Malta (April, 2012)

Valletta

I did a packaged tour to Malta from London with a guy I had been dating in April, 2012. Now I am normally quite against packaged holidays, but the ones that the UK offers on websites such as teletextholidays.com or lastminutebooking can sometimes be so cheap that they turn out to cost less than the roundtrip ticket alone, which is exactly what happened when planning our trip to malta.

Malta in itself is an incredibly romantic short getaway and perfect spot for a destination wedding. The streets of Valletta have so much history and pride in their culture (and football). We got caught up in a massive celebration following a football match…and I mean massive.

Football celebration

At Mdina, the old capital, you can soak in the history while on horseback or have a delicious lunch with a view overlooking the rest of the island. There is also the opportunity to take a short ferry ride over to Gozo and visit a bunch of old rocks (Ggantija), chill out at some awesome beach spots, and take romantic strolls through the old-fashioned streets. On top of that you can visit the famous Azure Window, as you may recognize from Game of Thrones. 

Azure Window

There is also a fireworks festival at the end of April, which we were fortunate enough to attend. I must say as far as destination weddings go, Malta is one of the most romantic places I’ve been to. As far as safety is concerned, the island is so small that if something did happen to you, the perpetrator would be caught fairly quickly. We did not feel that pickpocketing was too prevalent either for perhaps the same reason.

Fireworks Festival in Valletta

THE BALKANS (February, 2012)

 Macedonia:

 When you first visit the center of Skopja, you'll notice lots of elaborate structures built by the government with no real logic behind it.

The next day, I got stranded on mountain by my two climbing buddies, was almost attacked by pack of dogs trying to climb my way down, and had then 'accidentally' broke into the fortress in Skopje. During my travels in Macedonia (mostly getting lost along the streets) I was also somewhat introduced to the  chauvinist Balkan culture (boys and girls play separately, only men walking out in city and in cafes).

Kosovo: 

Don't be surprised when you see a statue of Bill Clinton in the city center of Pristina. When you go out, people only wear dark colors so avoid anything neon! (I made that mistake). 

You can visit a few monasteries around Peja but the one we tried walking to (the female one) was closed that day because of all the snow...though we did get to take some cool pics with the KFOR guards (since it was a serbian monastery).

 We then attended a male fashion show...in Peja...(imagine "straight" men walking down the catwalk in underwear in a small repressive country).

It's roughly 5 to 15 dollars for any long distance bus in Kosovo, so obviously me and the 2 guys I was traveling with decided to hitchhike. There was no success.

Albania: 

Men hold hands so don't be alarmed. It's amazing the diversity of vehicles you'll see, from tractors to even Mercedes taxis. There are also lot's of old ladies with purple hair. In durres you can take a scenic walk by sea.

Serbia: Women wearing real fur! I spent my Valentine's day in Belgrade. It went as follows: morning walking tour with the Free belgrade walking tour, got my face stamped on a serbian bill at the bank museum (for free btw), spent 4 hours on facebook (as usual), went sledding on cardboard, spyed on lovers at fortress, then visited it’s army museum, ate some delicious pizza, and went to a jungle club all in one day. T'was so romantic and so much fun! 

Bosnia:

Despite being recently war-torn, Bosnia has some of the kindest people around.  When lost, I ended up having an old lady carry my luggage and then take taxi with me (I tried to carry the bag but she just grabbed it from my hand). Some of the biggest cultural shocks were seeing european muslims and constantly seeing women fashioned in large ostentatious pieces of animal fur. 

It should be known that in Sarajevo apartments are very cheap (roughly 180 euro +30 for utilities). I couch surfed with a guy named Wojtek who was AWESOME. He told me about his trips to africa in large caravans (adventure tourist.com) that blew my mind. While staying with Wojtek, we went to visit the tunnel of hope (see below), Franz Ferdinand bridge, as well as various other war relics around the city. 

Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to go skiing/snow boarding though that is one of the main attractions to Sarajevo in the wintertime. It was so cold that I had to wear on average 3 layers of pants each night. On my birthday, We all went out to celebrate at one of the local pub/clubs. I started dancing and got so hot that I had to strip down all my pants. I eventually lost my most expensive pair and had to go back to the club the next night and ask in front of all of the bartenders, "Hi have you seen my pants? I lost them here last night". At first they thought they had misunderstood what I was saying, but I assured them that that was exactly what I was trying to say. I had even met a bosnian police officer who became facebook friends with me. I asked him to send out a city-wide pants alert...I have yet to find my lost oh-so-perfectly-butt-grasping pair of pants.

 I also went down to mostar, which is a famous cite for the bridge bombing (see bridge below). I stayed at a place called miran hostel, where the owner, miran, took me in, fed me in what appeared to be dog bowls, and even pet me on my head at one point (was weird but I went with it). Regardless of our divergent views of US politics, Miran was pretty cool and Mostar is definitely worth visiting.



Croatia:

From Mostar, I headed into Dubrovnik. This place was awesome! Despite being alone and despite it being winter time (low tourist season), the old city in Dubrovnik is truly beautiful. Though surrounding restaurants are slightly pricier than elsewhere within the balkans, there is lots of beauty to take in. You will also see lots of stag/'hen' parties taking place for the brides/grooms to be. One should note that lots of streets listed on maps are actually just narrow staircases, but are much fun to run down late at night. 

Fun fact: Dalmations are named after dalmation coastline off Croatia

In Zagreb, you can visit all the typical town highlights and also go to the museum of broken relationships, a museum unlike any other. The city is very developed and the people like to party in the night time.

 

Montenegro:

Nightlife in winter is essentially non-existent, though I did had a mafia guy buy me drink in bar. I was then picked up by the bartender there who took me to a local restaurant where they played turbofolk (local fusion music of old and the new). He told me of wartime stories from the Serbian point of view including visuals of women getting raped. At the end of our night out, he (like any other eastern european man) tried to spend the night at my hotel, which by the way I had all to myself since there were no tourists in winter. Luckily he eventually let me get back to my room by myself. I also took my first attempt at hitchhiking solo. I would not suggest this in montenegro (or anywhere in eastern europe). I won't get into the details but I'll just say I thought I was almost going to get raped and murdered at gunpoint. Luckily I survived with minor sexual assault. Overall, I'd say ladies, pack your pepper spray but be cautious of the fact that you can't really pepper spray someone who is driving at the same time.

Slovenia:
It’s like hitting western Europe all of a sudden, and you can tell when it’s no longer a challenge to find a mcdonalds. People were very friendly. There was an old man named Joseph who taught me about life, relationships, etc. While trying to find a hostel, I encountered a rock n roll bar where a drunk Canadian man decided to walk with me to find the hostel…then while walking I met a young finnish guy who was studying at the university there (as most of the population in Ljubljana are students). We had an awesome night of dancing and drinking and I got to stay in one of the university dorms (and no, nothing sexual!) I wish I had more time to visit the mountains or vineyards outside Ljubljana. There are also some caves down south that you can visit, but I didn’t have enough time.

Venezuela

Up until this point I had only heard of bad experiences that travelers (mostly groups of guys) had undergone with the police and locals in venezuela. However, during my week inside Venezuela, I honestly can say that I had no issues whatsoever (I should note, however, that I bypassed caracas). My journey started from Guiria (having arrived from Trinidad) and landed me in Merida, where I stayed with a male couch surfer who took me out wine tasting in the woods with a few friends (see right image). Merida was a nice town surrounded by mountains and a few ex-pats sprinkled about. All in all, was safe. Went running by myself in the daytime along the half completed stadium (as the initial government funding had 'mysteriously' disappeared partway through the construction). I then took a bus to the border of Colombia. Unfortunately, I missed seeing the lightning storms in Maracaibo and the picturesque beaches of Margarita island. I took buses with locals the entire time and had no issues with the police at either borders of Venezuela.




Oh and FYI if you can rent a car, DO IT! Gas is RIDICULOUSLY CHEAP (roughly 50 cents to fill up your tank)

Trinidad

I decided to take a flight from Georgetown, Guyana to Trinidad two days before actually going. The airfare was $180, but you can catch a flight for as low as $145 if you book a little bit more in advance. Because I was unable to find any hostels online and because the cheapest hotels I could find were still a bit expensive, I decided to couch surf instead.

