BR156 road from Macapa to Oiapoque, Brazil (french Guiana border) Sept 2010
BR156, the road from Macapa to the border is now paved as far as Calcoene. At the time of writing this there was a short stretch of road works as they resurface the road. 18km South East of Porto Grande for 10km. Nothing to worry about; hard compact relief road to the side. I assume they are continuing the re-surfacing work back to Macapa?
Fuel is available at:
Porto Grande - N0 41.505 W51 22.271
Ferreira Gomes – In town, 2.5km from BR156 turn off by the river: N0 51.596 W51 10.879
Tartarugalzinho - N1 30.010 W50 54.675
Amapa – In town, 17km from BR156 turn off: N2 03.143 W50 47.442
Calcoene – In town, 2.5 km from BR156 turn off: N2 29.727 W50 56.978
All the above towns have accommodation and food.
In case of emergencies or you need an alternative food stop there are also limited services but no fuel at the following settlements:
Angelim – 15km south of Tartarugalzinho
A small town 36 km south of the Amapa turn off
A small town 26km south of the Amapa turn off
Calceone
The tarmac ends at the BR156 turnoff for Calceone
N2 29.654 W50 58.424
There is no more fuel on the road until you arrive at Oiapoque
First food stop is at the fork in the road 40km from Calceone
N2 27.844 W51 15.480
That stretch of road is OK but at times littered with potholes. It takes an hour to ride that section.
Another 60km down the road is a restaurant N2 56.958 W51 24.975 from here the next 35km road are excellent. 60 – 75kph. You pass another opportunity to eat about 10km further on from the first restaurant N3 02.620 W51 27.681
You will pass a number of indigenous road side villages. It is forbidden to enter them.
In general the road improves, less potholes, but it does get slippery in places, and when it gets bad it is the worst on this road. I traveled during the dry season so I'd be interested to hear the road conditions when its wet.
There were bad mud sections at
N3 18.615 W51 37.607
N3 21.178 W51 40.020
About 60km from Oiapoque the tarmac starts again
N3 26.959 W51 43.242
Riding distances from Macapa:
Porto Grande 101km
Ferreira Gomes 133km
Tartarugalzinho 230km
Amapa 300km
Calcoene 370km
Oiapoque 590km
Theres plenty of accommodation to choose from in Oiapoque.
To get across the river to French Guiana the price per person in a dug out is fixed at 10Reias or 5Euro. The bridge across the river is no where near being complete. It wouldn't surprise me that it won't be opened before the World Cup arrives in Brazil in 2014.
For a motorcycle you need to negotiate. I'm not so good at this so I paid 40R for the bike. The guy first of all insisted on being paid in Euros only but gave in when I insisted that I pay in Reais. I negotiated without the presence of my bike which I fear has a tendancy to inflate the price
Bradesco & Banco Do Brasil ATM's are in Oiapoque. Fuel prices were about 3 Reais a litre. Fuel in French Guiana gave me 30% more mpg but I didn't make a note of a garage in the border area of French Guiana. Fuel in FG is 1.4 Euro a litre
Customs in Oiapoque is closed on Sunday and only open on Saturday morning. It's best to avoid crossing at the weekend.
Best time to visit French Guiana: August – November
Rainy season: November – July, sometimes dry period in February/March
The great rains start in May
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