Conseil international d’études francophones (CIEF)
July 1-8, 2007.
Christine Duff
The first stage of the trip was the jaunt from Ottawa to Chicago. That part went fine. But in Chicago, after getting the connecting flight to Miami, we had to sit on the runway for three hours to wait out a thunderstorm. Even without such a delay, an overnight in Miami was necessary before being able to proceed to Cayenne. Bright and early the next day, I took the flight from Miami to Cayenne, which was not as direct as it sounds. With stops in Haïti, Guadeloupe and Martinique, the total travel time between Miami and Cayenne is nine hours. Unfortunately, we arrived after dark, so I was unable to take in the aerial view of Guiana and the Amazonian rainforest. I found my way safely to the hotel, which turned out to be just outside of town. This had not been obvious from the few maps I had been able to procure before my departure. There are only two small reasonably-priced hotels in downtown Cayenne and both were already full months before the conference, so I was left with the rather posh and extremely pricey option of the Novotel. Ironically, the best part of the Novotel is that it is just around the corner from one of the few remaining laying grounds of the giant leatherback sea turtles in the 
world. And I happened to be there at egg-laying time. On a walk on the beach a few days into my stay, I found several nests that appeared to have been found before me by dogs, a serious risk to these endangered creatures. In fact, there is a campaign to protect the nests and a running tally is kept of nests raided by dogs and in some cases, humans, who then sell the eggs. The day I left Guiana, two people were arrested for having turtle eggs in their possession. Back to this particular walk on the beach. I discovered a lone baby turtle struggling to get out of its nest and make its way to the ocean, its nestmates having managed to make the trek earlier in the day. After much work (and a bit of help) the little sea turtle got out of the nest and safely to the ocean. All through my stay, I would go down to the beach just after sunrise to see the tracks of the female leatherbacks who had dug nests and laid their eggs during the night. Weighing close to 400kg, the tracks of these turtles look like those of a small tractor. Impressive indeed.
The location of the hotel, however, did present a challenge of a rather practical nature: transportation. I discovered that in Cayenne, buses are very limited (with even further-reduced schedules outside of the school year) and taxis are few and far between as well as expensive. I had read about the necessity of renting a car and now truly understood what that meant. Unfortunately, my Novotel-drained budget wouldn’t allow for a car rental, so I did a lot of walking and took advantage of shuttles and lifts from other conference-goers. The conference was held at the Université des Antilles et de la Guyane, about a 15-minute walk from the centre of Cayenne and a 25-minute walk from my hotel.
A large part of the gathering was dedicated, of course, to claiming Guiana’s place in both la francophonie and the wider Caribbean context. For many attendees, due to the logistical challenges described earlier, a trip to French Guiana would most likely not happen were it not for the impetus of this conference. The organizers were aware of this and took every opportunity to make their place in the world better known to the conference-goers. At the risk of sounding like a cliché-ridden travelogue, I must say that the hospitality was extraordinary. The volunteers, students at the UAG, were most eager to answer questions about themselves, their city and their society, as well as offering practical advice. For example, one student explained that fish with sauce chien is actually fish with a deliciously spicy tomato-based sauce and another, Jean-Charles, even brought me a bottle of juice that had been pressed by his Mom after I had asked where I could buy some jus de corossol .