening Fiona and Francois were out of town, but luckily I was invited to stay with one of Francois' friends from the bachelor party, Jean Luc. Jean Luc and his daughters were terrific. We had a nice meal then went to the beach to look for the huge leatherback turtles laying eggs on the beach. It was an amazing experience to not only see one but several of these 500 pound creatures up close.

The first one we saw was already in the process of laying her eggs. She had crawled to the top of the beach then dug out a circle that she crawled into. From there she dug a deep trench to drop the eggs. While she was still digging another species of turtle, much smaller, came up and crawled over and past the huge leatherback and began digging her own nest several feet away. All the while there were official monitors electronically tagging the turtles and helping out when it was needed. One bit of help was keeping the much larger leatherback from trampling over the smaller turtle as it climbed out of its nest and back to the ocean. A man layed flat and steered the great leather back with his feet away from the smaller turtle. Such a cool sight to see. We saw a few more turtles coming in and nesting in the next hour. This was definitely one of the greatest highlights of my trip. Flash photography could only be used as the turtles were turning back towards the ocean so it is a tough experience to show through photos.

The next day we had lunch and one more French Guyana nature experience. We went to a reserve just outside cayenne and had a nice hike. Thanks for the great tour guys!

The next couple of nights I stayed at Carolina's place, the woman who was so great about helping me out with the Visa. She had a party the second night then we hitch-hiked to Suriname the next day. She had a flight out of Suriname early the next morning and it was time for me to get moving so we had some fun with it. We caught our first ride with a nice Brazilian couple who had been living in French Guyana for years. Along the way we stopped in a small town and saw what they said was the best church in French Guyana. It was hand painted by one of the many French convicts sent to and imprisoned in French Guyana. This was the primary function of the French colony, and a not so pleasant part of its history. Now French Guyana's major function to is launching satellites into space for France and the European Union. Having a favorable climate and close proximity to the Equator it is one of the best launch sites in the world. We passed the launch zone on way to Suriname but there was nothing that went up while I was there.

We made it nearly to the border with our Brazilian friends then caught a ride with some farmer workers the rest of the way to the border; after we helped them to unload there harvest!

Papaya