French Guiana

It is said that a loved child have many names, and so it is with French Guiana. Locals call it Guyane, and some say French West Indies. It is a french overseas department of France, and therefore part of the European Union. This is very noticeable with the availability of food brands, the use of the Euro for the currency, and the official language being French. As a bonus we could use our UK mobile accounts as if we were roaming in Europe.

Crossing the border from Brazil was the easiest we have done so far. We entered the bridge (Ponte Binacional Brasil - Guyane Française) in Oiapoque, the only car there, and arrived to the Brasilian border to depart. This was a fast process, a stamp in each passport and we were done. Arriving to the French side, we managed to confuse the signs for where to stop. A very nice policeman came along and told us in perfect English that we were supposed to have stopped a few meters back. Harold offered to reverse, and was told that now when the damage was done already we might as well process from where we were. We got a stamp each, and he checked that we had car insurance, and then we were ready to go.

The first sign we saw said France.

The drive to Cayenne was very nice, with Amazonas all around with the varied vegetation and deep colours. There wasn't a single truck. We stopped in a restaurant on the way for a coffee, and arrived in Cayenne to see the biggest Carrefour in any place, including France and Spain.

Finding a hotel proved difficult, Cayenne is a small city and the only good hotel in a quiet area was full. We moved to the city center and stayed in a big hotel there. This was conveniently located in the main street and it was very quiet.

After a few days we decided to move on to Kourou. This is an even smaller town, but it is the center for the European Spaceport. There is a museum, and it had an interesting story to tell about satellites and spaceships. After the visit there, we looked for a hotel to stay for a night, but in the end we decided to move on to Saint Laurent Du Maroni, where we were planning to spend one night before going to the border with Suriname.

Sometimes we have days when nothing much happens, and other days so many things are going on that it is impossible to say what leads to what. Arriving in St Laurent we quickly found that the hotels pretty much didn't exist. It was getting late Friday afternoon, and now we learned that no car ferries go over weekends. Spending the whole weekend in St Laurent would be a misery, but there aren't many alternatives. At about 5pm, we got the directions to get to one of the last ferries for the day (they would stop at 6pm). We found the loading place, and they reopened the gate to let us have the last empty spot. To leave the country we needed to go to another place to get exit stamps by the police, and a nice person who worked on the dock jumped in the car to accompany us. Very long story short, we got the stamps, raced back to the loading dock, got onboard as the last car, and a few minutes later landed in Suriname. Our total French Guiana stay was from 3 March to 6 March, three nights and 4 days all in. But we enjoyed it!