I met a guy named Charles who picked me up at the airport and who was kind enough to host me and show me around the island. One thing to note, I found it extremely difficult to withdraw money in Trinidad. My chase credit card would not work in any of the 6 or 7 ATMs (and one bank) that we visited (including the royal bank of Trinidad and Tobago and scotiabank, which is the most international and most likely option for successful transactions). However, what I could do was use it at grocery stores and gas stations, where I would pay for my friends and then they would give me cash in exchange (since I had not encountered any cash-back options either).

In total, I spent a week in Trinidad. During my time, I visited Maracas beach, which is probably the #1 tourist attraction on the island. Also, Charles and his friends took me to three pools, which is a semi-secluded series of natural pools for swimming in. This location can be reached if you continue on the same scenic route that takes you to Maracas and requires a little bit of walking after parking. Another integral part of the Trinidad experience is to eat at KFC, as the people of Trinidad LOVE KFC and take much pride in the many KFC records they have broken. Though I was not able to make it to Tobago during my week there, I have heard from EVERYONE that Tobago is the place to go. It can be reached via ferry for $100 TT or approximately $16 USD roundtrip and departs multiple times throughout the day. The port is located fairly close to the city as well.

Coming from Guyana, I found Trinidad to be SOOOO much more developed and civilized. Most of my time was spent just hanging with Charles's friends, and I can honestly say that out of all the people I have met during my entire trip, I never felt like I’ve had more in common than with the young (upper class) Trinidadians that I've met. What is interesting about the social structure here is that here, the upper class is not solely whites. Here, you can also see blacks (and Middle easterners) among the elite, which is much different than what I have seen in places like Brazil and the Guyanas. It seems as though in Trinidad, people mix much more socially (and racially). Although, there are also still stories of ‘keeping it in the family’, as the island is fairly small. According to Charles, this is particularly true for Middle Eastern communities on the island, but also with a few whites that date back to the colonial days. Another interesting thing to note is that Trinidad has really strong ties with Canada. Every one of Charles’s friends had either visited Canada, is/will be working in Canada, or went/is going to school in Canada.

Fir all of those interested in visiting Trinidad and Venezuela and have been inquiring about the ferry, THE FERRY TO VENEZUELA IS CURRENTLY OPERATING (as of May 5^th)!! It costs $92 USD for a one-way ticket (and $180 RT) along with a $13 USD departure tax (the tax is slightly more if you are doing the reverse trip from Venezuela). The ferry leaves from Pier 1 only once a week on Wednesdays at 9:00 AM, but you need to arrive there at 7:00 AM for check-in. If you are traveling one way, YOU NEED TO HAVE A RETURN TICKET TO YOUR HOME COUNTRY. Otherwise, they will make you purchase a round-trip ticket ($180 plus departure tax). The return ticket can then be refunded in Venezuela, but only for half of its price, which means you still waste $45. Fortunately for me, there was wifi available at the pier and, even though I had planned on waiting until the very last minute to book my ticket back home, I was able to book a cheap flight back to the US within the 20 minutes I had left. The ferry is very nice and safe to ride. It takes approximately four hours and the scenery is very beautiful (consisting of small islands all along the way). Well worth it.

Brazil

I spent 2 approximately 2 months in Brazil. The places I chose to visit were Sao Paulo, Ouro Preto (for carnival), Florianopolis, Foz do Iguacu, Rio de Janeiro, and Manaus. If you are an American ever wanting to travel to brazil, keep in mind you will need a visa, which can take around 3 weeks to process and will cost you somewhere between $100-$150 (I don’t know the exact amount because I got mine in London).

I first arrived during carnival time, which was spent in Ouro Preto, a UNESCO World heritage site and also home of one of the best carnival street festivals.

