It would have been all too easy to lounge around in San Pedro La Laguna for another day but fortunately we’d already bought our shuttle tickets. There was no way we were going to waste Q180 a head so we were up, packed and at the tour office in plenty of time. By 8am the various buses and vans had been loaded and we were on our way to Guatemala City where we’d have to change. Silly us thought it would be shuttle all the way but in fact we were transferred onto a bus. As you know we’re big fans of local transport but we felt we’d paid over the odds for a service we only half received. Plus the coach was the dirtiest, oldest and cronkiest we’d seen in years.
We finally reached Rio Dulce 12hrs after setting off, it was dark when we reached town and our Lonely Planet didn’t give us a map of the area. Luckily it’s not a very big place so it didn’t take long to find somewhere to stay – Hotel Rio Dulce at Q120 was a good deal. Town turned out to consist of one chaotic street; lined with shops, jammed with people and traffic and huge delivery trucks trying to force their way through. Our hotel was located next to an unnecessarily large bridge crossing the Rio Dulce which trucks noisily lumbered over from 4am. We had planned on just doing the day trip along the river to Livingston and back but decided to spend the night there in the hope it would be nicer and quieter.
Before dashing off we walked to the one tourist attraction Rio Dulce has to offer – El Castillo de San Felipe. It was built as a defence post several hundreds of years ago but of course has burnt down, been rebuilt, gone into rack and ruin and was finally reconstructed in 1956. It’s only small but is set in lovely grounds and only cost Q20 to enter. Plus the walk along the road to get to it was pleasant and surprisingly empty of traffic considering how manic town is. The weather took a turn for the worse as we were walking back to town but luckily it was just a short, sharp shower unfortunately, this weather pattern continued.
We grabbed a tasty noodle dish before going down to the jetty in time for the 1.30pm launch. Well, it should have gone at that time but they decided to wait for a bus that was approaching town in the hope that more gringos would buy tickets. In the meantime we all clambered aboard and sat there getting soaked in yet another short down-pour. Sure enough more customers arrived and by 2pm we were finally on our way. We’d bought tickets for the express boat as opposed to the one that makes a ‘tour’ of the journey and stops in various places along the way. We were dismayed to find the boat going away from Livingston so we could have a look at the fort we’d walked to that morning. Seemingly it was another time-wasting technique as we then returned to the jetty to pick up a local!
We were finally on our way and because they’d made sure our boat was predominantly full of gringos the driver attempted to turn it into a tour. Going slowly past the islands swarming with egrets and cormorants was fine but no, we didn’t want to visit the hot springs. Luckily everyone had all their luggage with them so no-one was interested in anything other than transport to Livingston. As we approached town we were dismayed to find it looked as shabby, if not more so, than Rio Dulce. We’d expected nice guesthouses over-looking the river but we found somewhere decidedly run-down and exuding a strange atmosphere. We wandered all over town trying to find somewhere to stay that wasn’t ludicrously over-priced, utterly minging or reminiscent of a prison block. An hour later, virtually at the end of our tethers, we found Hotel Garifuna a clean, basic, laid back place at only Q100 per night. It was perfectly acceptable for one night – all plans of relaxing here for a couple of days had long since been binned!
Now we never use the Lonely Planet as a travel bible like some people but we do like to read about places and this area sounded great. It waxes lyrical about the river trip and Livingston itself but we don’t concur. First of all, the river trip is nice but nothing special at an expensive Q125 per person one-way; secondly, Livingston leaves something to be desired. When you see homes with bars and grills on the windows located behind high metal fences topped with razor-wire, it doesn’t say much for peoples’ sense of security. We’d read that Guatemala, along with most other Central American countries, is not predisposed to accept those it sees as having the ‘wrong’ religion, skin colour or sexual orientation. The Lonely Planet would have you believe that it’s great that the Garifuna people and their culture are surviving in their peaceful enclave. We felt it was more a case of this ethnic minority being conveniently tucked away in an area isolated enough that they could be ignored.
Suffice it to say we were on the first available boat (9.30am) back up the river the following morning. We wouldn’t recommend wasting 2 days and quite a bit of money getting there and back; however, it would make a good hop-off point if you wish to travel to Honduras or Belize by boat.
