Kourou

My trip took a surprising turn at the taxi-stand in Cayenne. I was going to St Laurent du Maroni, on the Suriname border. It was however a bit late and I was unsure to make it all today. Meanwhile I was thinking of back-up plans, I met a French guy who had travelled into Cayenne for going to the hospital and now waited for a taxi to Kourou. He had catched some kind of sand insect, which digs holes in the skin to lay its eggs, and he had to go to hospital to get it removed. You normally get it when you are walking on the beach without shoes.

Apart from the place of the sand-insect, Kourou is also the place where the French space centre is located and the French guy was going to watch a satellite launch the day after. There are only about 7-9 satellite launches per year so you have to be lucky with the timing to see one. He told me that he was staying in an Indian village on the beach, where he put up the hammock in a shed, and had access to toilet/shower for six euro per day. It was also the place where he caught the insect. I was more tempted by the price of accommodation than the satellite launch but eventually I decided to join him.

Hello space centre. Hello Indian village. And hello sand-insects.