The day before

I'm leaving tomorrow night. I'm mostly packed, have the books I need, the meds I need, just waiting for the clothes I need to finish washing and drying. In just over 48 hours I will be in Cayenne, French Guiana, for one month. I'm hoping to run into some Haitians and some helpful folks willing to speak to me in Guyanese French Creole so I can learn it, document it, write about it.

The trip is pretty brutal. I take a late-night flight from Indy to Miami, then I wait around in the airport for 8 hours, when I fly from Miami to Haiti, then to Guadeloupe, then to Martinique, and finally land in French Guiana.

I'm pretty scared. I don't have a place to stay beyond the first few nights. Attempts to reach hotels with reasonable weeklong rates have proven futile. I'll need to visit them in person. I need to learn how to shop, how to cook strange foods properly (and tastily), how to navigate the city. There's no consulate, no linguistics program to serve as my sponsor, no real local support whatsoever. I haven't been on my own for this long in a while, and I'm not sure how I'll feel being away from Matt and my friends.

In any event, I'll be posting pictures and updates here when I get the chance. Wish me luck!