Guyana - Suriname - French Guiana

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Has anyone in this forum either been to those countries or know someone who lives there?

I have covered almost all of South America with the exception of these three countries plus Uruguay.
I realize they are difficult to get to and very little seems to be written on them to gather enough data for visiting same too. If anyone here has some information to share with me whether it is from personal experience or by your reading, I would appreciate hearing from you. I would like to go there by mid- year.

thank you very much

walter
 
There's flights from Brazil to one of them but its very expensive. Cheaper to fly to Europe!

I know there's boats going between them and its a "thing to do" where people go from one to the other via these boats but apart from that i've no idea.

Would be quite interested to pay a wee visit myself some point.
 
Perhaps unrealistic, but you could bike there. This guy did it!http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=1419&v=AGU

Here is his journal when he was in French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname for about a month in total. http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1&page_id=121914&v=pB
 
I have been to all three, but not since 1994. I enjoyed all, but Guyana (particularly Georgetown) has serious crime problems. Locals recommend not going anywhere at night, even a block away, except by taxi. Do visit the national parks in Suriname, and the European Space Center in French Guiana.
 
These countries (Surinam and Guyana, French Guiana is not a country) are better connected to the Caribbean than they are to South America. Therefore it's really hard to get there from South America.

In my opinion, there's nothing worth seeing in Guyana (Georgetown) and it's very, very dangerous and violent. Paramaribo, in Suriname is worth seeing (but only for just a few days, and I wouldn't consider going to the rest of Suriname as it's also mostly dangerous). You have 2 options to get there: either fly from Brazil or the Caribbean with Suriname Airways, or if you're planning to go to French Guiana first, you can drive up to Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni (in the border with Suriname) and then cross the river to Suriname and get a "taxi" to drive you to Paramaribo.

There are only two ways to go to French Guiana from South America without leaving the continent:

1. Take a plane with either Tam or Gol to Belem or Macapá in northern Brazil (note: it will be 3 flights from Buenos Aires to Belem, and 4 to Macapá). That's as far as Tam or Gol will get you. In Belem or Macapá, you can take a Suriname Airways flight to Cayenne, which is roughly 1 hour long, flies twice a week (so do your planning well) and VERY expensive (it will cost you just as much as the 4 flights to Macapá).

2. The other way of getting there is, again, flying to Belem from Buenos Aires with either Gol or Tam. In Belem, you can take a bus that will drive you up to Oiapoque, at the border with French Guiana. You should know that it will be a crazy, 14-hour-long ride through the jungle (on a rocky road), but it will only cost you around 40 reais. In Oiapoque, you can easily cross the river to French Guiana, to Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock.

As I mentioned above, French Guiana is not a country, it is a region of France and the European Union, and administratively it's absolutely the same as Paris, Dordogne, or any other region of France (much like Hawaii is just another state of the US). So if you're only interested in visiting these 3 countries to say that you've visited every country in South America, you can cross this one off your list. There are only 12 countries in South America.

However, it is the most interesting one of all 3. It's basically the most developed area in South America, and probably the richest in per-capita income, as they have the Euro and people there make a lot, a lot of money (salaries are in average 40% higher than in Paris). Of course they have a lot of illegal immigration issues (around 20% of the population is Haitian), but they manage to control that quite well. And, of course, you have the European Space Center and if you're lucky you'll get to see a rocket launch, which is a huge event every month.

Overall, all 3 of them are very interesting countries if you're interested in anthropology as the mix of races that you will see there is nothing like what you'll see anywhere else in South America or the Caribbean.

Also, don't expect anyone to speak Spanish in any of these 3 countries at all. They only speak French and créole in French Guiana, Dutch in Suriname and an African language that is sometimes informally referred to as taki-taki, and English (nothing similar to American or British English of course) and an English-based créole in Guyana.

Good luck!
 
There's flights from Brazil to one of them but its very expensive. Cheaper to fly to Europe!

