Let’s get to Mexico

Yes! I made it to Cancun! And it is gorgeous. But to get here was not an easy thing.
My trips started Friday evening with a train trip to Geneva after a long last day of work. But before that things had to be settled which took me not to leave Zurich before 10pm. The train ride was smooth and the check in to Accor’s newest property along the rue de Berne was decent.
Next morning after a quick ride to the airport and I made my check in. At the gate I figured out that I didn’t receive the baggage tag for my checked suitcase. Anyway, the lady at the desk was happy to give me the number. A wise move as you will read later.
The Flight to New York was nothing special. Food was decent and service attentive. After my positive experience with AA last autumn I flew Continental this time and I have to admit that I start to like the US carriers.
In New York we came in late so United automatically confirmed me on another flight. Anyway, I made the original one on time just to figure out that it will be delayed for 30 minutes. This made a late arrival in Houston and when I checked the web up in the air I saw United rebooked me to a flight one hour later. But again I made the original flight and as my seat reservation was busted United gave me a free upgrade to premium economy :)
Finally arriving in Cancun I found out that my luggage didn’t make it. Surprisingly it didn’t make the connection in New York. So I filled a report and received a so called “environmentally friendly” emergency kit. Well the only thing on this kit was the main packing. All the rest is the usual plastic. My suitcase finally arrived at 2am. Thanks for the free hotel delivery of the 20kg!

From the jungle into the jungle

My flight from Manaus to Miami was decent but rather short for a night flight. But even we came in early all other international flights from South America were faster and there was quite a line at immigration. So my hope for the 6am flight was destroyed and I had to leave Miami at 8:15 arriving in JFK at 11am.

I eventually arrived in Manhattan around 1pm due to break downs and delays of the subway. During the 40min ride I further had a guy with a crazy speech and a girl dancing. But beside of that the New York metro is old, drab and nothing special. There are third world countries having a better information system.

By leaving the Metro I passed Dunkin Donuts and Subway. So I already had decent US lunch. Right after leaving on 53rd and 5th I was able to enjoy a parade on 5th avenue. Of course the parade included some kind of miss waving down from a car.

Then I walked all the way down Madison Avenue going left and right for visiting time square, Rockefellers, the Empire State Building and Union Station. At Union Square I took a Metro bringing me to lower Manhattan for the 9/11 Memorial. Here it was really worth buying the ticket online a few months before. Same day queuing would take years! The memorial itself is impressive and should be definitely seen when visiting New York.

Last step was the walk over Brooklyn Bridge providing a great view over the sky line of New York. Then I continued to JFK and flew back to Switzerland. During my short time in the city the free guide app provided by Trip Advisor was a good help.

As always the vacation went by way to fast. But there were so many great experiences and I had a great time. So I’m all prepared to waste my relaxed mode while going back to work.

Brooklyn Bridge view, 9/11 Memorial, Number 1 World Trade Center, Time Square

To the jungle

Within 24 hours I made it from Georgetown to the Jungle near Manaus. But as always it’s a meter of luck and this time everything fit together perfectly. After mailing the travel agencies from the airport in Guiana about tours starting next days I had a bunch of answers when reaching Boa Vista in the late afternoon. I selected one and confirmed a pick-up next morning from the bus station. This worked well and after having my night bus ride to Manaus I was shuttled directly to the office of the tour agency. After a fresh-up I continued to the Possada do Juma jungle lodge where I spent four marvellous days.

On the first day we went for a boat tour where we learned about wildlife in the jungle but also had a chance to get introduced to each other. Our group was mad of a Spanish, tow Koreans, three Germans and I (remember me being Swiss!). As the Germans speak the same language as I do, we quickly made good friends. After dinner we went for the sunset and afterwards we cached a caiman.

Next morning we had early rise to enjoy sunrise followed by breakfast and a jungle walk. At noon there was lunch and swimming in the river. Than the Germans had to leave and were replaced by an Argentinean guy and a Chinese one. And this was it were good fun started! Being it the night out in the Jungle where pouring rain tried to kill our fire or the Piranha fishing where the Chinese one struggled in catching anything than a stick. The Spanish always made up the situation with a cheering joke.

The three nights passed quickly and having no connection to the outside world is very relaxing. The only complain witch I may have was the diet of having rice and chicken all day long. But beside of that we had a great group and an awesome guide (Alan).

Back in Manaus we had dinner but the Argentinean guy couldn’t join as he figured out that people have stolen stuff from his gear which he was leaving behind in Manaus while being in the jungle. After dinner my new friends brought me to the bus station for taking a hilarious bus ride to the airport.

Manaus opera house, jungle friends, jungle animal, sunrise cruising, sunset swimming.

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

Back to France

A month ago I was in Paris. And now faith leads me back to France. But this time to an oversee department. French Guiana is EU territory and you feel this in many cases. Unfortunately not when it comes to postage fees for post cards or phone calls who are significantly higher here than on mainland France. Here is what happened.

