Guiana Express

I never had such a hassle to enter a country as I had for Surinami. It was actually the first time I have been rejected. The reason: I didn’t have an exit stamp from Schengen. As we all know we never get a stamp in a Swiss passport when we leave the Schengen area. Anyway, I had to track back over the river to get my stamp from France. There at the post this took some 7 seconds to get it... Anyway, on my second try it worked out and I was allowed to enter Surinami. Including the tourist card the whole border formalities coasted me some 30€.

Finding an ongoing bus to Paramaribo is not so difficult. Just walk the 700m from the border post to the harbour are. There are plenty of options. The bus I had was completely cramped. And it seemed to stop at every corner for hours to get supplies for every last passenger. We eventually arrived in Paramaribo where I found a nice guest house with a decent pool. Next day I explored Paramaribo. Hundreds of colonial houses are to be found there. Later I jumped on a sunset cruise to watch some river dolphins. And yes, we saw some!

Early morning of the following day my transfer to Georgetown picked me up and brought me to the ferry. Getting the tickets took some time but it finally worked out and I shipped over to Guiana. Border formalities there were no problem at all. I had my ongoing transfer to Georgetown and it all worked out.

Interesting things in Guiana are the many houses along the main street. While most other communities build villages the Guianese just put one house next to the other along the interstate. Unfortunately this reduces speed limit heavily.

Georgetown itself didn’t provide that much. Anyway, most of all I wanted to visit the Kaitour falls. But as flights were only going on weekend and I don’t have the time to wait four days I decided to take a flight next midday and fly to Lethem. I had the little hope to see Kaitour in the far but as it was cloudy I saved something for my next Guiana trip. In Lethem I crossed the border to Brazil leaving the Guianas being in Guiana and Surinami only for four days.

Boat ride from French Guiana to Surinami, Sunset cruise, Georgtown market, landing in Lethem