<p>Despite high rates of unemployment and poverty, the people of Georgetown (Guyana) always struck me as superbly upbeat. ‘Something will turn up,’ people would say. Often they were right. Whilst half the city’s labour force sat around, wondering what to do, the other half were on the move. Some enterprising types drove minibuses with names like ‘Thug Life’ or ‘Try Jesus’, or they sold things. It could be anything: watches, cane juice, kites, horse dung, or a sugary drink called swank. The most adventurous of all even headed out into the bush, to do a little mining. Sir Walter Raleigh would have loved it: here's his El Dorado, a city in the Guianas where even the paupers have gold teeth.</p>