Afterwards, I spent 20 days in Sao Paulo but had been staying with a now good friend of mine that I met in Berlin. We had a blast together, but I spent a lot of my time as a local and not as a tourist. My highlight was probably getting cosmetic surgery done (I got a mole removed just so that I could say I had cosmetic surgery in latin America…I know, flawless logic). The city is fairly dangerous and so incredibly large that you could get kidnapped or murdered and no one would EVER know. In the time I was there I had learned that a friend of the girl I was staying with had gotten ‘flash robbed’ a year prior, which basically entails that a person comes up to you with a weapon when you’re in your car and he (or she) makes you go to the bank to withdraw money for him (or her) and then leaves you on the street as he drives away in your vehicle. I also heard stories about friends getting kidnapped, but that was not too common. The father of the girl whose house I was staying at had told me how he had never gotten robbed in his entire life, but then about a week later while I was still staying there, he, too, was held up at a stoplight and had to hand over his belongings. As for tourists, well the worst part is that it is so hard to know which streets/areas are safe and which ones are not (as they sometimes will look exactly the same!). Don’t let this scare you, though…just ask around and be sure where you will be safe and also just keep in mind that this definitely IS one of the cities that you really should not be walking around at night by yourself. Nothing happened to me while I was there and I actually did have to walk by myself at night one time, but I was gripping onto my pepper spray the entire way.

As far as tourism in Sao Paulo, you can visit the Japanese market and maybe go to the villa lobos park to rent a bike and ride around. There are also apparently TONS of museums you can visit, as Sao Paulo is considered Brazil’s cultural arts center. Other than that, there is not much to do in Sao Paulo tourist-wise. If you are not there to visit any friends, I would advise you just to skip it or just spend a day there.

Florianopolis

This city was fun…for a day or 2. I stayed 5 days and that was WAYYY too long. Really, all there is are the beaches and for me, personally, all I could stand was 2 days max at the beach. Other than that, there is a nightclub called the confeteria or something like that. It is an incredibly posh nightclub where all the most attractive of brazil go to mingle. Honestly, the combination of having recently been exposed to plastic surgery for the first time along with being surrounded by such beautiful people in Florianopolis never made me so eager to have more work done. They sucked me in!!! I swear the mentality of Brazilians makes it seem so normal to have plastic surgery…

Foz do Iguacu (Iguazu Falls)

Foz do Iguacu, also known as Iguazu Falls, contains huge waterfalls on both the Brazilian and Argentinean sides of the border. I didn’t care all that much for it only because there were so many tourists. Itaipu Dam, the world's second largest dam (behind 3 gorges in China), is also located here and can be reached via local buses. Tours operate daily and will not cost you too much (can't remember exact price).

If you are planning on visiting the falls and only have enough time to visit one of the sides, visit the Argentinean side. When I was there the waterfalls looked brown on the Brazilian side and there are all these raccoon type animals that you constantly have to keep your food and bags away from (as they may jump on you to get your food). In contrast, the water on the Argentinean side appears much clearer and there are not nearly as many of those raccoon type animals. Also, this side is much larger and has butterflies everywhere. The sights are much more beautiful and it will be really hard NOT to get a photo of the falls without a rainbow in it.

I cannot recall the exact costs of each but they were somewhat comparable (Argentina side might be slightly more expensive). However, if you are residing on the Brazilian side, you will have to cross the border and take a few separate buses which may be confusing, but not that expensive. It will be much cheaper for you to do this yourself rather than go with a tour from the hostel (cough hostel bamboo, cough). The guy at the counter there had lied to me and was telling me how expensive it would be to go to the Argentinean side because he was saying some of the costs in Argentinean pesos and some in reais, but had made it sound like all the costs were in reais, which therefore made it appear more expensive. The cost of enterance on the Argentina side is $85 argentine pesos, which is approximately $22. If you are traveling on the Argentinean side and would like to visit the falls, you probably won’t be visiting the Brazillian side anyways because unless you intend on going into Brazil afterwards, you would need to pay for a visa, which, as I have previously mentioned, costs a buttload. If you want to stay in iguazu falls, I know many people stayed on the Argentinean side at this hostel with a pool out front. I think it may have been a HI hostel.

