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Published: July 19th 2008
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With a border crossing and several changes between buses collectivos, taxis and boats all went to plan and we arrived in Livingston. We just needed to massage our backs after travelling in a 10 seater dinghy on one of the bumpiest boats rides we have had!
The backpackers we had chosen was Casa de la Iguana and this was run by the polar opposite of our last backpackers. Rusty was an English guy who was so layed back he needed a hammock to support him. He was solely interested in showing people a good time and it was obvious to see how you could get stuck here.
The backpackers was a series of small wooden huts on stilts and our room had a hammock swung inside. The backpackers also had the cutest baby raccoon that Leanne fell in love with. He had his own little hammock that he slept in and when he didn´t want to sleep he called out wanting to get out and play (no guessing who was always the first there!). We met some very cool people that night including one American guy Reece who was on a 3 year cycling trip around the world. Very
inspiring!! Hopefully we see him again one day when his bike hits Sydney.
We only planned to stay in Livingston for 1 night but after a great night up with everyone from the hostel (ending in a late night drinking games), we decided there was more than one days fun here and we booked our "Jungle Trek" for the next morning along with a big group of others we had met.
The Jungle Trek was a very amusing day. The spin doctor had done well on selling this trip. We had been told we would be walking on a tour of the sights of Livingston, followed by a visit to see first hand the local communities. Then it was a trek through the jungle where we would canoe down the river to the ocean for lunch and then walk to some beautiful river pools and waterfalls that are a UNESCO world heritage site. Sounds amazing doesn´t it??? But if you really want to see a polished turd, book on this baby!
First of all the 12 of us wondered around the village looking for our guide who we eventually found. Fitting with Livingston he was a very
Shopping
Leanne always knows exactly what she wants... chilled out and personable guy. We were starting to get into the Caribbean broken English. Frances had the typical Caribbean look, with the dark skin, braided hair, golden teeth and always smiling.
With no roads into Livingston, it is a bit of a one street town, so the village tour included firstly, a walk past 2 schools which could have been warehouses. Next was a visit to the church. This struggled to compete with our European experiences and a little scary having a dozen oddly proportioned plastic dolls looking down on you from the window sills on the surrounding walls. Finally it was a trip to the colourful grave yard where he told us about how the locals celebrate a day for the dead and everyone comes down with food and drinks. They paint the graves and listen to stories of their families that are dead and buried (kind of a nice way to look at a cemetery as a celebration of life rather than a sad place). From here we sloshed through the mud, overgrown paths and a lot of rubbish which happened to be peoples back yards. We saw plenty of featherless chickens, yapping dogs, the odd
goat and people trying to sell us drinks. We walked past houses surrounded in barbed and razor wire fences. Not really what any of us were expecting from a community tour.
The jungle was equally as disappointing as we walked down past some plantations and burnt tree stumps sloshing in a fair amount of mud. The jokes were flying and everyone couldn´t wait to hit the canoes but we need not have got too excited. We arrived to a small creek and realised all of us were about to paddle though the mangroves in one small dug out canoe. We were squashed in like sardines in single file down the canoe and as we set off, some people found it quite amusing that the water was inches from the top of the canoe. With 12 people trying to balance it was a capsize waiting to happen. Everyone concentrated on their balance as we took a 20 min ride through the mangroves towards the ocean and after a while we noticed the boat was leaking and everyone was sitting in an inch of water that was growing by the minute! Although it seems funny and to tell the truth at
the time it was, we were starting to get more than a little concerned that both our cameras were also in the canoe and very hydrophobic. However we finally made it to the safety of shore and after feeding a chained up monkey which no one was impressed with, we walked down a beach covered in plastic. Lunch was average and there was almost a revolt on our guides hands when we were told our tour didn´t include entry to the waterfalls (the main point of the whole day) or the ride home (what kind of trip finishes in the evening in the middle of nowhere!). So covered in mud and a little upset we all headed to the waterfall which was definitely the saviour of the day. It was more than we expected. You leave the beach and head up stream into the jungle walking through fresh clear water that has formed a series of beautiful rock pools and waterfalls. So after a lovely refreshing swim and several bombs from the waterfall we headed back stacked 2 deep in a couple of taxis.
The main attraction of Livingston, besides the laid back atmosphere is the river trip between
Great to see local Dwellings
Livingston is beautiful, why we went here is a mystery here and Rio Dulce. This is a river that winds through a jungle covered canyon and into a huge lake. Originally our plan was to head from Livingston directly to Belize but we found there were only 2 boats for the week with one leaving today. We opted not to miss the Rio Dulce trip and aleterd our plans. Now we head to Belize by land via Flores, a place we had already said goodbye to.
Of all days to choose to do this trip we picked a beauty!
During the night we listened to the loudest thunder storm that Matt had ever heard and up there for Leanne. Expecting this to be over by the morning we were a little disappointed to find we were wrong. So the scenic trip up the Rio Dulce, which incorporated a thermal spring stop, ended up being a high speed dash through pouring rain hiding behind blue plastic sheets and squinting hard trying to see the picturesque views. A trip that will be more enjoyable to reminisce on.
Its nice to be back in familiar territory. We are only in Flores for the night with a 5am shuttle booked that
should see us connect to a boat to Belize Cayes by 10am tomorrow.
Caribbean white sand and sunshine we eagerly await..............
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