Central America 2008, part 32 (Guatemala: Rio Dulce, Livingston)
After a fine break by the Rio Dulce Hot Springs, I continued further down the Rio Dulce (river) in east Guatemala in a motorboat that served both as the public transportation from the Rio Dulce Bridge to Livingston, a small town on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, and for tourist sightseeing, since all of the passengers, a dozen of us or so, were foreigners.
Still, we were certainly not the only foreigners in this part of Guatemala. I have already mentioned that both the river banks and in particular the large navigable Lake Izabal serve very well to keep the yachts and sailing boats there when they are not used for enjoying the Caribbean Sea since these bodies of water are quite sheltered from the strongest impacts of the frequent seasonal hurricanes. The vacation was obviously over for the people in the photo below since they were sailing upstream, presumably in order to leave their boat in one of the marinas.
Of course, along the banks, as I’ve mentioned, one could see numerous wooden structures where the boats could dock. Although there is local population that live along the shores of the river and the lakes, especially around Lake Izabal, because of the popularity of the route, especially for the wealthy owners of yachts and sailing boats from North America, and presumably from Europe as well, there are also numerous smaller hotels, guest-houses, restaurants, as well as private houses.
The local population by the rule use another type of vessels, but they also utilise the waters of the river and lakes for bathing, as well as for doing their laundry.
Soon after we had left the Hot Springs, we entered the gorge which in some places was over 90 m tall.
On the slopes densely covered in lush vegetation, the most represented tree species are teak, mahogany and palms.
The sights around me were truly stunning and I absolutely enjoyed. Here is an edited short video recording that reminds me of this trip along the Rio Dulce and the lakes.
Meanwhile I got so relaxed, enjoying the wonderful trip and the landscapes we were passing through and also the for me completely unexpected breaks and opportunities to see something more and not only transfer from one point to the next, that I started to imagine my stay in Livingston very romantically. This sensation of inner content and positivity filled me up so much that I decided I would stay in Livingston for two days. Looking at my guidebook I chose to stay at a hotel that was said to have a pool and so I could already see myself swimming in it and lying on a sun lounger by the pool and I also came up with an idea to buy a magazine to read while lying so idly around. What a joke!
When we arrived in Livingston and when I saw the hotel of my choice, I changed up my mind instantaneously and decided to continue back to Flores the very next day. For a moment I also thought of changing the hotel, but it was so attractively close to the pier that I decided to stay there anyway.
When I got up to my room, I first had a shower, washed my t-shirt and changed. Then I went for a walk along the main street, stopping by an ATM and also by an internet-café.
While I was walking along the main street that had a lot of shops, restaurants, fruit stands, etc., I realised there was nothing else for me to do there and that I felt quite comfortable with the decision to continue with my journey around Guatemala the following day. As of recently, tourism had started to develop in Livingston, but I was not interested in any of that here, especially bearing in mind some of the destinations I planned to visit (Belize and the east coast of Yucatan).
Along the way I bought some fruits and stopped by my hotel room to leave them there and then I got out again in order to go for dinner. Although there were restaurants in the main street, I wanted to go to some place where I would have a sea view.
So I came to a hotel that had a restaurant, a garden and a wooden pier and that was recommended by both guidebooks I had on Guatemala. To start with, I went to the hotel’s pier in order to take photo of the choppy waters which technically speaking were supposed here to be the waters of the wide estuary of the Rio Dulce. Only a little farther away starts the Caribbean Sea. Namely, the small town of Livingston is situated on the left bank of the Rio Dulce, right at the confluence and so it spreads from that corner – the east part of the town lies on the Rio Dulce river bank, while the north part is on the shore of the Caribbean Sea.
As there are no roads to Livingston, but rather it can be reached solely by boats, almost all who possess property on the river bank also have their own pier. But, since I was getting really hungry, I was no longer interested in the piers, the river and the sea, and so I took up my place at a table by the garden and ordered what I wanted.