As for me, I ended up staying at Hostel bamboo the whole time and the place was nice but the men that worked there were super perverted and machismo. One of the girls in my room got sick and the male taxi driver offered to help her wash herself…gross. This same taxi driver kept trying to lean over and buckle my seatbelt instead of letting me buckle it for myself…as if I am too weak or too stupid to do it on my own. On top of that there was another girl, around my age (early 20s) who needed this Douchebag to pick her up at the airport and when they got to the hostel he kept trying to hit on her and get into her room when she was clearly not interested. As for the bartender, well to put it bluntly, he’s got nothing to offer (looks-wise and other-wise) and he spends his nights getting girls much prettier than him drunk and then taking advantage of them. During my stay, there was another guy there (who didn’t even work at the hostel) and would come and hit on me and make me extremely uncomfortable to the point where I couldn’t even leave my room at night because I knew he would have been up there. I am telling you, if you are a single female, DO NOT go to this hostel.

Rio de Janeiro

First off, Rio (or rather, the rio where you want to be) is TINY. From the airport, you can get a bus called the real bus (big blue bus) that takes you right down to the Copacabana area. Copacabana and Ipenema are right next to each other and in walking distance.

I stayed in Rio for a total of 8 days and chose Ace backpackers for the first part of my stay before being kicked out because the rooms were full and I was without reservation. This hostel is a good deal but you will need to take the metro if you wanted to go anywhere. During my stay at ace backpackers I became really sick (I think I got it from the girl in Foz do Iguacu). The people at the hostel were really nice and helped me get to a free clinic, where I was forced to take a shot of penicillin into my ass cheek. The worst part is that it was administered by a man who I swear enjoyed doing it way too much. It was so degrading. After that I did get better though and was forced to move to the mellow yellow backpackers hostel. If you are okay with walking up 6 flights of stairs approximately 20 times a day and if you like rooms that are hot and look like concentration camps with beds 3 stories high, then you should go there. Otherwise, I would look for a different hostel. If you do go there, try to claim a bed not on the top, as you might wake up in the middle of the night bracing for your life thinking you are about to fall off a building…seriously. The reception is also really horrible there. The only good part about hostel is the breakfast and the fact that they attempt to put on activities at night (though they usually suck). When I was there, which was back in mid-late march, the Jesus statue was under construction but you could still visit it.

The city seemed fairly safe so long as you stay out of the favellas and so long as you are careful about where you put your belongings. The only instance of theft that I experienced during my time there was when a group of 20 of us went down to the streets of lapa at night, the clusters of little favella children came up to a guy in our group and took his wallet…but I mean, he was drunk and had his wallet in his back pocket. In regards to the beaches, they were somewhat anticlimactic (looks-wise) and when you’re on the beach, you will not be able to relax because there is an ongoing constant swarm of people trying to sell you crap. The city is beautiful overall, though, and you will be sure to run into other tourists and make a lot of new friends with them, which I really appreciated.

Manaus

As I embarked on my journey to Manaus, not only did I have no clue what it would be like traveling to the middle of the Amazon, but also, I had no clue when and how I would be getting out of there (as I had only booked a one-way ticket). It took me three separate flights that lasted all day to get from Rio to Manaus. Once there, I was able to take a local bus into the city (which is MUCH cheaper than a taxi). The bus stops around midnight though.

What is amazing about manaus is the fact that in the middle of this sooo incredibly large rainforest, you have this HUGE city…I mean just imagine how much work went into transportation of construction materials, alone. It is honestly an amazing concept to bear witness too. The reason this is the case is because in the early 1900s, Manaus was the center for the rubber boom that was going on in the Amazon. Since then, the city has expanded even though rubber production has diminished.

For travelers to Manaus, they have 2 to 4 or 5 day jungle treks. I had heard that you can do cheaper ones in Santarem (if you are traveling down the amazon towards the mouth). I opted not to do a jungle trek because #1 it was too expensive (something like $300 reais or $173 USD for 2 days) and #2 because I’ve already been to the jungle before (in Nicaragua) and would be going into the jungle some more in other countries (Where it would be cheaper/free in those cases).

