Deep in the middle of Nowhere
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2006
1
74
119
Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
Livingstone,
Guatemala
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Eventually got on the boat, was packed. Was a cool trip through the mangroves....very pretty. Started to rain, so everyone had to hide under the huge pieces of plastic we had been issued with, kinda silly but kept us dry. Some evil woman behind me kept poking me in my very sunburnt back!
Arrived in Mango Creek. Had no idea where to go, could have got a cab, but figured it couldnīt be that far, so started to walk. Was quite a trek, and we had no idea where we going!!! Knew it was in the town somewhere, but couldn`t see any bus stop signs, so asked, but unfortunately the guy only spoke creole so we were not much wiser. Followed his pointing to between a garage and a restaurant. Waited and before long a bus pulled up. An old american school bus of course! Neil decided after getting on we needed drinks so went running to get some....and came back very sweaty and smelly!!! Still pretty hot. Were glad to be on the move so we could get some air from the windows, but then it started raining and the driver insisted we close the window!!!! The road was very dodgy...not really a road at all in places.....with little wooden bridges barely big enough for the bus! Was all fun!
Four hours later we arrived in Punta Gorda. A nothing of a place, glad we hadnīt decided to try and stay the night here! Bought our tickets, then had to wait ages for immigration to open so we could get our leaving stamps. Only cost is 7belizean dollars and its supposed to go to a good cause?? Then we had to wait some more for boat to leave. Was damn hot....too damn hot. Neil disappeared to change some money, and was ages...thought he was gonna miss the boat! When it was time to leave, we had to wait some more, cause a guy needed a ticket and the ticket office was closed for lunch! Finally got on the way.
The crossing was very scary, we were on the open sea, in a fibreglass boat. The bottom of which buckled with every wave we hit. We were both convinced we were gonna end up in the sea with all our stuff at the bottom of the ocean....and that would have been holiday over! It had never crossed our minds till that point that everything we owned was at risk....We survived but it was certainly a white knuckle ride....literallly.
And there we were in Peurto Barrios, Guatemala, surrounded by mountains and remoteness again. We immediately got asked if we wanted to go to Livingstone...we thought great! The guy took us to the immigration....dead easy...no fee, but then explained that the way his boat worked was he waited till he had 16 people then we left. Looking at the servere lack of people and the time of day, we were a little worried. Fortunately, the guy offered us an alternative, for $20us we could go express as he put it! In other words he would take us by ourselves. Thank god....it was a small fortune....but at least we would get there.
This trip was a much nicer ride....nicer boat, didn`t feel like it was gonna fall apart anyway. Took longer than we anticipated...bout 45 minutes but was fun.
Wayhey we had arrived....in one piece. Now we had to find a place to stay. Some aussie guy recommended a place, but for some reason we ignored him? Went up a steep hill...tried one place in the book, looked dodgy. Had no idea where to go....had a small domestic! Then ended up trying the place we had passed early, which looked expensive, but turned out not to be. Even managed to communicate in spanish....seems we haven`t forgotten everything we ever learnt!
We had a room....time to relax! Didn`t do much else that day....had been a long day....except eat some fried chicken and a whole fried fish at a cute little place called happy fish.
The next day was our day to explore Livingstone. Had breakfast in the happy fish, cause it had good coffee. Good breakfast too....eggs, refried beans and fried plantain...mmmm. Then it was time to explore.
Wandered the streets. The place was cool, but also kinda strange. All the shops are like something out of the 1950 in england, you know where everything is behind the counter and you have to ask for everything...which doesnīt make things too easy when you don+t speak the language! Also its a tiny place....we walked to the beach...which turned out to be grass and a bit of dirty water...then went to explore out of town, we had been told about a tour that went to the cemetry? Sounded wierd but thought it must be worth a look. Was quite a walk and it was damn hot! Got quite a cool view of the jungle....and the cemetery was kinda cool, very colourful, with many graves still decorated after day of the dead. Headed back and stopped for a refreshing soda on the way. Chilled for a while, then neil decided he was bored so we had to go walking some more. We are crazy, we always seem to be out walking at midday when its so damn hot!
Walked down to the dock, watched them unloading a whole boat full of toilet roll and putting it on a truck....where it was all hanging off! They are so funny out here! Saw te cool park, with its huge basketball court. Then went to find the place the aussie had recommended. Was way out of town, on the river, decided we were glad we had picked the place in town. Headed back exhausted from the heat!
I went to sleep, Neil pissed about on the internet. Then we went to ring our next port of call for a lift....had strange melted ice lollies, and crisps and went to find a decent beach. Failed! The Guatemalans really haven`t worked out that a nice beach attracts tourists! It was dirty, full of run down buildings....and several pigs and a chicken or two!!!!!
Gave up and headed back.
Decided to go check out the Garifuni part of town for the evening....was shut!!!!!! So ended up at McTropic enjoying Thai curry and spag bol, then hung out at the hotel drinking beer and watching the world go by....and a very different world it all is!