I know there's boats going between them and its a "thing to do" where people go from one to the other via these boats but apart from that i've no idea.

Would be quite interested to pay a wee visit myself some point.

Oh, right, I forgot about this: there's a boat that departs from Belem but it only gets you to either Macapá or Oiapoque if I'm not mistaken. No way it will get you to French Guiana, unless it's an illegal boat. Plus, the journey is 5 days on the boat (versus 30 minutes by plane) and you have to bring your own hammock. Expect to be traveling with lots of prostitutes and / or farm animals on the boat (seriously, it's not a joke) :)
 
These countries (Surinam and Guyana, French Guiana is not a country) are better connected to the Caribbean than they are to South America. Therefore it's really hard to get there from South America.

In my opinion, there's nothing worth seeing in Guyana (Georgetown) and it's very, very dangerous and violent. Paramaribo, in Suriname is worth seeing (but only for just a few days, and I wouldn't consider going to the rest of Suriname as it's also mostly dangerous). You have 2 options to get there: either fly from Brazil or the Caribbean with Suriname Airways, or if you're planning to go to French Guiana first, you can drive up to Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni (in the border with Suriname) and then cross the river to Suriname and get a "taxi" to drive you to Paramaribo.

There are only two ways to go to French Guiana from South America without leaving the continent:

1. Take a plane with either Tam or Gol to Belem or Macapá in northern Brazil (note: it will be 3 flights from Buenos Aires to Belem, and 4 to Macapá). That's as far as Tam or Gol will get you. In Belem or Macapá, you can take a Suriname Airways flight to Cayenne, which is roughly 1 hour long, flies twice a week (so do your planning well) and VERY expensive (it will cost you just as much as the 4 flights to Macapá).

2. The other way of getting there is, again, flying to Belem from Buenos Aires with either Gol or Tam. In Belem, you can take a bus that will drive you up to Oiapoque, at the border with French Guiana. You should know that it will be a crazy, 14-hour-long ride through the jungle (on a rocky road), but it will only cost you around 40 reais. In Oiapoque, you can easily cross the river to French Guiana, to Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock.

As I mentioned above, French Guiana is not a country, it is a region of France and the European Union, and administratively it's absolutely the same as Paris, Dordogne, or any other region of France (much like Hawaii is just another state of the US). So if you're only interested in visiting these 3 countries to say that you've visited every country in South America, you can cross this one off your list. There are only 12 countries in South America.

However, it is the most interesting one of all 3. It's basically the most developed area in South America, and probably the richest in per-capita income, as they have the Euro and people there make a lot, a lot of money (salaries are in average 40% higher than in Paris). Of course they have a lot of illegal immigration issues (around 20% of the population is Haitian), but they manage to control that quite well. And, of course, you have the European Space Center and if you're lucky you'll get to see a rocket launch, which is a huge event every month.

Overall, all 3 of them are very interesting countries if you're interested in anthropology as the mix of races that you will see there is nothing like what you'll see anywhere else in South America or the Caribbean.

Also, don't expect anyone to speak Spanish in any of these 3 countries at all. They only speak French and créole in French Guiana, Dutch in Suriname and an African language that is sometimes informally referred to as taki-taki, and English (nothing similar to American or British English of course) and an English-based créole in Guyana.

Good luck!

I found the architecture in both Georgetown and Paramaribo very interesting, and found Suriname to be very safe and relaxed, but I was there nearly 20 years ago. Plenty of people in Suriname spoke comprehensible English.

Regarding the most prosperous country in South America, I think it's probably the Falklands (if indeed it is South America). I don't want to get into any irrendentist arguments here, just to note that the Islands are a very prosperous place.
 
to all of you who discussed jim jones and his kool aid deals .... that was a one time event from how many years ago? Jones had his followers so therefore you people are going to say well this happened there so therefore we too will stay away from that area as evil is present there too... i will refrain from saying my real thoughts as I am sure others can understand what might be on my mind instead... Follow your brains!
 
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