Blogs from Caribbean Coast, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 2

The thirteenth of August was a relaxed day in Antigua. We had a marvelous condo to use, and were able to catch up on writing and planning. We visited the Museum of Santa Domingo which is an effective public-private partnership of a significant ruin and modern boutique hotel. The Capuchinos is an old partially reconstructed convent with quaint little retreat rooms radiating out from a central courtyard. The main cathedral of Antigua, La Merced, was a spectacular example of Central American baroque in yellow and white. We headed out to the Casa de Ron for drinks and a light meal. Enjoyed gain the wonders of Zacapa: the local rum. Slow walking around town. Quite cold with persistent drizzle. Left Antigua the next day at about 0800. Went to the Mayan Music Museum and the Coffee Museum ... read more

We left Lanquin and headed for Rio Dulce, I think it was the worst road we have travelled on all year. We travelled for six hours in total, and more than five hours on an unsealed, bumpy road, but at least we didn't have any roadblocks. Our driver called ahead to hold the local boat heading to Livingston, the boat was due to leave at two, we arrived about quarter past two but didn't finally leave until just before three. We were staying at the Round House on the river about an hour from Rio Dulce and twenty minutes from Livingston. Each night they have a family style dinner, on our first night we were unable to sit around the table as there was an invasion of army ants. We watched all the bugs and insects ... 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

I woke up early; but amazingly fell back asleep until almost 7 - which for me is no feat short of a miracle:-) Quick shower - I was packing up when I heard a rather shocking loud yelp from the bathroom and was torn between worrying and giggling! Turns out the hot water disappears very quickly (read: off instantly) and Larry got a very, very cold blast of water. Oops. So he warned me and I got in, rinsed myself down, turned the water off, soaped up, turned water back on, rinse, repeat! Kind of quirkiy doing it that way, but wasn’t the first, and won’t be my last for dealing with emotional showers. Ice cold blasts, even in the jungle are never fun! After breakfast we started our boat ride along the Rio Dulce in ... read more

We're now in sleepy Livingstone, home to the Garifuna commmunity, the only Black-Caribbean inhabitants of Guatemala. They qre descendents of runaway slaves who mixed with indigenous peoples in the Caribbean. In the eighteenth century they were then forcibly moved to Roatan, off Honduras, by the British, before fanning out over the next two hundred years to the coasts of Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. Complicated. Livingstone is pretty chilled and perhaps a little shabby but I do rather like it, it's at the mouth of a large river, only accesible by boat and you can watch pelicans hunting from the hammocks in our little hostel's garden. We have just come from an island just next to Roatan, Utila, home to more Garifuna but also a more recent colonist- lunatics. To put it in context, Utila is a ... read more