Baby turtles, Native American culture and house painting

Hello hello hello!

So, this is going to be one heck of an update.

Last weekend we set of for Cayenne in the hope of seeing some baby turtles in their dash towards the sea. French Guiana happens to be one of the nesting spots of one of the worlds largest marine turtle species, called "Luthe" in French. Sadly, the season for spotting this type of turtle had already passed - I shall have to wait a year until I get another chance to see one of these turtles. We did however encounter a smaller turtle species, both a female laying her eggs, and a dozen tiny baby turtles making a sprint for life. I was not able to take any pictures because of the darkness; the eggs usually hatch under the cover of darkness. And anyway, I did not want to disturb them. It was fantastic thought, dozens of little turtles all around you for a couple of minutes, all of them just racing towards the sea. Just magical. We did come across this makeshift piece of turtle artwork, which I thought was quite lovely. Yay for creative people!

Unbeknownst, this particular weekend was also the awareness week of the Amerindians, the native tribes of the Amazon. We then spent the evening in Cayenne center, where the square was filled with tents of artisan amerindian bits and bobs for sale. They also exhibited the outfits and dances of some of the major tribes.

I simply love how colorful they all were! Absolutely fantastic traditional wear - I was totally jealous. 

Anthony made me pose with a native american man all dressed up. 

Anthony walked up to a group of natives and took some pictures of them - standard move - I then asked him whether we shouldn't ask them first, if it would be alright to take some pictures of them. Upon which a girl standing next to us must have overheard us and said "Oooh it's fiine! These are all my uncles! Take as many pictures as you want." Standard uncles - smoking, drinking and making cultural instruments from a bamboo shaft. Awesome.

A girl from one of the local tribes exhibiting one of their traditional dances - and yes, that is her real hair.

- - -

The following monday and tuesday I was invited to attend a little workshop to make my own element of the amerindian culture, a 'Ciel de Case'. This is a painting done on a small wooden board, of a traditional figure, done in a traditional style with a (very intricate) design - usually mounted in the tent/hut of the main or central building in order to protect the village and keep evil spirits at bay.

Of course, I picked the design which looked like a horse, the 'Apuweika', but which actually, upon more careful research, is actually a two-headed cat-like creature - oops. Anyway, it took about six hours of detailed work to complete so it better keep our house safe from any passing evil spirits :D

 

I documented the process of my labor - Hah! So here we are, making the border!

 

Once the border has been drawn on to the board, the figure is designed and drawn onto the board.

 

 
Viola! Like so. Then begins the real work - every single line has to be carved into the board, to contain the paint later on.

 
After the tough process of carving every line, you may begin the painting, which is not done by paintbrush as you would expect, but with the actual cutter tool; paint is dipped and scrapped onto the triangle shapes - slow but fun!

 
My fellow companion hard at work!

 

 
Now it is beginning to take shape!

 

The finished result! My Apuweika 'Ciel De Case', which is now mounted at home on our wall :) Yay for personalized art!

- - -

The weekend arrived again and this time we had our work cut out for us, no prancing around town this time. The entire living room and kitchen needed re-painting (... and scraping, and brushing, and cleaning and ... and...). Fun. Times.

But first I made Anthony pose with our very first harvested pineapple!

 
I don't think he appreciated it much... but look how fantastic the pineapple looks!


I was very excited about this painting business! So I took lots of pictures :P


Our house was a mess though... that part was not so exciting. Still, on we drudged.


Serious business - let's get this painting show on the road people! Arrr...


Then I encountered one, and two and three of these... then it was less fun. By the end of it I had dust everywhere and my arms and legs were aching - I needed refueling.


Lunchtime was spent on the terrace for lack of chairs and tables and all that. Good stuff!
We managed to get the whole thing painted in one day (two coats!), which I really think was rather well done, if I may say so myself. Now we have one blueish green wall and pretty white walls in our house - and a TV-mount, rather amaze-a-roo!

- - -

Now it is time for a week of teaching English and learning French! 

Tip of the day: Eat an avocado, it is super tasty. And smile, it is good to smile.

Boooyaaah! :)

Kourou by Air

Hello again!

Because today is friday I decided to celebrate - I think all friday's should be ballyhooed (what a great word). I resolved to do this is with a french twist... in the form of some tasty pastry. Specifically, a 'pain au chocolat' topped with a cup of freshly brewed coffee from our bran-spanking new french press, which happened to taste even better because I was enjoying it from my own hand made cup. Delish.

 

Now that I have set the scene I can proceed to introduce what this post is going to be about. namely, seeing Kourou and the Îles du Salut by air. Flown by no one else but my very own man *read, extremely proud girlfriend*. (I say that now, but wait and see what we did once up there).

The Aeroclub of Kourou is quite small, but with a very welcoming and intimate atmosphere. We went up in one of their newest planes; now, when I say newest, I do not mean it in the sense of it being the most modern, instead I mean it in the sense of it being the most recently signed on plane to the club. In fact the plane itself dates from the same year of my birth, 1989 -  I did not think this was as charming as Anthony did.

 
Inspecting the plane in detail before the flight. (A propeller, two wings and some nuts and bolts - excellent, everything is in order!)

As much as I love flying I am always a bit weary, especially during take-of and landing - boy was I about to be in for a treat this time! Now, I completely trust Anthony and his flying abilities, I really do (despite having heard some rather unsettling stories about leaving windows open during take-off and such). But I must admit I felt a little more secured knowing we were going to have the flying instructor with us on the first flight.  Not that he could save us had the engine failed but... still.

 
Once the plane has been checked it was pushed out of its parking spot and in we hopped.

