Garifuna Fever

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Well after our whilstle stop tour of Tikal, we spent one more night at Tortugal....although this time not in as much comfort! We arrived in Rio Dulce and called the manager of the hotel to fetch us in the boat. When he arrived we were told that there was no room at the inn for us! John the manager felt bad for us and put us up in the half finished hotel extention at the very back of the property! Kind of him and after the hard ground of camping in Tikal...it was easy to accept a mattress!

The next morning, the lancha picked us up at 9.30am from the hotel for our pleasant sight seeing trip down the Rio Dulce to the mouth of the river to the port of Livingston. The trip down was lovely. Lots of birds,jungle, high canyons and estuaries snaking off the main river.

We met a great Candanian couple on the lancha (Gab and James) and decided that the four of us would be better off staying a night in Livingston rather than attempting the journey (two ferries and 5 buses later) to Honduras and the Bay Islands.
Livingston at first glance was really not much, and to be honest we were reluctant to even stay for one night! Never the less we had a great night there. As in all places...the nighttime glow had a favourable effect on the drab look of the town in the daylight. The garifuna bands came out the woodwork to show off their musical talents and the mojitos went down a treat!
The garifuna people are the black caribbean Spanish-speaking locals, that were a really drastic but refreshing change from the Mayan people we had been introduced to over the previous few weeks. Having not have made it as far as Belize, Livingston's vibe was our first exposure to that Caribbean atmosphere.

It was an early start the next morning (5am ferry ride) for the long journey to the Bay Islands. It took us a solid 13 hours of travelling (and that was with great connections and very little sitting around) to reach Roatan, the larger and more popular of the three Bay Islands. YIPEEE!! Bring on sunshine, sea, scuba diving and cocktails!

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Photos

Chicken Bus
One of many

Comments

[Aida&Simon]

Enjoy the sun and scuba...so jealouse! The experience sounds amazing.