Day 8. (January 9) Devil's Island (to be continued)

To avoid disappointment, reduce expectations! Ric is really going to have trouble finding time to update our blog while still finding time to enjoy the journey. But, yes, there a Blacksten ATW (Around the World) blog. Things have been too hectic for me to update it until today. So much unpacking, getting oriented, attending lectures, exploring the ship, MS Zuiderdam (pronounced zeederdam), and dining with Road Scholar Group. But finally getting caught up. So here goes report on our travels, in reverse order:

 

Devil’s Island

If you’ve read the book or seen the movie, “Papillon,” the true story of one of the only men to successfully escape imprisonment in the French prison complex in three French Guianian islands. So we toured the larger Isle Royale yesterday. Papillon, as all prisoners, started there. But some sort of misbehavior would send the a person to solitary on another island, where Papillon was lucky to survive (according to his probably embellished autobiography). Another infraction sent him to a third island, from which Papillon finally escaped with the help of a fellow inmate who fashioned a raft out of net filled with coconuts(?), threw it off the cliff, and jumped in afterward, letting the tides carry him to the mainland, where he finally ended up as a businessman in Venezuela. 

 

So, due to reports of poor footing and mud, Anne stayed with the ship, but I went ashore, via tender (small boat that can take perhaps 50 passengers and also servers as lifeboat should it be needed). Most passengers just walked up the one well-paved path to the main buildings and back, but not realizing that, I continued around the entire island, a much longer endeavor, that I only realized an hour or two later. I discovered that, whereas the earlier ascent was easy walking, the rest of the circumnavigation was not. Very old cobbled path, downward sloping, very hard on my right knee, which has not had such testing in a long time. Hot, humid, and uncomfortable, I think I got rather dehydrated before drinking more water but then conserving the remaining for later. I got very tired, so lay down on a convenient palm frond to nap. Another tourists asked if she could take my photo and I gave her permission, provided she take one with my camera. I then slept for a full half hour, waking more refreshed. Fortunately, there were no annoying bugs or animals crawling over me, as far as I know. Actually, despite the humidity, the weather was not unpleasant, less that 80 deg F, I think. Anyway, here are some of my photos:

… NO. Wait. The internet has slowed to a crawl, apparently and I see it is still uploading many photos…. So, to be continued.....