The Jesuits in Guiana

Today, Jack and I went for a walk through the jungle. There is a path called the Sentier de Loyola which is just a ten-minute drive from our apartment.

There are a lot of plants that we commonly see here in the jungle which either don't exist or can only be found in garden stores in Europe. For example, can you guess what this is? Take a close look...

I hope you didn't mistake those fruits for coconuts! In fact, this is a cocao tree from which chocolate is made. A little further, we found this strange-looking flower. What is it called?

According to my nature book, it's called a Heliconia bihai. Another curiosity that you will often see as you walk through the forest is a big ball of earth stuck to a tree. Hm... what in the world could this be?

That is a termites' nest! Don't build your house next to one of those... Jack and I also admired how big some of the trees are. One of our favorite types of trees is called the "arbre fromager" or the kapok tree.

We really awed at how majestically it stretched into the sky. We felt so insignificant underneath this jungle canopy.

We finally reached a clearing where local archeologists have excavated some ruins of a Jesuit plantation built in 1668. The revenues of the plantation financed missions to evangelize the Indians. However, due to the degree of corruption of the Jesuit order later on, King Louis XV banished them from France and the French colonies in 1763. Here's what's left of the plantation today.

Sadly, up to 500 slaves worked here during the plantation's peak, harvesting cocao, coffee, cotton, and indigo, and producing rhum, sugar, and molasses. The Jesuits believed slavery was acceptable since they baptized their slaves and gave them a Catholic upbringing... As Jack and I neared the end of our walk, we were very hot and sweaty. However, we were rewarded with a striking view of the sea in one clearing along our path.