Life in Guyana can bring us so many traumas that it is easy to lose sight of the fact that there are bright spots, as well, and indeed part of the process of dealing with the days here, as so many of my friends the likes of Ian McDonald and George Jardim are wont to tell me, is to focus on those bright spots, indeed, lean on them or turn to them in the bleak moments. Since this column has limits on length, instead of listing the various traumas (they are outlined for us anyway in the daily press with even more detailed information and video available on social media) I am choosing to tell you about a few things around us that can be an antidote to the despair. This slice of “feel good” may be small but it can be a useful response to someone like the man in Kitty last week who told me, “Buddy, dis place does gie yu nahra.”
Going in, to forestall the nahra, you will notice that my comments cover a range of areas (none of them, incidentally, having anything to do with music) which confirms what you likely know already: that good news in GT can be somewhat scarce; so, okay, you didn’t ask me but let me share some with you.
If, like most, you’re looking for a good place to dine, a bright spot in that regard for Guyanese palates is the restaurant at the Grand Coastal Hotel, up the East Coast a bit. The menu is varied, the food quality is uniformly good and consistent so that the item you enjoyed last month tastes exactly the same this month, and the prices don’t make you jump. Beyond that, however, what is equally appealing about dining at Grand Coastal is the service one gets from the staff; they are extremely cordial and helpful, and this attitude is everywhere so that they will greet you as they pass and ask if everything is all right even when they’re not serving your table, and after one or two visits they know you by name.
