Hotel Ecologico Salvador Gaviota Livingston

... Guatemala has been completely different than i thought it would be. For some reason i thought i would be spending alot of time on the beach, however, i have spent the entire time in the interior. It has been a really interesting place though. I am interested to see how Honduras is as i have heard mixed reviews. Heading straight to the Bay Islands to scuba dive and lay in the sun!<br><br>Best go as i am missing Happy Hour, love to all xx

... and a hitched ride on the back of a cattle truck, we were ejected on the side of a track in the middle of nowhere, assured that we were at Las Conchas, Oasis Chiyu..... (however it was closed for the down season!!)<br><br>Of course not one to be deterred, i let myself into the grounds of the place, if you can imagine a kind of farm type piece of land in a small valley, and had a wander around.<br>greeted by a dalmation (which was kind of odd) i nosed around and ...

The only way to get into Livingston is by boat. It´s a good-sized town, but isolated from the rest of Guatemala. Not that the inhabitants mind. A vast majority of them are Garifuna, descendants of indigenous Caribs and Africans. They have a unique culture including dress, music and food. Most speak Creole and English. They prefer to stay separate from the rest of ...

Due to take a boat ride down the infamous Rio Dulce at 9:30 am we were NOT impressed to wake up finding it was TIPPING it down!!! We were literally soaked to our skin in 100m between the place where we refilled our water bottles and the tour headquarters&#8230;. Luckily for us it began to ease as we were walking down to the dock and then managed to stop all together in time for the boat trip to reveal a rather sunny day in the end!!!!<br><br>The scenery on ...

... filled with chickens and ducklings, toward the 'bathroom'. Which was a non-flushing toilet with no seat. Hey, beggars can't be choosers. I entered the little room, closed the door, turned around and noticed a six inch gap between the door and wall. No time for modesty now. <br><br>I have no explanation but somehow, once I was in the little bathroom and looked out to see the five year old girl, her little brother, and an assortment of chickens, ducklings and a ...

... them so that the same people don&#8217;t always have the rubbish ones &#8211; although it&#8217;s a good work out I guess!!!! In the evening we had dinner at Gomier&#8217;s &#8211; a Rastafarian who cooks amazing vegetarian food (and fish) for whom cooking seems to be somewhat of an art form! The dinner was gorgeous (even if we did have to wait rather a long time) and he&#8217;s promised us some cooking classes while we are here (I ...

... one, minor snag. About 4 hours into the trip, all traffic stopped. There seemed to be nothing blocking the road...and the only structure in sight was a small tienda on the side of the road. As I saw them going from car to car and bus to bus, selling cold drinks and salty snakcs, it became quite apparent to me that it was surely the owners of the tienda that caused this little 45 minute delay. ¨Uh, there is something big stuck in the road just around that bed...you ...

... so many stalks and pelicans along the banks of the river and flying overhead. <br>By the time we got to Livingston is was really sunny and we sat outside and had lunch and dried out. I had prawns, rice and beans - yummy!! Livingston has a real Carribean feel to it with Bob Marley playing everywhere, a much larger black population than anywhere else I've been in Guatemala and more 'Jamaican' style food on offer in the restaurants ...

... me. I did feel a little ridiculous walking around the bar with a huge coconut, but it was the most delicious cocktail I´ve ever had. Fresh coconut water and light rum, ummmmmm, and the coconut kept it quite cold. <br><br>The band was interesting. It was very African, a rhythmic cacophony. They had a bunch of drums (including a turtle shell) and a conch played like a horn. The dancing was a little strange, too, sort of like a shuffling and twitching. I tried to dance with ...