Livingston
Trip Start
May 31, 2007
1
22
25
Trip End
Ongoing
Livingston, Guatemala
Saturday, July 28, 2007
At the mouth of the Río Dulce (Sweet River), and only accessible by boat, LÍVINGSTON not only enjoys a superb setting but also offers a unique fusion of Guatemalan and Caribbean culture in which marimba mixes with Marley. Along with several other villages in Central America, Lívingston provides the focus for the displaced Garífuna, or black Carib people, who are now strung out along the Caribbean coast between southern Belize and northern Nicaragua.
Lívingston is a small place, and you can see most of what there is to see in an hour or so.
I stay in one of only a few hostels in Livingston called Casa de la Iguana owner by an English lad callled Rusty who has 3 crazy employees called Ruari (from Co Cork), Ruth and Alli (both from Scotland).
This place is nuts. I arrive at 2pm and Ruari hands me a beer. This is to continue for 4 days. The day starts off with communial breakfast family style. this is the time when you recap on the crazyness that happened the night before and to nurse a hangover.
During the days i go to a wonderful white-sand Playa Blanca, go to see Las Siete Altares, a group of waterfalls some 5km to the northwest which i swam in and jumped off rocks into. the other days i just rambled around the town and recuperated after the heavy drinking nights.
I also go see the local Garifuna guys play music in a local bar only to found out that they will only play if everyone chips in to buy them some marijuana. We do as they ask and then they play for 10 - 15 mins. its a good night though as i meet Lasse and Jesper (from Denmark) again.
Most nights began with the family style dinner where everyone sits down together and enjoys some great meals. directly after dinner is drinking and 20 mins after that we are playing drinking games. 1 hr later everyone is hammered and playing naked poker.
this happens everynight and after 4 crazy nights there i had to leave for Tikal in north eastern Guatemala.
