In Cayenne
I was told the author of the Lonely Planet South America had said that Cayenne, French Guyana’s capital, is the nicest capital in South America. True, it’s not all that bad, but it’s also small, dirty and with no real town center. The town reminded me of a small industrial provincial town in France. Either the writer was mad, French or, perhaps, both.
Jogging seems to be a national pastime in French Guyana. Just like the bats that came out at dusk in St. Laurent, attracted by the lights of the soccer field in the middle of that city, in Cayenne, joggers came out at dusk to run on the sandy roads besides the city’s beach.
It was obvious that the country doesn’t get many tourists. Although the tourist office in St. Laurent was open every day most of the day, the one in Cayenne was temporarily closed and the one in Kourou hadn’t opened in a while.
Luckily, we were called away from Cayenne just in time. We already had considered staying in the capital when we learned that on our third night in French Guayana, after being postponed twice, the last Ariane 4 rocket would finally be blast off into space. We raced back to Kourou to enjoy the spectacle.