As with any country - Guyana has its own standards of acceptable and unacceptable behaviours.
It is worth noting that most people in Guyana do not swear. I rarely if ever heard cursing during any of my stays. Most people are genuinly considerate and polite. I know in North America it is normal for people to drop the "f" bomb in anger or to describe something or a situtation, but I never heard anyone talk trash.
I did find that there is still an underlying ethnic social class system. With the East Indians leading the way - probably due to the fact they are almost 44% of the population, Black (African Decent) and then Armerindians. Most Armerindians I befriended are soft spoken and almost shy. They are fused together with the others by a common language of English-Creole.
The religious breakdown is very diverse. Christian (Roman Catholic and Pentecostal are most prominent), Hindu, Muslim and Rastafarian are obvious but you can still find other faiths like Baha'i and Judaism practicing in this Multiculutral country. This was a notable landscape ... churches and places of worship are everywhere. Television often broadcast services at all hours.
Although the education system is producing some highly educated citizens there still seems to be a lack of funding - especially in the rural areas where some children are rejected due to their poor grades, lack of desks and teachers not available. There seems to be no focus on training in any perticular discipline although they follow the British education system. The better-educated professional teachers tend to emigrate to other countries (for better wages and opportunities, balanced cirriculm) so it is no wonder private schools are now operating. Computers are a novelity due to their expense and availability- so this techology is behind most other developed nations.
A sport that is most popular is cricket. Guyana is part of the West Indies cricket team and they play first class cricket against other Caribbean nations. So if you want a good feel for Guyanese spirit check out a cricket game, its fun, exciting and a great chance to see the diverse ethnic groups.
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