Both the hotel and its restaurant were perhaps somehow more adjusted to the taste of American and European tourists, but for me the main thing was that it was windy and the air circulation cooled me down. While I was sitting there looking at the hotel that seemed nice, I could not help but make comparisons. Since I had already been in the room of the hotel I had chosen a couple of times, I think I was a little more realistic now. My room had a relatively fine view, a little at the river, a little at the sea, but there was also an air-conditioner and although it may have looked like a dump at first sight, the room was cheap and therefore I had no right to expect anything more. Sitting in the garden of this obviously nicer hotel, I was certain that the rooms were better here.
On the other hand, irrespective of the unfavourable impression which my hotel made on our first encounter, it had a huge advantage in comparison to this one – it was right by the main pier and for me that was the most important thing. This hotel here, no matter how nice it seemed, was some dozen minutes away from the main pier. This was nothing when one strolls leisurely at dusk and when there is a strong breeze, but if one is to carry a heavy backpack while it’s hot outside, then it’s quite a different matter.
Still, this was all a very important experience, primarily because of my next destination and that was the city of Flores in the north of Guatemala. I had been checking for a couple of days now the situation concerning the weather forecast for Flores and I was horrified – these days the temperature went up to 39 degrees C, while the air humidity was over 90%. That meant that I had to be very careful when selecting the hotel, with a mandatory air-conditioning, for I was simply not accustomed to such conditions in order to sleep well in them. In addition, I felt the need to have something comfortable, for I must admit I had started to miss decent accommodation. I wondered if I was getting old. No question about it, for I’m getting older every day, but the point was that I had a rather limited budget during this journey and all the time I was very careful about the money. As the end of my journey was getting close I was becoming aware that now I could ease on my strictness concerning the spending from time to time.
So, among other things, I came to this hotel restaurant with an intention to give myself a treat and eat something nice, for this was how it was recommended by the guidebooks, but a problem arose from the fact that I came far too early and the kitchen was still not operational. And I was very hungry. So I asked if they could bring me a simplest salad, for “I was very hungry.” The waiter said they could and so he brought me a small roll, but no salad. After half an hour, I told him that he could cancel the salad and asked him to bring me coffee (I had already devoured the roll), but even for the coffee I had to wait for another half an hour!
Although the breeze was warm, it was still sufficiently strong to cool me down. However, despite that, the sensation of high air humidity was still very dominant. While waiting for the salad, the coffee and the dinner, I was writing my travel diary and the paper in the notebook was moist and soft, although it did not hinder the writing. My face was oily and sticky, as if I had applied 20 layers of some cream or suntan lotion and I just wanted them to bring me the food so I could go back to my room and have a shower again.
Apparently the kitchen started to work at 7 pm, so at 7.15 they brought the salad, which was a good hour and a half after I had ordered it. I had to wait for the main course until 7.50 pm. Although it was not bad, the dinner was absolutely not worth the wait, but at least in the end I was not hungry any more.
I no longer remember the name of that hotel and perhaps it had good and pretty rooms, but I certainly would not recommend its restaurant to anyone. Still, I did want to eat at a table from which I had a nice view and I got that, at least in the beginning. In the meantime the night fell and so even the view was gone. After the dinner I simply went back to my hotel and my room where I hoped that with the help of the air-conditioning I would be able to sleep well that night. And I could... Until the morning. VERY early in the morning...
Already at 5 am, a car passed through the street, probably one of those cars that have large loudspeakers on their roof, and everything was resonating with the reminder that this was the Mothers Day. This is not an official public holiday, but it is very important here and in Guatemala it is celebrated precisely on 10 May which was the day when I slept in Livingston.
So, after that round of the car, I continued to sleep, but not for long. The car came again along the street, right by the hotel, at 5.20, but apparently the very noisy announcement using the loudspeakers was considered insufficient and so it was followed by a long chain of firecrackers. That was the first wave of firecrackers and in the next half an hour there were more. I realised there was no chance I could sleep any longer and since it had already dawned, I got up and already at 6 am I was out on the street. First I bought the ticket for the motorboat in order to return to the town of Rio Dulce (official name: Fronteras) and then I continued with my sightseeing of Livingston.
