Livingston 6-12-2001

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Livingston 6-12-2001
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Suus en Bas op reis

Where Suzanne and Bas meet the descendants of Africans brought by the British . . .

This time, to please our non-Dutch speaking friends, were gonna try in English. No, not just bcz its about Livingston, this is just a coincidence (otherwise be prepared: next time in Spanish!).

Livingston is a small coastal town only reachable by boat, so the morning of the 26th we enjoyed a nice boat trip over the Rio Dulce. As soon as we came ashore we met a lot of black Guatemalans who spoke some Spanish, some English, but most of all their traditional Garifuna language. These people (just like in southern Belize) are the descendants of Africans brought to the New World as slaves. They trace their roots to some Honduran islands where they were settled by the British after the Garifuna-revolt on the Caribbean Island of St. Vincent in 1795. The 26th of November is the national day of the Garifuna, so we were quite lucky: the people were dressed very beautifully (as you can see) and we saw some traditional Garifuna dances. There were also a lot of people just being drunk and playing Garifuna-tapes very loudly. Live music (what we hoped for) was actually exceptional. In the end, it was nice being there, but not that special.

The next day we went for a long beach- and jungle walk to find some scenic waterfalls (Siete Altares). A lot of people kept on telling us that it might be quite hard to get there on our own bcz of a big river we would have to cross swimming or maybe there would have been a kayak somewhere around that could take us to the other side of the river for a few Quetzales They told us to go with one of the organised tours. We didnt feel like walking in a group though and actually we didnt feel like getting up in time (see: we dont forget were travelling for fun!), so it was easy: we just went on our own. And it was easy! Okay, maybe a 2-hour walk along the beach and through the jungle, but the thing is there was this beautiful big bridge that enabled us to cross the river! So they were only trying to get some money out of the silly tourists (like usually). Once again we learned that even asking more than 3 times is not enough to get the right informationSo the waterfalls: they were beautiful! Siete Altares means seven altars and by walking up the different steps of the falls, its understandable how they got to the name.

The next day we said goodbye to the Garifunas and their traditional food (sniff, sniff). They make this really great fish, shrimp, crab, coconut, coriander and banana soup that I had every time we entered a restaurant! We left at 5 in the morning by boat to cross the bay to Puerto Barrios (and saw some dolphins jumping in front of the ferry) heading for Honduras!

Here you can see us enjoying one of those delicious Tapados (traditional fish soup). The other picture represents the beautifully dressed Garifunas doing their dances.

tapado_livingston

garifunadance

Livingston (Guatemala): 26-11-2001 until 28-11-2001