Posada El Delfin Livingston

... ceviche in Guatemala. During the boat ride down the Rio Dulce, we were able to see lots of water lilies, birds, but unfortunately no crocodiles. Interestingly, there are a few places where rich expats park their yachts and boats and live for a few weeks at a time at river-side resorts. In sharp contrast, are the wooden stilt homes where some Garifuna live, with the bare basics.<br><br>It was also a funny scene at the river just near ...

... diving board. time passed swimming and diving.<br><br>come 4pm, two hours before dark, we were kind of thinking we may have to just sleep in the hammocks and go hungry, a problem for me of course and in general a problem for everyone except the mosquitos, when, a gyu strolls in to the place...<br>a 20 minute conversation ensued with Nick our german spanish interpreter (and of course was a nice guy to boot, for a german!)<br>Im not really sure of the ...

... which consists of Mestizos and Mayans. The border crossing is thus unique because the border is crossed in the Caribbean Sea. The customs desk is in the middle of town and one could simply not check in if one so desired. I had visited other Garifuna towns in Belize so I only stayed one night while I figured out where to go next. That evening I tried one of ...

... a boy in a canoe holding a crab hitch a ride for a bit (I didn't really understand either!) The boat was full of tourists from all over the world &#8211; many of which had some rather impressive cameras, I felt slightly jealous of the photos they would get but then I realised that I wouldn&#8217;t want the worry of an expensive camera AND a laptop and I will just have to keep the memories (jogged with the rather poor photos from my little point and ...

... a town geared to tourism and there are many many shops selling jewellery and turtle shells etc all down the main street. The local speciality drink is called a &#8216;coco loco&#8217; which is a whole coconut with the top chopped off and some rum fermented with a lot of different herbs and spices is poured in. Anwen the rum fanatic obviously had to try one within an hour of being here (and I wasn&#8217;t going to say no!). It was very nice ...

... gap but it'll work.<br><br>I'm happy to say that the second half of our bus ride was uneventful and enjoyable. I was so relieved to have clean drawers that nothing bothered me. I was truly happy and started thinking of corny cliches like ' no matter how ****** your day is, just hang tight and things will get better'. I know, really dumb.<br><br>We arrived in Rio Dulce, 'El Frontero' just as it was getting dark.We started making our way through a throng of people ...

... I have used this tactic many times before and it seems to have a success rate of about 50%. This was one of those times that would fall in the less than successful category--as I surely fooled no one walking confidently in the wrong direction and then sheepishly back past the station in the right direction, 30 minutes later. Back on the right track, I found my way to a hostel and was able to bargain for a room all to myself. (Actually, there was no one else staying ...

... around the sun - its was freaky! Once we arrived it was a quick 5 minute walk to the waterfall - Turicentro El Paradiso. We quickly stripped down and hopped in. The water was cool as you hopped in but the closer you swam to the waterfall the warmer it got. It was too hot to touch the water dripping down in some places and you could see the steam coming off the top. There were little nibbly fish in the water that were attracted to cuts ...

... We stopped at the hot springs on the way back for a quick dip and were dropped in Rio Dulce where we organised buses for Thursday and got some cash from the machine. <br>We had dinner in the Hacienda - the food there is absolutely delicious!! It was Duff and Penny's last night with the rest of the family before flying home so we all had dinner together and Matt opened birthday presents which included a 'mullet' card game!! (don't ask!!)

... locals but probably looked like an idiot. Trying out traditional dances has never been a successful endeavor for me. <br><br>While it didn´t happen to me, dancing with the locals turned out to be a little bit of racket for some of the other backpackers. Someone would ask you to dance and afterwards ask you to buy them a beer. When you said yes, they would race up to the bar and order a round for all their friends and leave you with the tab. By the time I left the bar, most ...