Henry in Guyana

I've been here for five weeks now and continue to get a better feel for the country, so here's a few things I've noticed. In terms of vehicles, a favourite seems to be the Nissan Titan which is a (probably unnecessarily) huge car. I have yet to see any Hum-vees but I am told there are a few. There isn't a huge amount of space on some roads so I imagine having an oversized vehicle might be a bit of a challenge.

There's a reasonable amount of wildlife in Georgetown; most roads have trenches running along either side - deep gutters (maybe 2 feet) which once I imagine provided drainage but are now stagnant and have quite a bit of rubbish in them. There are little things swimming around in there, I'm not sure if they are fish or lizard things but there is life. Some parts are covered, with boards or concrete, and sometimes there are just big holes in the pavement, and I don't imagine it would be very nice to fall in. The other night I was walking home from volunteer frisbee and felt my foot come against something followed by a splash in the trench. It turned out I had inadvertently booted a rat into the water - it quickly scrambled out and ran into some bushes. Rats are not generally visible so this was a bit of a surprise, although there are plenty of dogs roaming around looking for food. Fortunately, there's enough around as there are used polystyrene food cartons all around. Many areas are quite messy, and in most areas there aren't any bins. Main Street is an exception - there is a central walkway where local craftsmen sell quite impressive wooden carvings, and there are bins all along and it makes for a nice place to walk in my opinion.

I haven't seen as many insects as I expected, just the occasional tiny lizard thing in the shower and they keep themselves to themselves. Cockroaches are rarely in sight but I'm sure they're here having a good time on bits of food and so on. Fears of a tarantula wandering over the back of the sofa were misplaced however, and at least in Georgetown there isn't any more insect life than anywhere else I have been. I have plans to venture into the bush in the new year where things will be a bit different I imagine, but more on that some other time. The flying insects like to bite, and they haven't given up, I've taken to staying in my work clothes to cover up my skin in the evening as it is a bit of a pain and you can feel them having a meal. In the morning I usually wake up to see four or five mosquitoes sitting above my head on the mosquito net licking their lips, just waiting for the chance...