One aspect I love about the whole flying business, apart from actually being in flight, is the jargon attached to it. Our plane was a Cessna, a four-seater "named" FOGKQ, in other words, Foxtrot-Oskar-Golf-Kilo-Quebec which just sounds super SUPER cool. Also, the cool headgear is just apart of the general awesomeness of flying. Ahh! Now I want to watch Top Gun.

 
Up. And there we are. Easy peasy.


Most of what I saw on land was what looked like a giant salad, with lots of fluffy crunchy broccoli in it. In the distance is the coastline - where we were headed!

There we have it - Kourou by air!


This was just wonderful! You cannot spot it very well in the picture but the shadow of the airplane is surrounded by a rainbow! Our canvas, a cloud.

 
Of course the instructor was French so most of the flight was conducted in French - but I managed to stay afloat.

 

Voila! The Îsles du Salut! We are still going to visit these by boat but it was really fascinating to fly over them like this. Perspective.

We circled the islands and then headed back to the mainland

... for some training. Including emergency landing, in other words... simulating engine-failure. OH GOODY. Now, there are no pictures of this because I was sitting in the backseat reminding myself to breathe... and inadvertently also thinking that if we were to die, I would hope that my family would take care of Melba for me. We landed, and took off. And then we did this again, and then the instructor covered the instruments with little black pads (of death!) and then we landed again. The instructor climbed out of the plane and told me "You come here now" and padded the front seat. I did as I was told, smiling of course (I shall not admit to fear - Hyvä Sisu!) ... and then he closed the door and left. Anthony plugged in my headset and said "He cleared me on the plane, we can go up alone now". Omg, 30 minutes in a new plane aaaand there you go, have your wings. After having held my breath for the last 15 minutes and thanked the stars for letting us live, I had had enough... either I would get up and get out or I would buckle down, smile and enjoy the ride. I opted for the second option - I figured, there must be worse ways to die.

We surrounded the islands once more and  then flew the coastline at low altitude - I saw where I take my dog for a walk every day, the beach and even, our house, by air. It was absolutely fantastic.

We landed, tanked the plane up and filled in the flight log. Not a bad way to spend a sunday afternoon.

I feel wonderfully lucky, so blessed and so so grateful. So remember to buckled down, smile and enjoy the ride - it will be worth it! :)

Peace & Love.

Guianan Monthavairsary :)

I have now spent a little over one month in French Guiana. Here are some questions and answers to outline some of my thoughts on the experiences I have had so far.

Have I gotten used to the heat? I’m getting there. It is still really hot though.

Do I speak fluent French? No. (Bummer.)

Am I learning French? Oui - Bien sur.

Have I tried to book an appointment in French and gotten asked if there is someone around who actually speaks French so I can hand them the phone? Yes. Joy of joys.

Do I know my way around the city/village of Kourou? Kind of. Ish.

Have I broken down since my arrival? Yeees. It was (rather) dramatic.

Am I formally employed? Achhh.. no. Not yet anyway.

Am I teaching English? Yes! (And I actually like it!).

Have I been ill? Naah, not really - so far, so good! .. except for the touristic faulty-bowel-syndrome.

Do I love the pool? So so so so much. And the hammock!

Am I insanely tan? Alas, no. It's actually too hot in the sun.. you learn to avoid it best you can.

Do I hate the local mosquitos? With a passion.

Have I been locked out of the house after having about six tubes of blood removed from my body and thus been forced to ring on the neighbours doorbell and say “J’ai une probleme… uuh, le gate e ferme eeeeee j’ai ne pas un cles pasque j’oublie eeeeee Anthony vroomvrooom-conduir! Il conduir pour le travail..”? Why yes, yes I have. So that was fun O.o

Have I made some new friends? Yes! Yay for friends!

Have I been riding? Yes! - And I am going again on Friday! Haa!
(Do I have any idea what the riding instructor is telling me? Nope. Strategy: Nod and smile! J)

Have I enjoyed the local caipirinhas? Oh yeah :D … ‘Nuf said.

Have I been confused about local customs? Yes. Sitting around for hours on a bike, doing nothing – literally doing nothing though – is really really weird. Also, biking on the road with two large shopping bags, whilst balancing a toddler on the front bar… and simultaneously texting, is also rather strange behaviour I find. Seriously, completely standard over here. I tell no lies.

Have I gotten robbed? No.

Have I seen an anaconda? Nope, not yet! But I hear they live in the lakes in town. Crazy.

Have I seen a spider the size of my hand? Yes. I am not jesting either – it was huuuuge, and fluffy.

Have I seen a rocket launch? YES! Super super super cool!

Do I still marvel at palm trees and the beach and having a pineapple bush in my garden? Definitely. It is just amazing – I LIVE here! O.o whaaaaaaaat?

Now … Do I like it? OUIIII! J

Here are some recent pictures we took on the beach with the Melba monster :) Here she gets to let out at her excess energy and just push the throttle button to its maximum - she is happy, so I'm happy.

 Anthony and Melba playing fetch in the water.

Rawrrr... 

Brave girl and big sticks. 

 Gentle coaxing.

Two peas in a pod.

The sand is just EVERYWHERE.

... and that's how she likes it - not so fun to clean off though.

Une chienne heureux. A happy (female) dog.

The beach!

<3

                           

Some pictures from Arianespace's 60th successful launch, VA219, and heaviest cargo load yet.

There was a screen outlining the process and following the launch on video, also featuring scenes from the control center - super. cool.

So here is what I saw :) You can't really tell from the picture but it seriously lights up the whole sky. It was absolutely fantastic.

And back to the screen detailing the separation stages and so forth.

Pretty awesome stuff really.

Until next time, à bientôt! :)