Apparently, for those who are jewish, there is even a synagogue and a rabbi that lives in Manaus. We celebrated Passover at the rabbi’s house. He’s from texas and has only recently moved to manaus with his Brazilian-jewish wife. It was interesting to hear Passover spoken in Hebrew, English, and Portuguese.

You can visit the merging of the rivers and then see the town (including visiting the theater) all in one day.

If you are really efficient, you can even visit IMPA, which is a research center for Amazonian floura and fauna. If you want to learn firsthand about this topic , what we did is we visited around lunch hour and spoke to some of the researchers during their lunch break in the cafeteria area. In addition to its research, this institute also houses manitees, electric eels, fresh water otters, turtles, crocodiles, and other animals and is open for tourists to visit. Entrance fee is $5 reais and you can get there via local bus transport.

In total, I spent 10 days in Manaus, which was perhaps far too long. I would say most people could do Manaus (including the jungle trek) in 4 to 5 days.

Now getting out of Manaus, well that is a whole other story. If your ultimate destination is Colombia, you have 2 options. #1: You can travel up the river to Leticia/tabatinga, from which you can take a fairly inexpensive domestic flight to the other cities of Colombia (check domestic flight listings on Wikipedia). The boat will take you approximately 5-7 days depending on weather and boat condition. Ticket prices vary but should be purchased down at the docks. I believe compared to other river route prices this route was one of the more expensive ones (cannot remember exact amount). Peru is also on this route if you continue on to Iquitos, but from there you might need to take a possibly expensive flight out of Iquitos to get to the rest of Peru. The other option for Colombia would be to take a long bus ride through Venezuela. You may or may not need to change buses in Venezuela, but according to word of mouth this option would take around 48 hours and cost around US $90. If your ultimate destination is the Guyanas, see the Guyanas section of this blog. If your ultimate destination is Bolivia, you can take a long boatride down to Bolivia which does not cost that much. I believe it was around $150 reais. If you want to see the rest of Brazil, I would suggest going the same way as for the Guyanas but changing the destination from Macapa to Belem.

Keep in mind these boatrides are long and boring. Bring a book and buy a hammock, as that is what you will be sleeping in!!! If you have binoculars, you might want to use them, but really you probably won’t see much, as the mainland is usually quite far from the boat (at least while traveling downstream). Since there really aren’t many opportunities for you to part from your hammocks and backpacks, I would say that it would be really hard to have your stuff stolen during your time on the boat. For me, I was paranoid at first and kept my tiny backpack (with all of my electronics and valuables) with me all the time and slept with it in my hammock. Probably wasn’t necessary.

All in all, Brazil is an incredibly diverse and HUGE country. I opted not to travel the northern coastline, as I had heard it was fairly dangerous and was not willing to risk it (and also pay for the airfare, which can get expensive). Bus transport around northern Brazil is also more dangerous than in the south, so be aware. For all of Brazil, I would say based of personal experience that whether you are a boy or a girl, single or with a friend, you run the same level of risk. Aside from the perceived dangers and horror stories from friends, the country really is interesting and definitely worth visiting.

The Guyanas

The Guyanas

To get to the Guyanas from the Amazon River, I took a boat from Manaus to Santarem (70 Reais) which took about 30 hours, which has a beautiful little beach town alter do chao, which is an hour away by bus and costs are nominal. Then I met up with a French speaking, 31 year old man with whom I would spend the next few weeks traveling. From there we took a boat from Santarem to Macapa (100 Reais, but included meals) which took around 36 hours. We arrived in Macapa at around 5 in the morning and had the option of continuing sleeping on the boat. We chose to get up and try to make it to the bus station to take the bus from Macapa to the border town Oiapoque which we had thought would leave at 8. Unfortunately the only bus that left to Oiapoque would leave at 5 at night, which meant we had an entire day in Macapa. There is nothing to do outside the bus station in Macapa. A crazy crackhead lady tried to come after me with a large two by four. It was kind of scary. She kept picking it up, coming towards me, and then dropping it again. Anyways we finally got on the bus and embarked on a long overnight bus through the bumpy, unpaved road to Oiapoque (cost: $57 Reais). We got there in the morning and waited at the bus station until the time the border police opened (which was around 8). We got our stamps out of brazil and then headed down the road to where the boats left. You need to take a boat to cross over into French Guiana (cost: 10 Reais per person and takes around 10 minutes). You arrive in Saint George, which is full of lots of indigenous and a few French people. Not many Blacks. From there, you should hitchhike (unless you arrive at night). But first you need an entry stamp into French Guiana. Luckily the stamp spot is right next to an excellent corner to hitchhike on. I say you need to hitchhike because your only other option is to spend 30 euros (you can also pay 100 reais, but that is a rip off). One thing to note is that there was only 1 ATM in Saint George when we were there and it was broken, so we did not have any euros. Word to the wise: bring euros with you ahead of time.

