My first
reaction when I found out I would be serving in Guyana was, “OH NO! NOT THERE!”
because I knew where the country was,
and I know that most people have no idea where it is.
“Guyana… that’s in Africa right?”No.“… Southeast Asia?”No.“… The Pacific?”No. It’s in South America.“WHAT?!”Yup. It boarders Venezuela and Brazil.
I don’t even
bother telling people that it also
boarders Suriname, because let’s be honest. If people don’t know where Guyana
is, they sure as heck haven’t even heard of Suriname.
But that’s OK. Really that’s my only hesitation about serving in Guyana; telling people
where it is. I didn’t really have that problem when I was announcing I’d be
serving in Peru, most people have heard of Peru and at least knew which
continent it was in. To be honest, I really didn’t know anything about Guyana,
other than it’s part of the three forgotten South American countries (Guyana,
Suriname, and French Guiana). What I found out from a brief Wikipedia search
and what info I’ve received from the Peace Corps is that it is a Caribbean country
located in South America. So the only downside of that is I won’t be speaking
Spanish during my time there. On the other hand, there was never any guarantee
that I’d be speaking Spanish in Peru; a good portion of the population there
speaks Quechua. All in all, I know very little about this new country I’ll be
living in, other than it should be pretty darn hot all year round (no more
snowboarding). And I have little to no expectations, which I see as a good
thing.
To find out more about Guyana check out the CIA's World Factbook website, or even Wikipedia
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