When it Rains it Pours!!! Unfortunately I didn't sleep so well again lastnight as the couch in Oliviers friends house was a bit rickety and just a bit to short for me. I found myself up early with the sound of heavy rain that would continue all the way through to midday. The rain was actually a welcome change and allowed me time to read my guidebooks on French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana and make some basic plans. After a yoga session and some lunch I decided to go for a walk around the town of Saint George's. saint George's is a very sleepy town and consists of a very small town square, 2 grocery stores and a hotel with a population of around 4000 people. First thing I noticed was the colonial style buildings and the old church which proved to be a nice photo opportunity. I wondered around the rivers edge and was asked several times if I needed a boat to Oiapoque which I politely declined. The town is actually very pretty as its in the jungle there is a lot of green trees, plants and vegetation; this along with all the old buildings, deserted factories and rickety structures also proved good for photos. People didn't seen to bothered by the presence of an obvious foreigner and apart from a stair or two and a couple of bonjours I walked around fairly unnoticed. I had heard of a settlement of illegal immigrants living down the river so I made my way down there for a look and found a very interesting little shanty type town. People had built little houses on stilts (as the water I imagine continuously would rise and drop) - it was quite a strange sight to see these rickety structures that you could barely call a house and nearlly all with satellite dishes and big screen TVs and I imagine Internet connections. I got about halfway into the town before I decided I had seen enough and turned around. I continued walking the streets in search of fruit trees of which I found very few: a papaya tree hear and there, a couple of mango trees, a lime tree, an apple tree and a heap of coconut trees. I had expected this area to be full of fruit trees and vegetables but even the supermarkets didn't have fruits stocked which is a bad sign. I continued around enjoying the jungle cross old colonial town before making my way back to the flat. The town of Saint George's is nice enough for a 1 or 2 hour walk around but nothing more and I am happy that tommorow I will be heading into Cayenne with Olivier. Just after 8pm Olivier came and collected me and we headed over to his apartment for a late dinner. On the menu tonight was local fish which Olivier had begun preparing yesterday and left over night soaking in a simple marinate. I made a simple broth of water, garlic, onion, rum and salt and slowly boiled the fish. The result was a very soft, tasty and melt-in-your mouth fish that was completely free of any fishy smell. I stayed up using the Internet; until just after midnight and then walked back to the friends apartment and tried to get some sleep.

OBSERVATIONS:
- Winter rain: heavy and continuous
- Saint- Georges: small sleepy town: 2 grocery stores, a hotel, 4000 people
- Shanty Town: where all the illegals (people without papers) live
- Local fish: cooked in broth after an overnight marinating