Livingston

After Sean headed back to the states, I used the rest of my week I off from school to check out Livingston on the east coast of Guatemala.

I was pretty nervous about travelling solo, but it went well. Once again, anytime there was a problem Guatemalans were super nice and helpful. I caught the 4 a.m bus from Xela to Guatemala City, then took a taxi to another bus station to catch the bus to Puerto Barrios on the coast.

I got to the station just in time to catch a bus that was leaving if I hustled. However, as I was running out of the station to get on the bus, I managed to step just right on a sewer grate that was missing a metal bar and my right leg went all the way through. I wasn´t sure what was happening, but suddenly I was much shorter than everyone else and two army guys with machine guns slung across their shoulders were pulling me up by the armpits. I was totally fine, but really embarrased. I missed the bus, but only had to wait an hour for the next one.

On the bus, the girl next to me told me where to get off the bus early so I could walk to the dock to catch the last boat of the day to Livingston. If she hadn´t helped me out, I would have had to spend the night in Puerto Barrios which was way less beautiful and interesting than Livingston.

Livinston is a fascinating town with a mix of Garifuna, Mayan, and Ladino cultures - not to mention beaches and great hikes. I checked into a super cheap (you get what you pay for) hostel and met up with my friends from language school, Amy and Mandy. For dinner, I tried tapado which is a seafood stew made with coconut and plantain. It was really delicous, but it did have a lot of things looking at me - fish heads, shrimp with heads, and a whole baby crab with eyes!

The next day we took a tour of Livinston with a guide named Eddie. We walked through his local Garifuna neighborhood to a point where we had a view of both Belize and Honduras. He picked some fresh sugarcane for us which was so yummy. We then continued hiking to a river where we climbed into a canoe and rode along for a half hour. We got out near a great beach where we swam, had lunch, and fed bananas to a poor pet monkey on a leash tied to a tree.
After lunch, we followed the beach to a place called Seven Altars which is a series of fresh water pools formed by a waterfall. The first and the last pools are the best for swimming, but when we got to the first one Eddie got really quiet and told us to be still. On the rocks, was a beautiful bright green snake. It had to be at least eight feet long and was slowing moving along the rocks to the other side of the pool. I have no idea what kind of snake it was, but Eddie said it could kill with one bite so we all agreed to skip swimming in the first pool and move along. The hike up to the top pool was totally worth it. The water was cool and fresh which was awesome after a long hike (Livingston is super hot and muggy) and swimming in really warm salt water at the beach. There was also a good rock to jump off (much lower than in San Marcos) which made the place perfect. We hiked a little ways back along the beaches, then took a taxi back to town. It was a fantastic day!

The next day we took a boat from Livingston to the the town of Rio Dulce. Along the way we stopped to check out the limestone cliffs, fields of lilly pads, hot springs, and a cave. It was really cool and so different from the boat trip into Livingston which was in the ocean along the coast. It blows my mind how a tiny country like Guatemala can be so different in each part. In Rio Dulce, we caught a bus back to Guatemala City to stay for the night. The next morning I headed back to Xela, and Amy and Mandy headed on to other parts of Guatemala.