French Guiana

Crossing the Maroni River from Suriname to French Guiana. The border also marks an economic divide. As an overseas department of France, French Guiana is more developed and benefits from EU funding.

The kitchen of the prison in St-Laurent-du-Maroni. French Guiana started as a penal colony in 1852. The French had aspirations of it becoming the next Australia, but the harsh conditions and tropical diseases made it more of a death sentence for prisoners.

A semaphore tower in Kourou. This was also the last photo I'd take with my Fuji camera this trip before dropping and breaking it :(

The Kourou Space Center, operated by the European Space Agency. The location near the equator allows rockets to take advantage of the Earth's rotation for an extra boost.

A view of Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana

Jardin Botanique in Cayenne. This memorial has the names of over 13,000 formerly enslaved people who became French citizens after slavery was abolished in 1848.

Diamond Rock in Martinique. It was hard finding a flight back to Alaska from French Guiana. The only routes they had were to other parts of France — my two options being Martinique and Paris. I ended up spending a week on the island.

Fun night shot taken in the capital, Fort-de-France

A memorial for the victims of an 1830 shipwreck off the coast of Martinique and the transatlantic slave trade. The statues face toward the Gulf of Guinea, where slaves were taken from.

Caribbean Creole architecture

In the distance is Mont Pelée, a volcano that killed over 29,000 people when it erupted in 1902.