The only way to get to Livingstone is by boat down the Rio Dulce river. From Flores we got a bust tp Rio Dulce, where we got a lancha to take us down river to the fairly small village of Livingstone, on the small section of Carribean coast which is one of Guatemala´s borders.
Luckily for us, the boat ride ust haapened to be one of the best trips we have done so far. The river is wide, dotted with islands and fishermen in dugout canoes, the forest cmes right to the shore, quiant huts and jettys are clustered together along the shore, and n laces the white limestone cliffs rise majestically from the waters edge, a large blank canvas for the amazing picture that is the Rio Dulce.
All of this we saw with our hair flapping in our face and the wind rushing past our cheeks leaving a faint pins and needles feeling behind as the shore flashed past. Except of course each time to captain made a beeline for the fishemen in their canoes to check out what they had caught. Sadly for him and them, they had not caught much!
After 45 mins on the river, we pulled up to the Livingstone dock, loaded our packs and set off to find some accomodation. "Welcome to Africe" was the first greeting we received, and it really did feel like Africa. The town is populated by latin American people and the Garifuna - descendents of the slaves. Livingstone has a frontier town feel to it, and we could easily imagine pirate ships stalking the waters nearby. We met some people who said that they didn´t like the slightly rough vibe, but we loved LIvingstone immediately.
Pete began a seafod odessy which started with "the best fish that I´ve ever eaten", we caught a boat along the Carribean shore and walked to the 7 altars - a series of freshwater falls and pools running through the jungle, we lazed in a hammock strung up between two cocunt palms, we splashed in the carribean and we fell asleep to the sounds of local Garifuna music complete with awesome bongo rythms and an unusual singer.
We only spent 2 days in livingstone - due in part to the Lonely Planets rather curt and worrisome entry. In fact we almost didn´t go! But I am glad that we did, and 2 days was enough for us, especially as ther eis not much to do, and the beach is 12km up the coast and only accessible by boat.
It was such a contrast tpo the rest of Gautemala, a real mixture of Garfiuna and Guatemalan culture, and an experience that I am glad we didn´t miss.
It was such a
