Starting the Guatemalan adventure

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Our trip from Placencia to Livingston was quite an eventful one with the boat and bus combination to get there. We left early in the morning from Placencia and got on the 7:45 boat. The first trip was only 15minutes on a tiny boat from the Placencia peninsula to Independence...it was a nice trip with loads of sea grass either side making a channel for the boat. On arrival to Independence we waited for our bus to Punta Gorda or PG as the locals call it. When it did arrive we were surprised by the standard of the bus....although still not amazing this one had air conditioning and proper seats that had a bit of padding (definitely luxury compared to the others). An hour and a half later we were at Punta Gorda to get another boat but this time into Guatemala. We had to get our tickets from a ticket office (shed) and then head to the immigration which is also the port for departure, the immigration is caged off all around so you need a security person to let you in. We got into the ‘terminal’ took around 2 steps and were at the desk...got our stamp out of Belize, took another couple of steps and we were outside the building by a bench where you wait for the boat. I must admit although after seeing other boats and the type of buses I still had it in my head that the boat from Belize to Guatemala might be a decent size and get us there reasonably quick.....how wrong could I have been! The boat arrived and it wasn’t much bigger than the one used for the 15min journey from Placencia....one by one people got in the boat and after being told we would leave around 1pm it was a good half hour before we finally did leave with the boat crammed full with people. The people on the back seats were given covers before we left and all of us had ourselves a lifejacket. We set off and immediately everyone was getting splashed so we knew it would be an interesting journey....around 15 mins in the engine made a strange sound then cut out with the front of the boat taking a bit of a dive, we drifted for a minute or so and the driver tried to start the engine again...he eventually did but within a few minutes it had gone again. We weren’t too sure what the problem was as he was restarting it and it would start straight away, that was until the 4th time it cut out and we were stranded out to sea for around 15mins and the guy had to make a call to someone for either help on how to fix it or for someone to pick us up, we thought we would be waiting a while longer but then the engine managed to start again and we eventually made it to land without having to get out and swim!

We arrived in a little place called Livingston which is where the majority of people arrive at from Belize. It was quite strange because once we had got off the boat with our bags we had to walk up a steep hill for a few minutes to get to the immigration office, we then got our stamp and made our way to the hostel where the German girls were staying called Casa La Laguna. It was a really nice hostel set in the jungle a bit with a pet pig which we later found out would be used for bacon which kick started a plan for everyone to try and save him (‘Sausage’ was his name)! After having a catch up we found out Livingston didn’t have too much for us to do so we decided to all take the jungle boat through the Rio Dulce river then catch a bus upto to Flores. We were up early after an eventful night with screeching cats, numerous bird noises and also Sausage joining in too, we then got our stuff together for our next boat trip ahead. We were told the boat would leave at 9am but after getting into the little speed boat and waiting a good half hour we still hadn’t moved....there seemed to be a bit of conflict between the 2 guys working for the company. Corinna and Mima tried finding out the problem by using their Spanish...we found out some info but still couldn’t work out why we couldn’t leave....we then did leave but only to get some petrol then we returned to the dock to wait apparently for some more people. After a big hoo-haa we set off on our journey down the river. There was some really nice scenery with massive cliff faces filled with trees and birds flying around. We made 1 stop along the way and there was a pool of water that was scolding hot on the surface but when you put your feet in the water is fresh underneath so it’s a weird sensation, apparently its due to the heat from a volcano for the surface and it then mixes with the fresh water to create the difference in temperature. We then had some boat problems which weren’t alien for us the past few days....we originally changed boat because we were told the other one would be quicker but within 10mins the ‘quicker’ one stopped working...it would get going again for a minute or so at a slow pace then stop again...it must of happened over 10 times then we eventually got to Rio Dulce town. It was then that we realised that we had actually paid for a tour through the hostel along the river not just a direct boat so there was a bit of an argument about that with the driver but wehad to just accept it and make our way to the bus station to get to Flores. We then got our bus which took 3 hours as we had Jenson Button driving the bus and overtaking every moving vehicle.

We discovered on arrival that the best hostel in Flores was full for the night so we stayed at a nearby hostel which was a friendly, interesting place and really cheap although the sleeping conditions for most people weren’t ideal with Karl having a thin mattress on the floor, but I got lucky with a comfy bed which seemed to be the only one that was ok in the hostel. In the day we took a walk and had a swim in the lake along with some sun bathing on the dock. Flores is on a peninsula so it is surrounded by a lake with lovely views and is connected to the main land by a bridge, little tuk-tuks are the taxi’s driving around and it’s only a short walk all around the peninsula. The following day there was room at the best hostel which is Los Amigos so we checked in and decided what our next course of action would be. The girls were going to be visiting Tikal the next day because Flores it the main launch pad for it and were considering staying a few days after as they like the feel of the place. With us already seeing Tikal and also struggling to fill the days in Flores we thought it might be best to get moving south so we can see everything we want before the Spanish classes start. We chose to book our bus for the next day to Lanquin which we found out would be 8hours in a minibus...exciting! So we said our goodbyes once again to the German’s with a few drinks in the hostel then had an early one with us getting up to leave at 9am and the girls getting up at 4am to make it to Tikal. We may see them again in San Pedro before they leave but if we don’t it’s been a great month or so travelling with them...loads of laughs and memories!

Next update will be from the Guatemalan Jungle...

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