Suriname

Gimme some advice!

Do you know of any people / places / hotels / restaurants / bars / guides / resources in this country that you think would be unmissable?

I desperately need your advice, tips and recommendations. What's more, I have a memory like sliced slurry, and whatever you tell me in a drunken fug by the Thames is already gone: I need it written down.

Stick your advice in the comments - pleasepleaseplease, and I'll add it onto this main post as soon as I hit a country with a proper broadband connection...

Cheers, me dears...

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I'll be in Suriname, travelling overland from French Guiana, in late November 2006, and want to go on from there to Trinidad:

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French Guiana

Gimme some advice!

Do you know of any people / places / hotels / restaurants / bars / guides / resources in this country that you think would be unmissable?

I desperately need your advice, tips and recommendations. What's more, I have a memory like sliced slurry, and whatever you tell me in a drunken fug by the Thames is already gone: I need it written down.

Stick your advice in the comments - pleasepleaseplease, and I'll add it onto this main post as soon as I hit a country with a proper broadband connection...

Cheers, me dears...

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I'll be in French Guiana in late November 2006:

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Venezuela

Gimme some advice!

Do you know of any people / places / hotels / restaurants / bars / guides / resources in this country that you think would be unmissable?

I desperately need your advice, tips and recommendations. What's more, I have a memory like sliced slurry, and whatever you tell me in a drunken fug by the Thames is already gone: I need it written down.

Stick your advice in the comments - pleasepleaseplease, and I'll add it onto this main post as soon as I hit a country with a proper broadband connection...

Cheers, me dears...

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I'll be in Venezuela, trying to get along the northern coast of southern america, in late October or early November 2006:

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Ecuador

Gimme some advice!

Do you know of any people / places / hotels / restaurants / bars / guides / resources in this country that you think would be unmissable?

I desperately need your advice, tips and recommendations. What's more, I have a memory like sliced slurry, and whatever you tell me in a drunken fug by the Thames is already gone: I need it written down.

Stick your advice in the comments - pleasepleaseplease, and I'll add it onto this main post as soon as I hit a country with a proper broadband connection...

Cheers, me dears...

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I'll be in Quito, doing a six week spanish language course, and living with Ecuadorians who only speak spanish to me, so I'll want lots of weekend trips to places; that's from September 2006 till mid October.
Then Galapagos, for two weeks of diving and stuff.
Then Vilcabamba, on the way down towards Peru and the Amazon route north, during October 2006:

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Sal and Jen separately suggest the apparently paradisal Vilcabamba. Deal.

Peru and Bolivia

Gimme some advice!

Do you know of any people / places / hotels / restaurants / bars / guides / resources in this country that you think would be unmissable?

I desperately need your advice, tips and recommendations. What's more, I have a memory like sliced slurry, and whatever you tell me in a drunken fug by the Thames is already gone: I need it written down.

Stick your advice in the comments - pleasepleaseplease, and I'll add it onto this main post as soon as I hit a country with a proper broadband connection...

Cheers, me dears...

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I'll be going through Peru, and hopefully a bit of Bolivia, trying to boat my way north up the Amazon to get to either the Venezuelan or French Guianese border, in November 2006:

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Brazil

Gimme some advice!

Do you know of any people / places / hotels / restaurants / bars / guides / resources in this country that you think would be unmissable?

I desperately need your advice, tips and recommendations. What's more, I have a memory like sliced slurry, and whatever you tell me in a drunken fug by the Thames is already gone: I need it written down.

Stick your advice in the comments - pleasepleaseplease, and I'll add it onto this main post as soon as I hit a country with a proper broadband connection...

Cheers, me dears...

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I'll be trying to get from Ecuador or Peru via the Amazon up to Venezuela or French Guiana. I might skip this bit by flying, but as I've skipped up from 16 flights per lifetime to 50 in the past year, boat travel could be less guilt-inducing.
Whatever. If I go by boat, it will be through the upper reaches of the Amazon, north west of Manaus.
In October or November 2006:

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Sarah D says: Get yourself to Manaus, to see not just the city but check out the Opera House and the Meeting Of The Waters.
Outside the city, it's really difficult to find ways to get into the amazon that aren't hellishly touristic (usually involve petting chained monkeys/sloths/aligators while indigenous people perform "dances" for you) so try Pousada Amazonia - it's just cool. Well worth it.

The nurse who gave me typhoid says: when in Manaus, ask for a taxi, and bribe them to take you to see the pink dolphins.