Book excerpt: South America's often overlooked English-speaking country lies far off the well-trodden tourist path. Guyana is the ideal destination for the discerning visitor seeking adventure. Within its vast interior, the Guiana Shield (one of the four pristine tropical rainforests left in the world) converges with the Amazon Basin, creating a unique geography composed of coastal waters, mangroves, marshes, savannas, mountains and tropical rainforests.Bordered by Venezuela, Brazil, Suriname and the Atlantic Ocean, the lively locals - a melting pot of East Indian and African descendants, peppered with Chinese, Europeans and Amerindians - create a culture decidedly more Caribbean than Latin.