Livingston
The drive that I had to arrive by night in Rio Dulce the day before paid off and I was ready to go to the famous trip on the river that starts at 9:30 am, all the way to Livingston. I had my breakfast in the morning, a great fruit juice and some eggs and when I came back to pack a vicious pouring rain started. The sky was cloudy and it looked like I couldn’t go on the boat that is opened and it meant complete drenching. I waited for 15 minutes and talked with the host who told me that this was the way in the last 8-9 days that is called Februar loco, Crazy February. I went to Sunny who was also ready for the trip and when we kept pondering about it the rain stopped, so we decided to go and if it rains it rains. I went quickly to the Internet and also very quickly to the boat just to find out that it was leaving at 9:30am instead of 9:00am. I got the ticket RT for US$22 and it turned out that the collective boat was the only option of the day in spite of the fact that they say that exist many other tours. The problem in Guatemala is that many of the advertised tour options are depended on how many people want them and if there are not enough they go the default tour or no tour at all.
We left at 9:30am with a very fast boat that was speeding like crazy. We stopped without landing at Castel San Felipe that is just a little upstream of Rio Dulce, old fort, latter prison and now attraction. We went down river and stopped in several interesting places, a coconut place, an island that was full of birds of various colors, egrets and such, and where we could see iguanas on top of the trees, and latter to a water lily pond that was so beautiful that we kept taking lots of photos and footage. The ride was extremely beautiful and you can see fishermen, other boats and lots of birds, pelicans included that fly with or around the boat. I had a great time with Sonny remembering Keith’s stories from the night before. The boat ride is one hour direct, going all the way to Livingston, a town on the coast of the Caribbean that is the only town in Guatemala that does not have road connection, only boats. There are two ports to the Caribbean , the second being Puerto Barrio, that has also road connection. With all the stops he did the ride to Livingston took 2.5 hours and we arrived there at12:00pm. We had time till 2:00 pm and we started to explore the small town, home to a population named Garifuma, black guys from Caribbean, descendants of runaway slaves from St Vincent. They looked very Caribbean, some tall and sturdy and a lot of them spoke English. They have a specific type of music, a sort of funk rock with African influences that unfortunately we could not listen because the bars are closed during the day. I walked with Sonny talking about photography and we arrived in 10 minutes of very slow walk to the other side of town on the beach of the Caribbean. The beached are different from Saint Martin, or such, there are dirty, house are very close to the water, houses of poor people that barely hold to themselves. The sand is black and the water can be OK but being close to the mouth of the river is looking a lot like the river, being slightly muddy and not the green we dreamed about. Sonny decided that he shot enough photos and he went to eat and I went a little more to some side streets where I saw fruit stores, typical of the area, and the music bars, looking slightly Jamaican. I went to have a beer with Sunny and the waiter gave us a tip, to go and see the place where they salt the fish. We found it close to the water, and the view was impressive because on long beds there was ton of fish that was salted and given as food for animals. Interesting and smelly place! It was 2:00pm and we left for the boat, that left not before having a chat with a guy from northern Italy. The boat ride was very rough because the pilot wanted to make it in one hour and go home,l so he was jumping waves and went extremely fast. No stomach issues but it were just rough and sometimes we had to stand because it was too much bouncing. It’s bouncy in here! On the boat Sunny started to talk with two women, from Minnesota. It turned out that they were mother and daughter, Denise and Danielle, Denise coming to Guatemala to visit and see her daughter who studied Spanish in Xela for 6 months. We chat with them all the way and helped them get to the bus station when the boat got in Rio Dulce.
The boat arrived at 3:00pm and at the bus station I was told that is a bus primera classe that should come in ten minutes. I wanted to stay longer but the opportunity was too good, so I went to the hotel, said goodbye to Sonny and exchanged cards, and run to the bus stop where the bus already came. Q100 from Rio Dulce to Flores I paid right away and I got a front seat in a very comfy bus, not the regular crammed chicken bus seat. A German family was around me, and in the back Danielle with her mom. At one point the bus has a tire explosion on the back and we had to stop at one point to change the wheel. Considering the conditions of the roads in Guatemala I think that this is very common. But I was very surprised how fast they changed it considering that it was the inside wheel from the back, and I remembered the movie Cars. We left almost in 15 minutes and we talk about a huge Mercedes bus..We stopped again right away to a check point where everybody is asked to get down and the bus is checked for fruits and vegetables, a precaution to preserve, El Peten safe of outside infestation. When we crossed the bridge at the entrance in Rio Dulce we crossed also in El Peten, the large Northern part of Guatemala that is jungle, or more precise tropical forest. The old spotty ferry that was crossing the river before the bridge existed represented the connection between civilization and jungle. Nowadays a beautiful bridge spans the river and the roads in El Peten are very good.
Flores
We arrived in Flores/Santa Elena with no incidents at 6:45pm in about 3 hours from Rio Dulce, instead of the 5 hours that I was told. Flores is an island, connected by a 500 meters causeway, in Lake Peten-Itza, a place that was a Maya town, inhabited by people from Chichen Itza in Mexico, from long time ago. It was destroyed by the Spaniards and transformed in a Spanish colonial town. At the other end of the bridge is Santa Elena, a useful place but where is not so nice to stay. When you arrive you are harassed by taxi drivers who want to give you a ride for Q5/person to Flores. I shared a taxi with Denise and Danielle and the driver started to ask us what we do the next day. The guy was useful and stopped us to San Juan agency where they had the tours for Tikal ruins. There are buses that leave at 5:00 and 6:00am and many others for Q60 RT but we opted to go in a very early tour that leaves Flores at 3:30am to see the waking up of the jungle. The tour is Q300 or $40 because there they decided to change the US$ for Q7 only. The driver dropped us at the hotel Posada de la Jungla, where for Q100 I got a nice room and the promise to be wakened up at 3:15am. Denise asked me if I wanted to have dinner with them, so I went to the phone that was very close planning to return latter for Internet and we went to Capitan Tortuga, a good restaurant on the shore of the lake, where we ordered two shrimp ceviche and a pasta and chatted about all sorts of things, including Garrison Keiler, till about 9:30pm. Denise and her husband have 6 kids and she works as software developer/project manager for a large corporation, and Danielle, is the fourth and when she finished school came in Xela to learn Spanish before she may begin to study medicine. It was already too late for Internet, considering that I would wake up at 3:00am so I gave up and went to bed.
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