Livingston Part 1

Quick Facts:
Population: Cerca 5500
Languages: Garifuna,Spanish, English and little bits of just about everything else
Location: The Caribean Coast of Guatemala on the Rio Dulce
Atractions: Caribean Atmosphere, Beaches, Cool People, Siete Altares
Places to stay: For Party people there is the Casa Iguana for people who want to party but need a calm plasce to sleep Hotel Viajero up the road from Casa Iguana, and for people who want a quiet, secure place by the beach with a tower tto watch the sun set and rise the Flamingo.

Livingston is my favourite town in Guatemala to visit I have been there twice already and will be going several more times before I leave here. The tourists sights are few and easily seen in 3 days but thats not what takes me there. Well maybe the wonderfull Playa Blanca is part of it but really its the town itself and its people and history. But before i get into that lets talk about the sights to see. There is the Siete Altares(Seven Altars) which have nothing to do with Christianity its a seven tiered water fall with seven little pools in between the falling waters. The deapest are the second and the 7th counting from the bottom up. Not only are they nice to see but in the Caribean Heat of livingstont the cold fresh water is a joy to swim in and during and shortly after the rainy seasonits great to jump into the 7th. And possibly the 2nd if your small and aim your jump well. Then there are the two small beaches near livingston itself. They arent very impressive looking and very small but the swimming is great because the bottom is soft all the way out and there are as good as no waves and it stays very shallow untill about 100 meters(more or less 100 yards) out theres a little buoy and untill that standing should be possible if your not very short. Then there is the Playa Blanca which can only be reached by boat(or technically a day long jungle trek but I havent heard of tours so take a boat). Its a little piece of paradise on earth a long beutiful beach with a little beach house serving Coco Frios some hammoks and beach lounges and jungle behind you with the ocean in front you can even see Belize across the water. Then there is the Manatee reservation as well the rest of the scenic Rio Dulce(Sweet River) and Lago Izabal. But none of that is enough to explain why I like Livingston so much. For that we have to start with what it represents and for that its time for a history lesson. The problem with a history of livingston is that sources don`t agree insofar as its possible to find them at all. So what you are about to here is compiled from the internet 2 toursist guides and lots of conversations with locals, who almost always speak english, usually with a suspiciouly Jamaican accent. The history of Livingston begins in Africa. A group of slaves ships was setting sail for the new world with a cargo of enslaved Africans on board. They were fortunate enough to shepwreck on the Caribean Island of St. Vincent. There they found a native Arawak population weakend by war with the Mayans. They were abale to takeover the island and intermarry with the locals, this ¡s also where there unique culture began to form, a language with Arawak grammar and many african loan words and there tradional music and its asociated dances Punta. They esatblished a free black state in the Caribean. The English obiously could not let this stand and sent many an expidition to crush the fledgling state. But a convient deal with french pirates gave the Garifuna sufficient Firearms to resist for a long time at least 100 years. Eventually howver they were defeated and fled breifly to anothe island only to be eventually captured and taken the the Honduran Island of Roatan. From there they spread to Honduras, Belize and Livingston. Livingston was founded in the late 1790s. And for a while was Guatemalas biggest port untill Porto Barrios was established by the Belgians and Germans. And from there I will continue next time.

Transport In Guatemala Part 1

Nothing summarizes capitalism gone mad in Gautemala better than the "public" transport system. I put public in quotes because it doesnt recieve a drop of goverment money outside the capitol and in the capitol its litterally a drop, a tiny subsidy. Many of you have probably heard of Chicken Busses. What they are is old(1950s-1990s) american school busses. These are chosen because they are cheap and have a great safety record(when new, on good streets). They are often brightly colored, and always privately owned. And they are almost always packed way beyond full. In benches meant to seat 2 school children you find 3 or 4 adults and then they pack they ailse full and but lugage on top, and the money collector usually rides leaning out the front door. Sometime the baggage handler rides on top with the luggage. And then despite this they race around Guatemalas rough, bendy, hilly and pot holled streets and speads no american school bus driver would consider. Why? Because if they dont they wont make any money. Take the Guatemala Ciudad to Antigua route. It costs 8 Quetzales for a 60km ride.(roughly a $ or .80€). There is no indusrty regulation no scheduled bus times, he who gets there first gets the passengers, hence the speed, and because the fares are so low there is always room for one more, always.

