Travel Ideas

Read your Papillon and you’ll come to know about the French, English and Dutch colonies in the north east of South America, colonies somewhat forgotten in the modern world. The French never saw much use to their colonies in the tropics other than for letting their convicts die alive in horrendous penal settlements.

British Guyana, though, has had more of a civilised feel to it and though it’s mostly impassable swamp and rainforest, it’s an interesting mix of Africans, Indians and descendents of British settlers. Georgetown, the capital, makes its money out of exporting rubber and other South American resources and would be a good place to lay low from the law or anyone else for a while.

Culturally, Guyana is more Caribbean than South American and the nightclubs in Georgetown are more likely to be playing raggah or Bollywood tunes than salsa or samba. And if the nightlife gets too much for you then you can always go and get stoned amongst the staggering bio-diversity of Guyana’s jungles.

Failing that, go Dutch and check out Surinam – about which we know nothing – send us a postcard if you go.

Tom has been traveling non-stop since the age of 18 and co-founded Road Junky in 2004. Follow him @tomglaister

He’s the author of Hand to Mouth to India, an account of hitchhiking from England to India with no money and which will soon be rereleased by Road Junky Books.

Tales of a Road Junky featuring tales of breaking people out of jail in Delhi, selling fake Rolexes in Japan and other adventures in Israel and Brazil will be out later this year.

He also writes fiction for anyone who never really grew up and his latest novel is Bozo and the Storyteller – download the audio book for free or even buy a copy…

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