French Guiana: Still run by France, which really gives an odd flare to this South American country surrounded by Jungle. Thus, the country speaks French, which makes it very difficult to get by if you don’t speak the native tongue. I’ve found that if this is the case, the best people to ask for help tend to be the creoles (most live in Cayenne), as they are probably more fluent at ‘our version’ of English than the French immigrants that live there. The men that talk to you tend to appear more polite in French Guiana. I think it’s just because they say “bonjure” instead of “yo baby! YO BABY!”.

Cayenne does not have much to offer other than a few historical buildings and sloths (I saw more dead than alive, though). Kourou has a little bit more to offer in terms of tourism, as it is here where the European Union launches its satellites into orbit and also it is here where you can take a boat to visit Îles du Salut, 3 beautiful tropical islands that used to be where the French sent many of their prisoners between the mid 1800’s to 1900’s. A boat trip there RT cost us $44 Euros, but it was well worth it.

Also worth visiting is the beach near Awala. We got there from Kourou completely by hitchhiking but had to do so in the following manner: Kourou to Saint Laurent, Saint Laurent to Mana, Mana to Awala, Awala to Beach. The longest portion of the journey is from Kourou to Saint Laurent, from there it is maybe an hour all together (including the waiting in between hitchhiking, which normally is under 20 minutes). The trip is worth it and if you stay to the night you can see these LARGE turtles under the glow of the moonlight. It is an amazing sight. We set up hammocks under the table areas at the beach, which cost us $0 and is pretty safe since there is only a small village surrounding us.

During our entire time in French Guiana (almost 2 weeks), we never once paid for transportation or accommodations. It is safe to hitchhike (but apparently sometimes they may ask you for a couple of euros for gas) and try to get a couchsurfering account or make friends with the locals to find a place to stay. Otherwise, it can get pretty pricey!

In the border town of Saint Laurent, there is a big issue with crime that results from Surinamese citizens who cross the river by boat into French Guiana, rob some houses or shops, and return back to Suriname where they can never be easily found again. This has happened quite frequently and the people are usually the bush negros (?) I cannot remember the name exactly but some derivative of that. ..basically they are the people that fled from slavery and moved into the jungles of Suriname. Lots of Surinames actually do live in Saint Laurent as well, which can make it confusing because you have a few creoles, who speak English, and also the surinames ‘bush negros’ that speak taki taki, which is a really odd distant derivative of English along with a few other languages (this is because suriname used to be owned by the british, I believe).

Suriname: The country costs pretty much the same as Guyana to stay in. It is cheaper than French Guiana and many people from French Guiana frequently travel to Suriname to buy their products. Most tourists need a visa, which costs approximately $50 euros. HOWEVER, if you are AMERICAN, you will need to pay $100 euros!!! I know, it really sucked but there weren’t any other feasible options to get through to the rest of the northern countries. Flights out of French Guiana tend to go mainly (if only) to French countries (i.e. france, st. lucia, Haiti, etc.) and therefore it is really expensive to try to go anywhere else. Another option would be to backtrack back to brazil for more options, but there was no way it was worth all the buses (which also cost a little bit of money) just to backtrack.

