Blogs from Livingston, Caribbean Coast, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 3

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right now we're on the carribean coast of guatemala, but i suppose this entry needs to start in mexico.... we went to mexico only so that we could stay in guatemala longer. first couple of days there were unremarkable, just lazing about san cristobal, catching our breath, wasting our pesos (mexico is very expensive compared to central america, even though the value of the peso plummeted since the last time we were there). day three we moved up to the jungle near palenque (big maya site). the ruins themselves are very impressive. palenque is one of the most excavated and restored of all the sites, a fact that makes it feel a little less ruiny...the buildings are all sparkling white, perfectly smooth, and so forth. still quite cool. another interesting thing about palenque is that it ... read more
aguas azules
best swimming hole ever
rope swing


Livingston, petit village garifuna situé sur la côte caraïbéenne, est inatteignable par voie terrestre. Ce dernier détail, nous offre donc la possibilité d'apprécier la nature abondante tout en naviguant, à bord d'une lancha*, sur le rio Dulce qui se déverse dans la mer des caraïbes juste au pied de Livingston. Qui sont les garifunas? Les garifunas ou les noirs caraïbéens sont des descendants africains, vendus à titre d'esclave au nouveau monde, au alentour du 18ième siècle. Par la suite, ils ont été deporté par les britanniques sur une île hondurienne, suite à une dure révolte de leur part en 1795. Au cours des années qui suivirent cette page d'histoire, ils se sont établis, tout au long de la côte, du Belize au Nicaragua. Plusieurs se marrièrent avec les indigènes, dont les mayas, formant ainsi une nouvelle ... read more
Livingston, Guatemala
Livingston, Guatemala
Livingston, Guatemala


Tja hier in Rio Dulce, hat es wen wundert es geregnet, aber immer hin einen Tag hatten wir ohne regen, hat zwar die Sonne nicht geschiehnen, aber man ist schon mit keinem Regen zufrieden gewesen. Das hat uns so deprimiert das wir gedacht haben, lass uns ans Meer gehen, besser gesagt auf in die Karibik, und dann sind wir eine wunderschoene Wasserstrasse von Rio Dulce auf dem Rio Dulce nach Livingston gefahren (schaut es euch auf google Maps mal an, war wunderschoen!! In Livingston der guatemalesischen Stadt an der karibik Kueste, war es schoen, waren bei den sieben Altaren im DSchungel, einach traumhaft nur der Weg dahin immer am Strand entlang koennte so traumhaft sein, wenn sich irgend jemand um diesen Weg kuemmern wuerde, aber warum, ist doch nicht ihr problem. Hier am haesslichsten Strand den ... read more
Hostal in Rio Dulce
Hostal in Rio Dulce
Sieben Altare in Livingston


Livingston, Guatemala This was a place that you would never believe is Guatemala. The people here are so diverse and different. It’s a mix of indigenous and African people, and it’s at a really beautiful location on the Caribbean side of the country. The city is a melting pot of Maya, Garifuna, and Mestizo people. Garifuna are originally from St. Vincent and the Grenadines and they ended up shipwreck on the coast of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize. Why they left the Caribbean Islands? Maybe to flee from the Spanish during the Conquest, I don’t really know though. One of my favorite memories there was swimming to a small piece of land where a statue of an Englishman is located. I believe his name was Henry Stokes (and he was referred to the Savior of the ... read more


The following passage outlines how we got from Guatemala to Honduras: Having spent a great few days in Semuc Champey we hopped on a bus to a little town called El Rancho. From here we went on to a little junction town called La Ruidosa. We were immediately met by an American guy who arrived at the junction 4 months prior and hadn't left since. He also hadn't spoken any English since he got there so he took full advantage of the opportunity we presented and proceeded to chew the ears off us until we got our next bus. Incidentally he was remarkebly tall and had hands like shovels After he saw us safely onto the bus and waved us off, like a nervous father watching his children leave home for the first time, we headed ... read more
Above the clouds
The gang's all here!
Houses on the river


V sest hodin rano nasedame do busu privado jehoz velkou vyhou, narozdil od kolektiva, jak mi mafian vysvetlil je, ze nam ridic na pozadani zapne klimatizaci. Je ovsem ponekud chladneji, coz je na Petenskou nizinu relativne prekvapive, takze dnes klimatizaci zas tak moc nepotrebujeme. Jedou s nami dva veseli panove, ktere ceka dest hodin s nami dolu a nasledne cca 6-8 hodin zpet nahoru do Flores. Proto relativne slapou na plyn, ale neda se nic delat, na ceste musime stavet na genialni snidani na jihu Petenu a nasledne v Rio Dulce, kde nas ceka vyjizdka na lodi do jednoho z Guatemalskych karibskych mest - Livingstonu. V Rio Dulce na nas chlapci z lodek vybaluji astronomicke ceny, ale presto nasedame a nechavame se vest nejdrive k pevnosti, ktera oddeluje obrovskou vodni nadrz od reky Rio Dulce, ktera ... read more
Vede nas buh, tak uvidime, kam doplujeme.
Ricni ubykace.
El Castillo - Rio Dulce


On the Rio dulce, 21 febrero 1990. The landscape along the Rio Dulce is indeed magnificent. Mangrove swamps that harbour many birds, we see Belted Kingfishers diving off brances into the murky brown water, reappaering with small fish in their beaks. We've just left Livingston and the river is entering a steep and deep walled gorge, the humid air is thick with the smell of bromelians and noicy with the sounds of tropical birds, we see green parrots watching us glide by in our cayuto, their beady and inteligent eyes observing us with keen interest from their vantage points high in the jungle trees. We pass a hot spring that forces sulphurous water out of a cliff and decide this a great place for a swim and eating the lunch that Abuelita has made for us. ... read more


Livingston, nighttime. The old wooden table is covered with plates, the remnants of the moots of fish Abuelita has cooked for us is all that is left from a really GREAT meal. Since Abuelita cooked for free only charging us a small fee for our room, me and James agreed to buy a bunch of 1 litro botellas de El Gallo from a nearby shop. We're in the charming company of several young local village ladies, apart from Maria and her two nieces, Veronica and Amber, there is Pearl whose curly afro hair stands out like an untamable bush around her head and her 1 year younger sister Jackeline who is the shy one of the whole bunch. We've serious intentions to take these young ladies to a bar where they wanna introduce us to an ... read more


On the ferry, 20 febrero 1990. It is 10.30 in the morning and I watch with interest how this old wooden ferry is filling up with passengers. Mostly black people, the men in suits and bowler hats, the women in colorful dresses that remind me of my trips to africa. Black people have something with colors. The admosphere is merry and the people already aboard chat happily in a mix of sing-song belizian english and guatamalteca spanish, I can hear the ocassional conversation in, what I presume must be Caribe. The dock workers are busy loading enormous packs aboard carrying them on naked sweaty backs that are black like coal. Drops of swaet rolling down these dark brown bodies glimmering in the hot morning sun like pearls. I'm really captivated with all the sights and sounds ... read more


Livingston, same day. It took just about one hour and 30 min. to Livingston and here at the ferry dock it is a busy but gay affair, people getting off and greeting waiting relatives and friends, goods being unloaded and other people waiting patiently to board the ferry for the return trip to Puerto Barrios. Naerly everybody here is pitch black - the Black Carib or Garifuna as they call themselves - so we, the two "rednecks" stand out in this crowd, people approach us asking we need accommodation but Maria tells them off and taking my arm possessively - I remember that habit from Puerto Barrios - drags me through the crowd with poor James in tow carrying the two suitcases and the Abuelita waggling along on her short fat legs telling James repeatedly to ... read more




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