Guyana

1. We are actually in South America and not in Africa (though with it's name and its very colourful primary African coloured flag will let you believe otherwise.) (Eds. Fun Fact: Our flag, named the "Golden Arrowhead," was actually created by an American vexillologist, Whitney Smith)
   

1. We speak English - in fact it is our first language and perhaps only language. Sure, we speak English with one of the most sing-song-y accent you've ever heard, but it's fun to listen to, even if you have no idea what we're saying, I reckon. We also speak a bit of combination Hindi-English, and Native Amerindian languages.
2. We are the only English speaking country in South America, and we speak the Queen's English, so ColoUr, and NeighboUrhood, will be some of the spellings you'll find.
3. Even though we speak English, most of our towns, cities and villages are French, Spanish or Dutch. This is because we were ruled by all of these countries once upon a time, only to be finally conquered by the English. This has influenced our architecture greatly.
   

2. Hey, Dutch people! Thanks! Because of you, Guyana, with 80% rainforest interior and a land below sea-level still stays afloat, because of an amazing Dutch drainage system. Now, if the government would just update that system, I believe we wouldn't flood so much.
3. Just like the British left India with an extensive railroad, we, too, had a railroad system. In fact, called the Demerara-Berbice railroad (I told you about those Dutch names!) it was the first railroad system of the South American continent. But this was soon dismantled, by the American-government elected, President Burnham. He had major post-colonial issues, or mommy issues with England, as I like to call it, at the time. You can read more about that here: What is the most outrageous conspiracy theory that ultimately proved to be correct?
4. Because of our pickled history, our main and natural export is actually our people, we have the highest brain drain of 95% of higher educated people leaving the country. It is the highest in the world. But we also export rice, sugar, bauxite, rum.
5. Don't drink the koolaid! Seriously, don't drink it. Many Americans say that reference because it's a part of our American culture, however, Jonestown actually happened in the remote jungles of Guyana. Since, it was so remote, Guyanese people were not aware of it either.
6. We are actually more culturally Caribbean, i.e. West Indian than South American (due to the fact that we share similar colonization stories with countries like Trinidad and Jamaica - but we're working on feeling more South American-y, by having roads connect to Venezuela, Suriname and Brazil (our neighbours) I think, this will eventually change our culture again!
7. Our people are very diverse, because of colonization we have people with origins from Africa, India, China, Portuguese from Madeira Islands, Europeans, and Native South-American tribes, mostly Arawak and Caribs (the Caribbean was named after them!) Though, most of the population is divided between African Guyanese and Indian Guyanese. We only know the difference when there is an election, as people seem to vote along racial lines, which I'm pretty sure they know, is not cool.
8. With so many ethnic groups, our cuisine is very interesting - Roti and curries (Indian), pepperpot (Amerindian), Metemgie, a soup with ground provisions and dumplings (African), bread-pudding, cheese rolls, pinetarts (European), Cookup Rice (peas and rice), Lowmein and chowmein (Chinese). Culturally, we are food sharing people, so if you're ever over at one of our houses, we'll probably have to fight the urge to feed you, and to insist that you take left-overs for your family as well.
9. We are a secular country and we celebrate all holidays from our major religion - Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. The Color Run is inspired by us, we call the Hindu festival (Holi) - Phagwah based on the month it normally falls.
   

1. We celebrate Easter not with the Easter Bunny but by flying kites. It's the resurrection of Christ, and the kite depicts his soul flying towards heaven.
   

2. We fish a lot, eh? Our country is 70% rivers. Hassa Fish a local delicacy. (It's curried here, with okra vegetables.)
   

1. We have a lot of fruits and vegetables that you've never heard of, and locals will either wait til they are ripe to eat them/ cook with them, or my favourite, eat them when they are so green that they are pale yellow.
   

1. Pictured here is a fruit called, Sapodilla it tastes like a persimmon but sweeter, a bit grainer as if someone sprinkled brown sugar over a persimmon.
   

1. Have you ever had an apple that looks like a STAR?
   
   
2. Foods tend to be spicy.
3. Politics is a past-time sport. Everyone bashes the government. But to be honest, they are justified.
4. Our favourite sport is probably cricket, we play for the West Indian team and we wear our pride on our sleeves - Shivnarine Chandrapaul, Carl Hooper, Lance Gibbs, Colin Croft, and golden cricket legends such as Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Alvin Kallicharran are all Guyanese cricketers. (This point will make my dad very proud!)
   

2. But we also excel at playing squash, and we are getting better at soccer as well.
3. Guyana as a whole has neglected arts, and sports, parenting stresses more emphasis on being some variant of the following - doctor, lawyer, engineer, so every time I am made aware of a Guyanese sportsman and artist, I support!
4. Rihanna and Leonna Lewis are of Guyanese heritage.
   

1. You must know of our sugar - Demerara sugar was the standard that was created when sugar was a major commodity.
2. The most famous and one of the most expensive stamps in the world, is the British Guiana 1c Magenta. In the Guiana, they ran our of stamps and then used magenta paper, which was available as postage.
3. We are also known for our rum - El Dorado Rum. It's an award winning rum. we like rum.
   

2. Why is our rum and almost everything named El Dorado? Because, geographically, Guyana is estimated to be El Dorado. Our country is high in gold (and gold mine) and has one of the richest golds in the world, mostly because it was left in the earth for so long. There are many TVs that seem to be fascinated by this - Discovery Channel's Gold Rush and Bamazon Boys.
   

1. Do you like to rock climb? Because, I want a buddy to rock climb this baby! The Disney movie, Up featured the mountain, Mount Roraima, it is the highest peak of a chain of tepui plateau in South America. Made of Precambrian rocks, it literally looks like a tabletop in the sky. It's the point where Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana meet and many waterfalls are associated with the mountain (Angel Falls on the Venezuelan side), and ours Kaieteur Falls, is the longest, single one drop water fall in the world.
   

1. From, the Disney movie Up.

1. Here, is it! Mount Roraima!
   
   
2. Every Guyanese is going to make me tell you about Kaieteur Falls. It's supposedly the highest single drop waterfall in the world.
   

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2. Our rain forest is pretty much untouched, and is being protected by Norway (Go Norway!) and the (lack) of Government of Guyana to offset our carbon footprint. The amazon is also in Guyana. Guyana has one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world. Guyana, with 1,168 vertebrate species, 1,600 bird species, boasts one of the richest mammalian fauna assemblages of any comparably sized area in the world. The Guiana Shield region is little known and extremely rich biologically. Unlike other areas of South America, over 70% of the natural habitat remains pristine. When I was a kid, I woke up by listening to the sounds of parrots, kiskadees and macaws at the crack of dawn. They can be pretty annoying.
3. If you come visit us, please don't expect something like this -
   

1. But rather, expect this -
   

1. Hello, little Jaguar!
   
   

1. We have cowboys and ranches in the region closer to Brazil.
   

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2. We have Carnival, not as big as the Brazilians, or the Trinidadians, and we call it "Mashramani" or Mash for short. It's always in February, and most of the music will tell you to get something and wave, and really that's what you should do. And to music like this -