Rio Dulce, Livingston, and Goodbye

Rio Dulce

Christie and I decided that we were done with the shuttle thing and took a local bus (Greyhound type) to Rio Dulce Town, the border town for the Rio Dulce (waterway into which Lake Izabel empties and to which the waters then flow into the Caribbean. Most people just use Rio Dulce town as a port to gain access to Livingston and consider the town not worth their time. It's true that the place is small and that the primary function is to serve as a marina, but Christie and I but rather enjoyed our two days there.

The town itself, contains one major street, that also serves as the main thoroughfair for automobile traffic to and from the area (kinda like someone else's home town that I known...cough...Jenni...cough). There a bridge that runs over the waterway and not much else. Christie and I became quite acquiented with this bridge, as we must have walked over it at least 20 times in the two days that we were there. It was good exercise and our hostel just happened to be on the wrong side of the bridge as food and transportation.

Our hostel, The Backpacker's Hostel, was an old boathouse situated directly on the water that was converted into a few private rooms and a tons of open space with bunk beds piled in to create dorms. I don't know why, but it leant itself a pleasant air and we really liked it.

The first day that we arrived, we decided that we wanted to go an see Castillo de San Felipe, a miniature medieval castle. The castle is just like a real castle that one would see in Europe, but it's as if someone highlighted it and then shrunk everything down proportionally. It's cute and hard to take seriously because of it's miniaturization.

The castle was built by the Spanish because they were tired pf the English coming through the channel and raiding the area. Twelve soilders were sent to staff the mini castle, but it didn't seem to do them much good. In the castle's 200 or so years of operation, it was taken by pirates at least twice and attacked a few more than that. There were three different times that the site had to be rebuilt.

To get to this marvel, Christie and I raced to a minibus and then walked through the downpour that started almost immeadiately upon our stepping out of the car. We were so content on not slippping on the wet cobblestones that we walk right by the guard station and they had to shout to get our attention so that we could pay the admission. You think the sight of two half-drown American tourist would be payment enough, but it wasn't to be.

The castle itself, was amazing. We wander through every passage that we could find and even down into the basement, where we were force to retreat due to the lack of illumination and the fact that it was half submerged under water. I recommend that if anyone comes this way, they check it out.

Livingston

Nine-thirty the following morning saw Christie, me, and two Brits we'd met the night before (we had walked them back to the hostel once the town lost power cause they were afraid to walk across the bridge by themselves) on a launcha to Livingston. The launcha took about three hours and passed by a bird santuary, hot springs where we actually stopped for 30 minutes(Christie and I opted to see the small caves that were in the area rather than swim in the hot water when it was already blazing hot outside), a lilypad cove with little local children canoing out to try and sell us handicrafts, and finally into port at Livingston.

Livingston is a unique city all to itself. It is only accessible by boat and is a gateway to Belize and Honduras. It is largely inhabited by the displaced Garifuna, or black Carib people, whose communities are strung out along the Caribbean coast between southern Belize and northern Nicaragua. The town itselfis very small and had a lazy, laid back feel too it. The only things to really do there are eat, relax, and catch a ride to another place.

We went to see the town, but mainly because I wanted to try their specialty, tapado, a seafood soup with a coconut broth. When we arrived though, we realized that the town knows the soup is their specialty and as a result charges an arm and a leg for it. We ended up passing on the opportunity (yes I am that cheap) and opting for some hermit crab (part of the snail family and taste like rubber, squid, and crab mixed).

Two hours later we reboarded our launcha and went back to Rio Dulce for some cooling off in the canal and our last night traveling together.

Goodbye for Now

The time for the Scholarly Professer and Christie (a crafty nickname has still not been found), as traveling companions came to an end, at least this time around. Christie left at 7 am to catch a minibus to the hotsprings waterfall (a novelty of the area) before she had to head back to Guatemala City for her flight home, while I caught a very crowded local bus to El Florido (the border town between Guatemala and Honduras).

Next up, Copan, Honduras and then back to Antigua for the end of the trip.