A mix of Asian, European, and South American Cultures all rolled up into one, all while using the Euro Currency!!!!
French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana have always been high on my list to travel to as they are three of the least visited countries on the mainland of North and South America. French Guiana is a overseas department of France and the second largest region in France, and is the outermost region of the EU. The country is a part of the EU and thus uses the Euro as everyday prices are extremely expensive as compared to the rest of the continent.
Entering the country from the Brazil border town of Oiapoque which was a pretty easy border crossing, we spent about 2.5 hours going through the highway with jungles covering the landscape until we reached the capital city on the coast of Cayanne.
Entering the city of Cayanne, I had no expectations at all, but low and behold this was a beautiful city (for photography) with old buildings and a mix of French European, South American, Asian(Chinese and Vietnamese) and African culture which is evident in the food and the people. The people were friendly all over the town and just went about doing their everyday jobs for life despite very little tourism ever coming into the country.
The Cemetery in the central part of town was another great site that I wanted to visit. The tombstones reflected that of Christian combined with different other ethnicity. I noticed a lot of Chinese and Vietnamese names on a lot of the tombstones and the whole place was relatively quiet.
The highlight of the city was of course the market which is only put on three days a week and I was lucky enough to be there on one of them. They have everything from meats to vegetables and fruits as well as fresh fish and a plethora of crafts you can buy in just a short walk. People were extremely friendly here. The market has probably been going on for at least 100 years if not more. The Vietnamese Pho at the market was to die for as I could have eaten ten more bowls as it was just as good as the ones I had in Vietnam!!!
One of the things that French Guiana is famous for is that it is the home of the Guinea Space Center or European Spaceport. Because of its proximity to the equator, it is used to launch a lot of satellites for the European Space Agency. This has three different launch pads that all are used to send anything up into space. It was amazing walking around here and looking at everything.
French Guiana is also known for its dense jungles in which you can do jungle hikes in different areas. This little one I did was going across some paths for about 4 kilometers up to a lookout point.
One of the main attractions is a day trip (or overnight if you wish) to the Salvation Islands. These three islands which were used by France in the 1800’s for prisoners are about an hour away from the mainland by catamaran or boat. Devils Island of course is the most famous of the islands as it was where Alfred Dreyfus was incarcerated for sometime. His trial and went down in history as the Dreyfus Affair which was a major point in French and world history.
While you cannot visit Devils Island because landing of the boats is too difficult, you can visit Île Royale and Saint-Joseph Island. Saint-Joseph Island is a beautiful Island with a prison on it as well as Agoti’s and turtles swimming around the banks. It is filled with palm trees, ruins, and coconuts as far as the eyes can see.
Île Royale was the main island of the Salvation Islands and is where most of the officers lived with their families and a few prison inmates. The main draw to the island was all of the old buildings as well as all the monkeys that seem to hang around in the trees and watch people go by…
Leaving French Guiana into Suriname we enter the border in which we took a ferry and had some interesting shipwrecks….
Overall I was very surprised by French Guiana as it had such a mix of cultures and food that it should be an appealing place for all travelers to visit.