On the 2nd of December we were finally able to leave Sao Luis. Finnley wasn’t completely well yet but the ultrasound was clear and we were told he just needed a little more time to heal.

We went on our way to Santarem. In order to drive from Brazil in to French Guiana, you have to cross the Amazon river. There are no bridges. There are basically three ways to cross. Take a boat from Manaus or, further East, Santarem to Macapa. Or take a boat from Belém across the river or take a boat across the sea. We choose to take a boat from Santarem, not as far driving as Manaus, but we would still see a nice part of the Amazon river. From Sao Luis to Santarem is a distance of 1700 kms inland. It took us 6 days to cross this distance. Each night we tried to camp at a river or something to deal with the heat.


While driving to Santarem, Finnley’s peeing started to get worse again. On Sunday evening we arrived in Santarem and although he could still pee, he would loudly meauw a lot afterwards, so basically he was screaming with pain… So on Monday we went to yet another vet. He did some tests and saw a little bit of infection in the blood but the bladder looked good. So with new medication we left Santarem behind, to explore the area along the river Tajapos. A green river which meets the muddy Amazon river near Santarem. We spend several days at the beach and found a great secluded spot in the dunes. Finnley improved so this gave us hope. On Friday we went back to the vet to repeat the tests and everything looked fine, again we were told he needed some more time to heal.



Then on Saturday evening we got on the ferry that would take us to Macapa. We spend 36 hours on this boat, watching the scenery on the river and the shore line and the on and off loading of goods. It was a lot like the time we took a cattle boat in the Pantanal. Only this was a ferry and more modern. Seeing and being on this famous river was of course something else! But we liked the tour with the cattle boat better as it was more authentic, more adventurous and we saw more animals there.
We arrived on Monday morning in Macapa and drove straight to monument which marks the equator. The equator passes through Macapa, so for the first time in almost two years we were back on the northern part of the world again. Of course you don’t really notice this, nothing changes. So close to the equator and mid winter (21/12) the days were about as long as the nights. By now we also started having some rain as the rainy season starts in December in the North of Brazil, French Guiana and the other Caribbean countries. After such a long time of hot sun and nothing but draught, we welcomed the rain. Who would’ve thought!







From Macapa it was only a short trip to French Guiana, the next country on our list after spending almost 5 months in Brazil. Although French Guiana (FG) is not really a country. It is a departement de France. And it is therefore actually part of the European Union. So on the 18th of December after nearly 3 years in Latin America, we drove back in to Europe! This was really funny, well to us anyway 😉 And being Europeans this was the shortest and easiest border crossing we have ever had. We were out of Brazil in 10 minutes and in to FG in 2 minutes. We didn’t even have to get out of the car. The friendly officer had a quick look at our passports and waved us through! No paperwork for the car, nothing.


FG hardly produces any food or goods themselves. It is all imported from France. This means we were suddenly able to buy some delicious food again. But at high costs. Because everything has to be imported it is more expensive than in France. But the average person in FG makes less money than they do in France, so it is not for everyone! Despite the high prices we did buy some things that we had been missing. Like cream cheese with fine herbs, black tea, good bread and cookies. In FG you can really tell you’re in Europe. Suddenly there are trash collection and recycling systems (in Brazil it just gets thrown in to nature and set on fire every once in a while). The roads are better, nature is better preserved, the shops are modern and a lot of things are according to European standards. We can also pay in Euro’s and withdraw cash without additional fee’s. On the downside; the prices are high as mentioned and there are more rules and regulations. There is no driving on the beach with your car here. There’s almost no beach anyway, most of the land between the road and the ocean is swamp or mangrove. There are quite a few nice hiking routes and they are free which is a big difference with most of South America.






After crossing the border we quickly went to Cayenne, the capital. Because we had ordered a Starlink and needed to pick it up and also arrange for a few other things. so from now on we us satellite communication! We tried to fill up our LPG gas tank but this failed. In Brazil it is against the law to fill up a gas tank in a car so it wasn’t possible and French Guiana simple doesn’t have a filling station. We tried it with the “gravity method” but after about 45 minutes we only had 2 kg more gas in our tank.. For now we just hope it lasts until we are in Suriname and we also use our small benzine (gasoline) burner for cooking.


After we did everything we needed in Cayenne we drove to Cacao. Cacao is a small town where they have an Asian food market every Sunday. Yes Asian in FG! France also colonised Indo-China in the past and went to war there. The prisoners of war where then send to FG. Their descendants now live in Cacao and other area’s. So on a rainy Sunday we enjoyed delicious spring rolls, dumplings and a chicken and rice dish!




Here we also met Philip and Eela, a German couple who are riding their motorcycles through South America. We had already been contact with them through WhatsApp and decided to spend christmas together in two days time and agreed on a place to meet up. After another day in Cayenne for more shopping we drove north to the agreed place a day early so we could relax there. But the place had changed and not in a good way. And shortly after dark the thousands of frogs started to make the most noise we have heard in 3 years in South America! Like a live concert of hundreds of chainsaws and hundreds of lawnmowers combined! We had to yell at each other to be heard and it lasted for about 6 hours. So we decided not to spend another night here. On top of that the following morning Finnley lay down on his side and peed nothing but a few drops of urine… So back to Cayenne to the vet that was fortunately still open. Another ultrasound revealed nothing, yet again! It is unknown why he can’t pee properly. With different medication, some for bladder spasm and relaxing, we went on our way again and met up with Philip and Eela in another location. After spending the day looking for a suitable spot we finally found one next to a small dark river. Here we stayed celebrating Christmas together until the 26th. We shared food, drinks and stories. We also went for a quick swim but the dark, almost black water gave us all a bit of the creeps! It could feature well in a horror movie but fortunately no Christmas monsters disturbed the peace. Although because of the side effects of some of the medication, Finnley was a bit of a monster, very restless and whiny. The medication didn’t seem to help him a lot though so we scheduled an appointment with a senior vet who was on holiday until the 6th of January to talk about an operation where they widen the urethra. They do so by removing the most narrow part of the urethra, the penis…:( Basically creating a female urethra that is a lot wider and therefore peeing is a lot easier. Obviously this is not our first option, but after almost two months we are running out of options…




We spend another two days in Cayenne where we also visited the old town. And in the evening we camped at a river beach and there we met the Belgian couple Evelien and Elias who together with their two kids have been living in FG for 15 years. We really connected and they invited us to come over on Sunday the 29th when they would both be off work. We had a great afternoon in their backyard and Evelien kindly let me use her excellent washing machine! And we ate frikandellen! The Hiper U for some reason suddenly sold some and since this snack is also popular in Belgium they bought them. It was delicious and I decided to buy some as well if I got the chance! Elias also gave us some paper topo maps of FG and shared his information with us. Photo’s on google maps are usually outdated or unclear. We shared our travel experiences and Finnley checked out their garden. Maybe we will meet up again, also depending on Finnley’s treatment.






The following day we left Cayenne to drive in the direction of Cacao again, this time to find a quiet place to spend New years eve, away from any fireworks and parties. So we spend the 31st in a remote area with a few nice snacks and some wine left over from Christmas and went to bed on our normal time, since neither of us cares too much about this celebration.
