Laurie and Steve's South American Adventure: Prisoners, Monkeys and Rats on Devils Island

Devil's Island is actually three small islands that the French used as a penal colony until the mid 1950's. Over the years, more than 80,000 men were imprisoned there, in conditions that were abominable. They were shown no mercy. Each day, they had a quota of timber they had to cut. If they fell short, their daily rations were cut back to become one slice of bread. Whatever amount they didn't complete was tacked on to the next day's quota. Of the 80,000 men imprisoned, only 30,000 managed to survive, and I'm amazed that many were able to.

Escapes from the “Green Hell' were common and mostly unsuccessful. Papillon was one who was successful, but there were thousands more who perished in the attempt.

One of the most famous prisoners was Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was unjustly found guilty of treason, stripped of rank and honor, and sent to prison. He was later exonerated. There have been several books and a play written about the Dreyfus Affair.

We visited there on Sunday for a couple of hours. There is still a community there, albeit one that is decaying and falling back into the jungle. The French government, however, is taking steps to clean up some of the ruins. They have constructed a hotel there and offer special weekend wedding packages. Personally, I think the bad karma is still far too strong for me to be able to enjoy a relaxing weekend!

It was interesting to see the old prison cells. Solitary confinement was in a small cubicle with virtually no light coming in. The condemned men cells were conveniently located just steps from the guillitine (I'm pretty sure I spelled this wrong...but you know what I mean....the sharp blade that fell from a distance and in one clean swoop, detached the head from the torso.)

We saw lots of monkeys in the trees, large rat-like rodents without tails, and beautiful but noisy parrots.

We walked around the island and were struck with how utterly isolated the prisoners must have felt.

But, we headed back to our ship to enjoy delicious dinner, an entertaining show, and dancing until midnight. For us, Devil's Island will only have good memories.

Our next stop is Barbados on Tuesday. After that, we head for Florida and disembarkation. It will be nice to feel terra firma once again.

SAILING INTO DEVILS ISLAND....WHICH IS ACTUALLY THREE ISLANDS, ALL WITHIN ABOUT 300 YARDS OF EACH OTHER, BUT ISOLATED FROM EACH OTHER BY STRONG OCEAN CURRENTS, ROCKY SHORES AND SHARK-INFESTED WATERS (AT LEAST WHILE THE PENAL COLONY WAS THERE...PERHAPS BECAUSE THEY DISPOSED OF THE CONVICTS' BODIES BY DROPPING THEM INTO THE WATER.)

STEVIE JOKING AROUND......HE IS IN THE HALLWAY OF A BLOCK OF CELLS. THE CELLS THEMSELVES HAD LITTLE OR NO WINDOWS AND OF COURSE, THERE WAS NO ELECTRICITY SO NO ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS OF ANY KIND.

THIS IS A DRIED UP LAGOON THAT AT ONE TIME SUPPLIED THE DRINKING WATER FOR THE PENAL COLONY. THE CONVICTS HAD TO DIG THIS OUT BY HAND, SOME OF THEM WITH NOTHING MORE THAN A SPOON.