Paramaribo has a lot of beauty to offer in its colonial buildings (especially if you see them when the sun is setting). The food seems to be all the same in the shops (fried bananas, rice, chicken pastries) and there are also a few Chinese restaurants (but I can guarantee you that most will be closed if you try visiting them). City seemed safe, but I was a little worried about some of the dogs that would bark at me and were not behind a fence where they should have been. The barking is almost as bad as the men in the city. The only place we saw large clusters of white people was near the large fancy hotel (can’t remember the name) and along the strip of bars (which is really only like 3 or 4, which was somewhat disappointing). Not much of a club scene. More for friends having a good time. If you are looking to mingle with other whiteys, I would suggest staying at guesthouse twenty 4, but when we went they were booked. Paramaribo on Sunday is COMPLETELY closed (especially in the morning). Very difficult to get food at that hour. We heard a lot of awesome gospel music from afar, though. Also, when it rains I think buildings tend to close…I think in general people just open and close whenever they please so we (me and shawn) just learned to take such factors into account during decision making. We also met a guy who was traveling around the world on his bicycle (Markus Schorn , markusschorn.com). He wants to kayak across the Caribbean to Florida. Crazy!!! Anyways we left Paramaribo after 3 nights and took a bus at 5 in the morning that cost us around $40 USD to get to Georgetown. You have to go bus, ferry (border crossing), bus…but the price was for the whole way and we arrived in Georgetown at around 3 in the afternoon.

Guyana:

You can see large quantities of rice being dried along the paved road to Georgetown. Once in Georgetown, you will immediately pick up the repulsive scent of trash and mildew that manifests itself within the stagnant water of the canals built from the time of Dutch rule. Guyana prices are comparable to that of Suriname. The only thing that Georgetown has to offer is that it is home to the world's largest wooden structure (a church).

The country is English speaking, which makes travel much easier. Also, out of all three Guyanas, I would say that Guyana has the least amount of European presence among its current population. As a result, you will receive much more attention from the locals. What’s even weirder is that now, all the whistles and hollars are 100% in English and it becomes much harder to use the language barrier as a scapegoat if you are trying to get out of a conversation. They may also ask you for money (especially the children). In these countries close to the equator, much more of the local population is seen using umbrellas to hide from the heat and also from the sporadic onsets of rain. I, too, took to the umbrella not only for these reasons but also to serve as a device to hide my ‘white girl’ appearance. If cars would drive by I would open the umbrella in front of my face to hide myself from them, which is probably weird but much better than them seeing me and then honking loudly in my face. I spoke to another blond girl I met in the Oasis Café (a place with free wifi, btw). She is living here as a volunteer nurse and says that she gets harassed on a day to day basis and now her brain essentially blocks out all of the whistles and hollars from men. She said that even though it seems like there are no white people in the city, they are around and are mostly volunteers that hang around certain hotspots (i.e. oasis café, Pegasus hotel, and a few other places I can’t remember). A white friend of hers got raped 2 weeks ago down in Lethem (a city in the south of Guyana), but she says the girl was acting really stupid (i.e. they were at a rodeo and she was drunk and decided to walk home by herself at night…and she ended up getting on the back of some guy’s motorcycle). She ended up with wounds around her neck and had to fly back to Australia to get all of the medications and treatment that was necessary for after such an ordeal. This normally does not happen, though. So I am not too scared and neither was the girl I was talking to.

Tips:
-bring pepper spray. You will probably never need it but worth the comfort level. Also, be sure to always pack it in your checked luggage before boarding any planes. I had to stuff it between my boobs one time in order to get through security. Would not risk it again.
-bring a netbook. They are fairly cheap (I bought one for $300 and it works just as good as a regular computer) and they are INCREDIBLY useful. I can assure you that the amount of money I would have had to spend in an internet café in these past months would have already made up for the costs.

In summary, I would say that the Guyanas are definitely worth visiting. They are off the typical traveler’s map but do justice in showing you an alternative view of South America. Each country of the three seems distinctly different due to their different rule. However, I would say that all of the Guyanas are relatively safe when it comes to serious crimes such as rape or murder. In San Paulo and other places in Brazil I feel I could not say the same, probably because such cities are much larger and the economic gap in Brazil has caused much more of a riot among the people. Despite the increased number and whistles and rape story, I still felt safer being alone here than in Brazil. The vibe is more relaxed.