Walking around the town, I went to the shore of the Caribbean Sea where there is the White Beach (Playa Blanca). Frankly speaking, I have no idea how anyone could come up with such a name for this beach.
Although I was certainly not delighted that I was woken up so untimely, in the end I was actually quite content that I went for the sightseeing of the town this early. There was not much to see anyway, but this early in the morning it still felt reasonably pleasant. Already around 8 am it started to heat up, not in terms that the temperature was too high at such an hour, but it increased the personal experience of the high air humidity and this all together created that unpleasant sensation.
That’s why I sat in a restaurant soon enough in order to have breakfast and coffee.
I still did not find the main street in Livingston too interesting, so I just kept sitting leisurely at that restaurant and a little later I went back to the hotel where I packed up my things and went down to the pier from which the motorboat to Rio Dulce (town) was to leave.
At the pier I saw a young woman sitting there alone, but at that point we did not communicate. We started talking only later, during the break at the hot springs. Her name was Ana and she was from Germany. As it turned out we were going in the same direction and our plans for that day and the following one were basically the same, so we agreed to continue our journey together. That meeting with her was exceptionally important for me on several grounds. As if the Universe itself had put her on my path. But, more about this later on.
For now, I can report that travelling along the Rio Dulce was a true joy. The river seemed calmer this day, but the surroundings were still very beautiful.
There were fewer passengers in the motorboat on this day, in addition to which we could see birds in other places as well and not only on the Island of the Birds.
Again we passed by littoral sections of some hotels, as well as by the “parking lots” for yachts and sailing boats.
Since we had agreed to continue our travelling together, Ana and I went from the pier to the coach terminal in the town of Fronteras, which the local population calls Rio Dulce, after the river. Along the way, we passed by a celebration of the Mothers Day.
As it turned out we still had some free time before the departure of the coach and so we went for lunch to a local restaurant where we had a full bowl of thick vegetable soup.
Since I’m mentioning this soup, I can also give a recipe here for a vegetable soup I call “Mexican soup.” My travel stories are currently dealing with my stay in Guatemala, not Mexico, but I don’t think that anybody will be offended. On the other hand, in all of these countries the vast majority of the souvenirs for tourists are practically the same, so if the souvenirs can apply to several different countries in the area of Mesoamerica, then I guess the recipes for soups can also expand beyond the borders of individual countries. After all, look at the photo of my soup. It would not shame a single cook either in Mexico or in Guatemala.
*Mexican Soup *
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp paprika (it may be hot, i.e., ground chilli pepper – after all this is Mexican soup)
- 1-2 carrots
- 1 bigger potato
- 3 fresh tomatoes or a can of tomatoes
- 1/2 cabbage
- 1 l of stock or water + bouillon cube
- 1 cup of frozen peas
- 1 cup of frozen maize
- some chopped coriander leaves (parsley is fine)
- salt and pepper
Heat up some oil and add onions and garlic. Fry for a few minutes on medium heat and then add cumin and paprika and continue to fry for a few minutes more. Then add sliced carrots and cubed potatoes. Mix it and fry some more and then add the tomatoes. After a few minutes more add the sliced cabbage. Mix it, cover it and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes. Then pour the soup or water to which you have added the bouillon cube. Add some salt and pepper and when it starts to boil, put in the frozen peas and maize and cook for 10 minutes more. In the end add the chopped coriander (or parsley) leaves.
The measures for the vegetables are given as ballpark figures. Add as much of different vegetables as you like. You can also use coarsely ground pumpkin, sliced zucchini, green beans... Also, already in the beginning I always add some orange lentils (they cook quickly, practically dissolving into the soup, while being full of proteins and iron).