livingston

rio dulce homes -----------------


livingston carribean side


waterfalls at the 7 altares


hammock rest

we took a ¨first class¨(which probably could have been compared to a fancy chicken bus) from flores to rio dulce then a boat to the caribbean town of livingston. the journey by boat was a really nice one with el capitane taking us past some impressive sized yachts and houses on the rio dulce.

we spent two nights in livingston (in the oldest house called hotel rio dulce and in a wonderful hotel called rios tropicales) and spent much of our days like the locals, hanging around, eating coconut-flavoured everything and walking ever-so slowly. it was like belize re-visited!
our one full day, we walked the coast visiting various ´playas´ (beaches), which didn´t look too clean to dip a toe into then to the 7 alteres, a (somewhat dried up) waterfall of 7 pools. only the highest pool still had enough water in it to swim, which is what we did with haste (mostly to avoid the mosquitos). the water was almost icy and so refreshing especially after a 2 hour walk. this walk was not as mellow as one would think as i managed to break 2 pairs of slip-slops and we ´hola´-ed almost every passer-by. i think they were content with a foreigner greeting them and it often sparked a brief conversation.

as i mentioned earlier, the food has a fair amount of coconut in it which is great if you dig that. we were recommended tilingo lingo restaurant by locals and guidebooks alike so took it as a good sign to try it out. what a brilliant decision that was! maria, the mexican owner/ chef, boasts dishes from 10 different countries and has prefected them! definately worth a trip just to eat at her place.

Apres deux jours, on découvre que le budget initial du guatemala va être difficile a tenir. Notre guide date de 2004 mais a premiere vue, il semble que les prix aient vraiment augmenté. Ce n´est que petit a petit que l´on va découvrir comment se rapprocher de ce budget en négociant fruits et légumes, en trouvant les gares des chicken bus, en débusquant les comedores bon marché.

depuis Flores, un bus nous emmene jusqu´a Rio Dulce d´ou l´on prend une barque qui nous fait descendre le fleuve jusqu´à Livingstone, petite enclave guatemaltèque de la côte carraibe a majorité Garifuña. Le Rio Dulce est magnifique, il est peuplé de petits ilôts avec qq habitations sur les bords du lac et la jungle a l´intérieur des terres. Livingstone nous ramène tout droit vers l´ambiance carraibe du Belize avec ses habitations très simples et son rythme de vie tout tranquille. La ville est composée d´une seule rue et je me plais a faire qq bonnes siestes mémorables sur les hamacs de la terrasse de l´hotel Rio Dulce. La nourriture change de nouveau, ici tout est a base de poisson et de coconut, notament les pan de coco, et la soupe locale ou se mélangent banane, coconut, poisson, crabe et gingembre.

Une longue promenade en bord de plage nous emmene aux cascades des 7 altares, un peu a sec mais perdues en pleine jungle garifuña. Cette promenade nous donne l´occasion de découvrir un peu l´extrème pauvreté des Garifuña, plus ou moins délaissés dans cette enclave guatémaltèque.