Back to Guatemala
Trip Start
Mar 07, 2009
1
60
69
Trip End
Apr 08, 2010
Where I stayed
Livingston, Guatemala
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Up early at 0530 for a long shift today, intended to catch th local bus just outside the hostel at 0630 but by 0700 it had still not arrived but by then a minivan taxi had arrived to take an American guy and his daughter to San Pedro Sula airport. Not sure how much they were paying, probably quite a lot, but the guy offered us a deal to join them which turned out cheaper than taking local buses, saved us 1 leg of the trip, and also saved us at least 2 hrs, making our hopes of reaching Livingston, Guatemala in just one day a real possibility.
It took about 2,5 hrs to get to San Pedro Sula and the driver literally hailed us a cab on the highway at 70km an hour to take us into the bus station, which worked out good as we were able to give the dude the agreed funds and disappear before the other 2 realized they were still paying the same fee they had agreed for a private cab! The new cabbie was pretty good as well, the first one had already negotiated us a good price nd this one already seemed to know where we were heading before we did and when we got there he even made sure we were put on the right bus. All our connections seemed to be working out almost too well, every time we landed the next taxi or bus was waiting, engine running. Of course this did mean that both Ang & I were starving having not had breakfast, and more importantly, I was gasping to go to the toilet but there simply was not enough time so I had to grin and bare it. So this bus took us to Puerto Cortes where there was another bus waiting to take us to the border, literally a minute later. By this point I was bursting at the seams but luckily about 30m later the bus stopped for fuel so I legged it to the loo rapido. Arrived at the border control about 1400 and it was swift and easy, Ang even managed to blag some Honduran souvenir stamps for our passports as the Central American countries of Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and possibly Guatemala have an agreement much like the EU I guess allowing free passage through, though its not actually free as they screw all gringoīs but we get no stamps.
Jumped in a minibus in Guatemala and they said we could pay the collectivo price and wait for passengers, then it would take ages to get there, which was probably a lie, or we could pay 20 dollars to go direct in 1 hour and catch the last boat which we did as we had been on buses all day and not actually spent that much money so figured we could indulge ourselves. Arrived in Puerto Barrios about 1530 where the taxi driver cheekily asked for a tip, his request was duly denied, where we jumped into a boat after a short wait for the 45 minute ride to Livingston. The views of the town from the boat were fantastic, really chilled looking port town with small and quirky boats all over the shop. Got greeted on arrival by a couple of local ragamuffins who claimed to be town employed tour guides but were really part of the local contingent of jobless who extort money from hotels by offering to bring tourists to certain hotels for a commission, and of course once someone agrees to pay, everyone has to so they get commission for taking you wherever. Unfortunately this reduces our negotiating power so we had a bit of a row with them before ending up in a crap hole because we couldnīt be dealing with them again. They didnīt even have windows in the door frame so anyone could stick their hands in and go nuts so we had to be extra vigilant in locking up our stuff, fortunately we had planned to stay only one night so it wasnīt too much of an issue.
After washing and chilling for a bit after a seriously long day we went out to a local restaurant to sample the local specialty seafood soup called Tapado. It was pretty rank, consisting of a coconut soup full of unpeeled shrimps, a whole crab, clams, boney fish fillet and what seemed to be a load of sea snails which you had to literally suck out of their shells. I did the honorable thing and more or less finished my plate but I would live to regret that for the next 2 to 3 days for various reasons, starting pretty much immediately!
20th Feb 2010:
After breakfast we packed up and jumped on a 0930 boat to embark on a Riverboat Cruise to Rio Dulce, however by this point we had seen a flyer for a riverside jungle retreat called Finca Tatin which was about half way along so we were to be dropped off their instead. The 1hr boat ride cos it was awesome, through a beautiful tree covered gorge with thousands of Pelicans all ducking and diving alongside the boat, this trip had been recommended and was definitely worth all the agro to get here. We arrived at Finca and it was an amazing place, a remote series of timber cabins around a restaurant right on th river but literally surrounded by jungle and only accessible by boat. We were pleased to see at least a dozen hammocks, ping pong, table football and tons of other games as well as an awesome rope swing into the river. There was also a load of Kayaks for use though we didnīt get around to that as I needed to be within 100 yards of a toilet at all times after my seafood treat last night. Spent 2 days swinging in hammocks and frolicking in and around the river in the glorious sunshine and it seemed quiet during the day but at tea time about 25 people came out of the woodwork for the set meals on both nights. Met loads of cool people here, 1 Irish girl but otherwise all Israelis or Europeans curiously, before setting off the next morning for the next leg of our trip, back to Antigua, this time in a different capacity than before, as in not on the beers every night, just every other night :)
Comments
well just managed to catch up on the latest installments of blogs lol i see the drinking and late nights have started to dwindle a bit ,but now see the food playing its part with your insides lol glad to see ur back with ang now and hope you enjoy the rest of your journey together see you both soon love mark col and family xx