Leaving Brazil is not as easy as you may think. I had to wait some hours for the opening of the border post opening 8am. Accordingly I was wondering if I could have taken my exit stamp in Macapa. Anyway, the bakery across the post is quite pleasant.

Down the road is the boat departure where you get over to St. Georges for as little as 10 Brazilian Real for the 15 minutes boat ride. During the ride you also cross the international bridge between Brazil and France which is there since 2011. But as the Brazilians didn’t properly path the road from Oiapoque to Macapa the French decided not to open the bridge.

In St. Geroges it was an easy thing to find a ride to Cayenne. And in contrary to Lonely Planet’s imagination of independent drivers it has to be said that they are concessional and follow a schedule. Remember it is the EU.

Cayenne makes a nice stroll along old houses as the city is less artificial than Kourou which was mainly build for the space centre. After the stroll I picked my car and drove to the Laos like community of Cacao having decent dinner. Then I continued to Kourou checking into the Mercure late night. The Mercure with its pleasant staff and very nice bungalows made my base for the coming three days. A bit thank you goes to Marie who supported me in making this stay a great one!

Next morning I visited the space centre with its launch sites for Ariane, Vega and Soyuz. The three hour tour is well organized and FREE!!! Best part is the 80s style control hall. Take the tour in the morning as the afternoon one is not visiting all three launch sites.

In the afternoon I drove to Chao-Aï for having my absolute highlight of this trip. Chao-Aï is a refuge centre for injured sloths. And while to most of them can be watched in a communal cage recovering from their injuries there are a few sloths outside the cage. Those are domestic ones who lost their capabilities to survive in the Guianese wilderness. The sweet thing is to carry them. And if they feel well with you they fall asleep.

Later I dropped my car in the Cayenne outskirts and hitched back to Kourou. I never waited so little time for a ride. In total I needed four lifts and for each I only waited a few minutes. Back in the hotel I was informed to have a drink with the directrice at 7pm just giving me enough time to dip in the pool before the start of this very nice evening.

On the following day I went to iles de salut housing a former transportation camp. The tour comes at a price but the catamaran ride is well worth it. Staff is doing a great job in keeping the people happy and the day does have the perfect balance between cultures and relaxing.

In the evening I decided to stay a day longer in Kourou letting me settle down a bit and profit a day more from the nice hotel. But this day pasted way to fast and the following morning at 6:30 am the taxi collective picked me up and brought me to the boarder of St. Laurent. After a visit of the village and a nice tour through the second transportation site in French Guiana a small boat brought me to Suriname.

View on Iles de Salut, Sloth at Chao-Aï, the space centre, Les Palmistes fo my fish soup an the (so far) usless bridge between Brazil and France.

Save harbour

Finally I arrived to Macapa. A save and clean place at the end of the Amazonas. The boat actually docked in Sanatana which is a 40 min bus ride from Macapa. The nice thing on this bus ride is that you will pass the equator right where the lina zero monument is.

In Macapa I figured out that bus stop was right around the corner of the hotel so I didn’t have to walk 1km as indicated on the web. I had an early check-in and a late check-out. I probably never used a hotel room as long as the one in Macapa. Thanks to Guilherme and Pedro from the ibis team for this great stay!

In the town I stayed for one nights but two days giving me enough time to get my further travel organized a stroll around a bit. The city is quite pleasant but one has seen it after a few hours. The sea side near the fortress is great and they serve good fish. But the massive portion comes at a price. For desert go and sip a coconut next door at the small stalls.

Lina Zero monument, coconut at the riverside.

Bus travel survival kit

Bus travel in South America is a very economic way of getting away and sometimes the only option for reaching a certain city (except you pay a tremendous fee for a private driver). But mostly on night buses you have to follow certain rules if you want survive it.

Let me show you the 101 on the example of the bus ride from Macapa to Oiapoque I had last night.

The advertisement says modern bus with air-conditioning. A toilet is on board. This sounds good. But there are some hidden threats.

The toilet you won’t use except if you do not need to breathe during your business. But the bus stops from time to time and you can use a toilet there. Bring some toilet paper and change.

Modern says a nice bus with comfortable seats but only certain recline. This is OK for sleeping.

But the most dangerous thing is the A/C. All the passengers in the bus paid for A/C. Accordingly the company will always drive the system to the limit. YES, everybody is annoyed and it is freezing cold inside! So if you’re not a polar bear you should bring a jumper and a cover. Remember, outside is still twenty-something degrees. To tune your experience you can bring an eye masque, ear plugs and extra socks to replace your sneakers (yes, you are not travelling with flip-flops).

Last I have to say the bus is not always arriving on time (first departure point is generally punctual). This one was supposed to leave at 7pm coming in 12h later. We arrived 3h early on a locked down bus station giving me some time to write these words.