February 25, 2009

Finca Ixobel was a dream. But we are on a schedule of sorts and because we weren't participating in much of the guided tour stuff we decided that more more days of lazing were probably not necessary, despite the great setup. So we helped the Canadians pop their clutch, unfortunately didn't get a chance to say goodbye to George, and we were on our way.

In order to meet my friend Annie that is coming to visit from the States, I need to be in Guatemala City by the 28th. Before then, our goal is to knock out the Eastern part of Guatemala, so we can focus on the rest of the country after she leaves. Based on our reading of the guide book and advise that we've received, it looks like there are a quite a few points of interest worth hitting in this part of the country. We've known it as Rio Dulce, but more specifically it is Finca Paraiso that has hot springs flowing from waterfalls. I know, so cool. So that has been our main purpose for coming this way, but then there is Livingston which, on the Caribbean Coast, boasts the only Garifuna (descendants of a marooned slave ships who were never themselves enslaved) or black population in Guatemala. Only accessed by boat, Livingston is a cultural island separated by a seemingly very wide gap from the rest of Guatemala. Although, really, Livingston is not an island at all, merely a peninsula and it is confusing to me as to why there are no roads that connect it. My feeling from talking to people is that Guatemala keeps their black people at arms length—a German guy, Chris, who has lived there for four years actually thinks that the place is un-developing, if that's possible.

I digress. From Livingston we'd read of another Finca, this one called Finca Tatin. And after Ixobel we were ready for some more Finca life.

From Finca Ixobel we had planned to make it in one day to Livingston, but the travel gods were not hastening our trip that day and our broken down bus had yet to arrive to Poptun. So, along with 3 Guatemalan girls, we took local commuter (short distance) buses to get to Rio Dulce, and from Rio Dulce we would head to Puerto Barrios, where likely we would get stuck for the night. 5 buses later and we had made it to Puerto, but indeed there were no more ferries to Livingston.

Puerto is a dumpy Port/Border town, but (other than our room), we liked it enough. The next morning we got on the slow boat and headed to Livingston. From Livingston you can walk to the “Siete Altares,” a series of waterfalls that cascade towards the Sea. 3 hours walking there and back was plenty and the waterfalls were cool enough. After working up an appetite we decided to try what looked like the cheapest eats in Livingston to try a local seafood stew called Tapado. If you can see a problem with this combination (cheapest place + seafood) then you have a greater capacity for foresight than I and I congratulate you. At 3 in the morning I was having contractions and I didn't even know I was pregnant. Even while on kill all antibiotics, I managed to get food poisoned (even though my mantra had just that day been “I can eat anything, I could see myself abusing antibiotics for the pure recreational joy of it). The next day was spent largely in bed and I had my third serious illness in that many weeks. (Funny thing, we saw Ray, the funny 60 year old guy we had met in Tikal. Do not know how he fared, but amazingly Rory was spared..)

From Livingston, Carlos, the Argentine owner took us in his boat to Finca Tatin. The ride through the Rio Dulce canyon was incredible. Green jungle rising straight up from the river and filled with white crane/kingfishers in the trees, flying above, or fishing. It was as if we were in a prehistoric scene from Jurassic Park, pure jungle and amazing creatures. Finca Tatin, is a cool, albeit pricey little spot on a tributary to the Rio Dulce. Built on stilts above a swamp, it was a really nice place to hang out with amazing jungle sounds and rain every night to lull you to sleep. Yesterday we rented a kayak and had a good day paddling and trying to climb the cliff walls that came up from the river.

Today we took off and have landed at another stilted, jungle hangout spot. We'll leave tomorrow as we've had enough of this scene and these inflated prices. Plus, I'm looking forward to finally getting to those hot spring waterfalls. The day after it'll be to Guatemala City to await Annie's arrival!