Blogs from Livingston, Caribbean Coast, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean

On Friday morning, I woke up in my little jungle bungalow and had to pack and prepare for our day on the lake and then visiting the small Caribbean town of Livingston. After breakfast, we all piled into a little speedboat and set out for a lovely day on Lake Izabal. Cruising through mangroves and passing by colorful lake front beach shacks, it felt like paradise but also, as though I had left Guatemala and been transported to Jamaica. We arrived in Livingston, a sleepy little town with a super relaxed vibe and a really interesting history. It's located in Eastern Guatemala and sits at the mouth of the Rio Dulce at the Gulf of Honduras. It's well-known for its unusual mix of Garifuna, Afro-Caribbean. Maya and Ladino (mestizo) people and culture and several languages are ... read more

This is how we crossed the border at Corinto from Honduras to Guatemala and travelled to Livingston. 1. We left Roli's Place in Omoa at 8:05 and walked the 15mins back to the main highway to catch the bus coming from Puerto Cortes to the Guatemalan border at Corinto. The bus stop is signed and just to the right of the road out of town. 2. A bus to Corinto arrived at 8:25am. It cost L45 and arrived at the border at 9:35am. The bus drops you off by some restaurants. Walk over the bridge and through a passport check to a big building on the left for an exit stamp. There was no charge and no questions were asked. They took the yellow copy of your immigration form which was stapled into our passports when ... read more

Am drifting down the sweet Rio Dulce towards Livingston on the Carribbean on board a 43ft catamaran having spent the night experiencing coffin like conditions in my (thankfully) double berth in one of the keels! But I put this behind me. Its 6am only the crew and I are up and I am treated to daybreak with the local fishermen casting their nets around me from their tiny dugouts. The sun is rising and the jungle is awakening with bird calls. As the river narrows into the canyon before the port of Livingston, cranes and herons eyeball me from their overhanging roosts and black pelicans treat me to a fly past. Wow! Right now I wouldn’t be anywhere else, maybe I’m a Carribbean kind of woman. In Livingston the rasta locks of young travelling companion attracted ... read more

After a (blissfully) uneventful journey from Peru, I arrived in Guatemala city on saturday evening. Once Imy had arrived from London, we got our transfer straight out of GC (murder capital of guatemala anyone??) to Antigua. Antigua (not to be confused with its caribbean beachside counterpart) is a beautiful colonial town in the south of the country. Waking up to a breakfast of eggs, plantain and refried beans (the latter of which would be a common theme over the next few weeks), we enbarked on what can only be described as the ultimate exercise in time management, namely how to see as many sights as possible in Guatemala in 10 days. We headed straigt out for lonely planet guided tour of the town (not aided by the lonely planet kindle font size which seems to have ... read more

Ploetzlich geht es mir schlecht. Ich fuehle mich schwach, ausgelaugt und muede und muss mich am fruehen Nachmittag ins Bett legen. Dieses Bett befindet sich in Rio Dulce, genauer gesagt im ersten Stock des Hostels „Casa Guatemala“. Noch genauer gesagt am Fluss unter einer gewaltigen Brücke. Es geht los: extrem starker Durchfall mit Blut; Fieber; Kopfweg – ich fühle mich Scheisse. Dazu Baustellenlaerm aus dem Zimmer direkt über uns, alles ist aus Holz und das Saegen und Haemmern kommt mir vor, als wuerde es in unserem Bett passieren. Dazu mischt sich dauerndes Hundegebell und der Schwerverkehr, welcher direkt ueber unsere Unterkunft rollt (das Hostel befindet sich wirklich direkt unter der Bruecke). Ich denke bereits, Malaria oder Dengue-Fieber hat mich erwischt und male mir in Gedanken Schreckens-Szenarien aus. Der Doktor am Ende der Straße ist nicht da ... read more