Downtown Iracoubo, French Guyana.
French Guyana continued to surprise. It really is the laid back version of France. Scattered mini villages and towns along our drive from Cayenne to St. Laurent du Maroni gave us glimpses of country and village life in this often unventured country. After checking out St. Georges de L’Oyapock, Cayenne, Kourou and Sinnamary, we next stopped off in the town of Iracoubo.
Backpacking in French Guyana – the town of Iracoubo.
Getting to Iracoubo
Public transport in French Guyana is few and far between. Cayenne has buses of course and there are shared mini-buses to most towns in the country. However we hired a car and after checking out the delights of tranquil Sinnamary, we stopped off in Iracoubo where we had lunch and checked out the town. Hiring a car costs around 30 Euros per day and extra if you want to drop it off somewhere else.
We hired a car to get around French Guyana.
Sightseeing in Iracoubo
Iracoubo is a small town of 2,000 people. There isn’t really enough to make you want to stay overnight but certainly if you’ve hired a car, it’s worth a stop – here are the things we checked out in the town.
Backpacking in Iracoubo, French Guyana.
The main street was where we parked.
The main street in Iracoubo.
We toured the main church there, going inside.
Outside the church in Iracoubo, French Guyana.
Inside the church in Iracoubo, French Guyana.
There was also a tourist information office in Iracoubo – opposite the main church.
Tourist Information Centre in Iracoubo – yes there is one!
Tourist Information Centre in Iracoubo – yes there is one!
There was a war memorial dedicated to those from the town who fought in the First and Second World Wars.
Backpacking in French Guyana: War Memorial at Iracoubo.
A rip off of the 7 11 was an “8 to 8” shop.
A huit to huit 8 to 8 in Iracoubo.
Local housing takes on a mix of French and Caribbean style.
A local house in Iracoubo, French Guyana.
A lizard.
A lizard on the streets of Iracoubo.
After that we decided to head on our journey towards the border to Suriname.
We had already passed Sinnamary and although it was a big town, Iracoubo didn’t have a petrol station. We didn’t exactly want to drive all the way back to Sinnamary for petrol, so we headed off to the west as time ticked and it was about 2 hours to the kick off of the France v. Ecuador World Cup match which we really wanted to watch in a French pub in St. Laurent du Maroni.
Here is a video I made in Iracoubo:
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