Long time no Blog

Its been so long because Ive been out doing things instead of writing about them but this is a slow week. So know im going to add as many articles as I feel like Writing.

Pacaya

Pacaya not to be confused with Papaya is an active volcanoon the slopes of which sits the small village of San Fransisco de la Salle which unlike the american city houses about 300 very poor inhabitabitants and has a police station a restuarant/bar/toursit center/cafe/public shower and bathroom al rtolled into one and a small shop for tourists which is really just the front room of someone house. The only industries are tourism to the volcano and farmin corn, avocados, beans and coffee. Going there from Antigua takes about 2 hours and walking up it from the village takes nearly as long, in good weather when i got there it was raining, warm rain though so it was alright but it made the already steap hike a slippery pain in ass, so myself and a few others eventually wussed out and did the rest of the way by horse. However when we got up the top it was raining like crazy and the mixture of rain, sulfur fumes, fog and steam from the raining hittin the lava reduced visibility to a about a meter. It was hard to see your own feet much less where you where going, there were more than a few near misses and a handfull of melted shoes. They way down was no less rainy and with the added bonus of it being completly dark, it would have been impossible without a sturdy walking stick and a flashlight as it was it really blew anyway and fell on my ass at least 4 times. On the way down i tried to wuss out and take a horse again but i was to heavy for the poor thing and had to walk anyway. After the stuffy uncomforatble and wet 2 hour return trip by overcrowded mini bus lady luck had one final twist in store for me. I get to mu host families house and get undresses ready to take a nice hot shower shower only to discover that there was no water. Eventually i was told that the water purifiy facility between antigua and the town it´s water somes from had broken down and ther was 12 hours with out a drop of water as they fixed it. Thats Guatemala for you, next time i will be righting about my weeken trip to livingston

Day 2

Day 2

Well its going to be a short post today im so tired i could drop right here. Got my first taste of culture shock today and it was a double too. First after I got home from spanish school for lunch(yep it already feels like my new home) my room had been cleaned my books aranged properly on the shelves and my bed made and a man i hadnt seen was changing all the lightbulbs and fixing my shower , turns out my host family has a maid and a handyman that pretty much spend all day at the house axcept on weekends. Im not totally comfortable with that exspecialy since my host family is ladino and the maid and handyman are Maya´s. But more on the whole race issue her in Guatemala later. Part too was when i noticed just how heavy the police presence is here i will try to get some pictures but i dont want to piss anyone with an m-16 or a double barelled 12 guage off.

More tommorow and there is a lot to say about today i just need to sleep.

Antigua

Day 1

Well now that I've spent a day here and am about to go to dinner I thought I start of this blog with a description of my host families house but I'd rather wait with that till i have pictures and that will have to wait till I fill up my camera amd find a internet cafe that will let me install the needed software and upload the pictures so it will probably be a few days. But till then I thought i would fill up some space with my list of things want to see in the next few days as well as a few long term plans.

Tommorow's Plan

My first Spanish class

A tour of the Jade Museum which includes a replica Maya jade mine, processing facility, a Mayan culture exhibit and presumably a huge gift shop since the tour is suposedly free.

My first traditional local lunch and diner*

Buy a mobile phone

Find a place that sells toilet paper**

Chill with people from the spanish school

So know a few explanations

* I get 3 meals a day 6 days a week from my host family but on sunday I have to fend for my self. Since today was my first day I got a freebie for breakfast, pancakes and watermelon and papaya which was tasty by the way. And last night i got to watch everbody else eat frijoles and eat a chinese noodle soup from a pack because my Gringo stomach needs to settle in gently. But starting tommorow I eat what my host family eats.

** Sounds easy right, but in a town where people talk about THE Supermarket it's not so simple I looked out for it while I was exploring to day but didnt see any so tommorow I ask at the spanish school or go questing for it depending on my mood, and how much i have left. As for THE Supermarket that was another thing i couldnt find today but since i hace to go there for the cell phone anyway i hope it's got TP as well and is easy to find. Although an epic quest for toilet paper does sound rather entertaining as long as I find it in the end.

Well thats it from me for today I'll be posting again soon.

Arrival

Well yesterday I got to Antigua over Madrid and Guatemala Ciudad. So far so good I´m very happy with my host family.Aand the "house" is more like a small walled village but more on that next time that will be my first real post since after all the emails i just wrote I'm all typed out. Pay attention to this space though more will follow.