French Guiana

We got a late start today due to mechanical trouble in the night so that put us on Ile Royale in the heat of the day. And it was hot! And humid!! But we loved it (that is Brenda and I, not Dale) because we got to see lots of flora and fauna up close. You might remember that the Iles du Salut housed the penal colony where the story of the movie Papillon took place and so we wandered around that former prison. Dale said it was much like a more recent Pompei except not in as good shape

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As we walked around the island we saw capuchin monkeys,      red-rumped agouti

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sea turtles in the water, and assorted birds. We watched the leaf cutter ants bringing home their harvest                       and heard the cicada in the trees (and found their discarded exoskeletons on leaves). I wish I had had my close up lens for the ants — I do so want to be an ant photographer! Even though our fellow passenger said it was a beehive (Fellow passengers know so many things!) we know that what we saw in profusion, high and low everywhere in the forest, were termite nests complete with covered walkways for getting to and from in safety and privacy 🙂