The other Guyana

The mature red mangrove develops tangles of ropey prop roots supporting a tall, somewhat open forest

At the outset, I’m not a big techno guy. As the new gadgets come out, I’m often one of the last ones to get on board. When I was living in Cayman, I resisted getting a cell phone for quite a while. “What do I need that for?” was my position. But I’ve come around. My cell phone is now nailed to my hip, and I look around and see the many advantages of the new technology.

20130421so it goNonetheless, when my wife Annette Arjoon-Martins recently ventured into Facebook territory (it’s completely foreign to me) using her photographs of Guyana taken in recent years, my old scepticism lingered. I’m admitting my surprise at what followed. Virtually overnight, hundreds of people were emailing her about the pictures creating this daily back and forth. Most evenings, and often most weekends as well, she is on the computer dealing with this flood of posting and responding. It’s only been a couple of weeks but the hits so far have been in the thousands. Although originally sceptical about this venture, I’m seeing now that she has tapped into something significant. She’s hearing from a range of people, both at home and abroad, and what is particularly striking for me is