© 2011 Sabrina Swenson. All Rights Reserved.
Guyana, Suriname, Paraguay and Uruguay
January, 2026
Jonestown
I was only ten, but I remember the day: the mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. It was 1978 when Jim Jones, head of the Peoples Temple, persuaded his followers to drink grape Flavor Aid laced with cyanide. Over 900 people died that day.
Today, there’s not much left of this remote settlement. All the wooden buildings have rotted in the rainforest and returned to the earth. There are still numerous metal parts—a cement mixer, truck, etc. A modest, weathered stone stands as the only memorial to the victims. Interestingly, the bodies (mostly American, but also some Guyanese) were gathered and flown to the U.S., where they now lie in a mass grave in Oakland, California. Jim Jones’s body was sent to federal authorities for an autopsy; it was later cremated. I flew into the small airstrip where Congressman Leo Ryan, who came to investigate the Peoples Temple, was gunned down. I have to say, the tour was fascinating.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom—Guyana is a beautiful country with warm and friendly people!
After Guyana, I went next door to Suriname. This little-known, Dutch-speaking country has the highest percentage of rainforest of any country in the world—93%. Its biggest export is gold.
I finished off this trip with several days in Asunción, Paraguay and Montevideo, Uruguay. One sight I highly recommend is the Museum Andes 1972 located in Montevideo. It pays homage to the crash of Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 in the Andes Mountains. The flight was filled with a Uruguayan rugby team, their families, and friends. Of the 45 passengers and crew members, miraculously, 16 survived 72 days in freezing temperatures without proper clothing or food, eventually turning to cannibalism to survive. The museum is very well done and I spent a couple hours going through the exhibit. The movie Society of the Snow, currently on Netflix did a great job telling the story.
