The Guatemalan Caribbean Coast, Garifuna style

On Sunday November 29, Honduras will be electing its new president, an election resulting from the coup in late June 2009 that removed forcefully the current president from the office, president who has been hiding since in the Brazil Embassy in the capital city. When the coup happened, there were a lot of riots and violence in the streets and all the borders ended up being closed for a week. We were wondering if this election would happen in peace or if more blood would be shed like four months earlier. We decided to wait and see what happens and instead of crossing the border right away, we'd rather spend a last weekend with Eleonore on the Carribean coast of Guatemala. If all goes well with the elections, we would then cross into Honduras after the weekend.

An enchanting boat ride on the Rio Dulce
We traveled on our motorcycles and Eleonore by bus: we would meet in the town of Rio Dulce where we would take a boat to go to Livingston, a small town on the Caribbean coast that can only be reached by boat. As we left that morning, we were sad to leave Antigua, which has been an awesome town to settle in for a while. However, after a few miles, we had this sense of joy and freedom from being riding again. We did miss it and after the apprehension of the departure came the pleasure of ridding and being on our bikes. It felt almost like a second departure and we remembered the day we left for this trip, experiencing something similar. Oh well, only for a day since we were going to leave our bikes in Rio Dulce for a few days.

The next morning, the three of us were on the boat for Livingston, ready to enjoy our 2-hour boat ride which is said to be exceptionally beautiful. We were for sure not deceived in our front row seats on the boat. First, we stopped at the Castillo, a little fortress built in the 16th century by the Spanish and then observed the local birds on a small island. It was so noisy close to the islands with all the birds perched there, barely any room left on the tree branches. And then the ride up the Rio Dulce, getting us deep into the jungle. The canopy was thick and high above white cliffs, with impressive ceiba trees overlooking the river. It felt like we were on the Amazon river, with the blue green water and the dense jungle all around us. We also stopped at a natural hot spring called Agua Caliente where we dipped our feet in the warm water. A little further up the river, we went through an arm of the river covered in water lilies and as our boat was cruising between the plants, kids on small wooden canoes came closer to our boat. They were so cute paddling in their mini boat, showing us local fish, crabs and turtles they had caught earlier. We saw a cute little girl that started frowning when she realized no one was going to buy her crab. It was an incredible boat trip and it was heard to leave the boat as we reached Livingston.

And again, it's all about the hair...

We had a hard time believing we were still in Guatemala as most people here are Garifuna, meaning not Latino but descendants of black slaves brought form Nigeria on two Spanish ships that sunk in the 17th centery close to the Guatemalan/Honduras coastline. The Garifuna culture has survived since, though going through some difficult times over the last few centuries, giving Levinston that island feel that makes you think you are rather in Jamaica or another Caribbean island. We adopted the very unique feel, music and local dialect right away, enjoying a good Coco Frio with the beat of the African like music.
The next day was really hard... a day at the local beach after a short hike to the Seven Altars, a cascade of seven pools close to town. The walk was nice but unfortunately the cascades were dry since it had not rained for 2 months. We would not see the sight at its best but at least we got a nice walk along the coast, though we were so sad to see how much trash was lining the little sand beaches. On the way back, we found the perfect spot: a little private beach in front of a hotel with a long pier stretching into the sea. To our surprise, the wooden pear had hammocks and chairs set up in the shade where we relaxed for a while to digest our lunch. After a good rest, we decided to go and swim a little bit: the water was so clean, calm and warm that it was like being in a bath. The palm trees along the beach were the final touch for a perfect afternoon at the beach. We finished the afternoon in the comfortable chairs on the beach, soaking in the sun and working on our tans. What a tough day!

Back into town, we went to our favorite hang out place to enjoy more Coco Frios under the thatched roof of the bar. Caroline, still jealous that she was the only one without a new hairdo decided to go for real different and get her hair braided, island style. A women had offered the nigh before to braid her hair and she finally decided to try it out. She would get a new do as well! The woman was so fast braiding her hair but it was also a pretty painful process and she was pulling the hair hard to have tight braids. The result was well worth it: like Chad said, he had now a little Garifuna wife. The change was pretty drastic and convenient to fit under the helmet:) Eleonore, intrigued by the process and liking the end result, let herself be convinced by Caroline to jump on the boat of girls with braids. It was quite cool to see the woman do her hair as well and as you can see, the result is really cool. We definitely have two island gals in the group, no doubt about it. We fit in much better in our new environment and are ready for more sun on the beach.

With such a relaxing time in Levingston, we stayed another night in town and returned to Rio Dulce the next day. At this point, we had heard that the elections went well and that the US and EU observers on site were satisfied with how the elections were held so far. The population was calm and no incident was reported. We should be able to enter Honduras the next day and start our journey in Copan Ruins where we would see the famous Maya ruins. This was our last night with Eleonore before she returns to Antigua and stay there for a few weeks to do volunteer work. We had such a good time with her over the last week that we had a hard time thinking she would leave us the next morning.