After a nice weekend at Sue and Victor`s, it was time again to head out for another adventure. Before coming down here I had heard about Livingston Guatemala, which is the home of the Garifuna people. Those of you in Albuquerque might know of Laru Ni Hati, the hair salon. Well, Laru Ni Hati means clear blue sky in the Garifuna Language. On Tuesday morning I set out for the bus station and my First Class bus trip there.
Sue was kind enough to drive me and I got checked in easily. For about $10usd I was able to ride the luxury bus line for 6 hours to get to Puerto Barrios, which is the closest port city. Livingston is not an Island, but it is only accessible by boat. I made my way from the bus station to the Lanchas (taxi boats) quite easily. I am very very happy with the roller bag/backpack I bought before the trip. It works like a charm.
After a little lunch I got onto the Lancha to Livingston and it was about a 30 minute ride. Livingston sits on the estuary of the Caribbean and Rio Dulce. When the Lanchas arrive there is a mad dash of hustlers waiting for you. "Hey Big Mon. You from Colorado Mon?". If I forgot to mention before, the Garifuna are a West Indies like culture that is similar to Jamaica. Even though I had my plans for where to stay, it was a bit daunting, but nothing to horrible.
I was planning to stay at a certain hotel, but when I arrived they were full accept for double rooms that were about 150Q a night. That wasn`t too expensive really, but I thought I would search on. One of the hustlers, who had followed me to the hotel kept suggesting I check out Casa de la Iguana. So, I thought I would let "Anthony the Great" (his title) escort me there. When we arrived I was pretty taken with the place.
I was met by a hunky English dude named Daniel, who looked like one of the British Bulldogs (for those WWF fans out there). He was very welcoming and showed me around the place. They have a main communal area with hammocks, satellite TV and a bar. There are 2 Dorm like Hostel rooms and 3 private bungalows for sleeping. I chose to pay 120Q a night for a private room with connected bath. I was in the mood to pamper a little. The communal open air grass hut was fun. Since most travellers were staying in the dorms, there were people hanging around all the time.
I checked into my room and Daniel filled out the locations on a blank map for the points of interest in the town and described the tours that the coordinate for you. I really felt well taken care of, maybe just because the owner and workers were all from the UK and the accents lend themselves to congeniality. They run a tab system for breakfast, Dinner and Drinks, which is darn convenient. Happy hour was from 5-7, where "The Tele" is turned off and the drinks are about 1/3 less. Granted, this was not an "Authentic Garifuna" experience, but it sure was fun, if not a little too Frat House like.
The workers and tenants were all basically college age and I was having flash backs to keggers with the OKE boys back at Hope. It is a chapter in my history that I don`t talk about too much these days, but it fun to relive those feelings, if just for a couple of days. Lot`s of trash talking over games of dominoes, questioning of sexuality, and of course, tons of beer.
As much as I tried to sit in the hammock all day and watch Euro soccer qualifiers, I did want to get out and explore. I signed up for the Jungle Tour two days in a row, which is a day long cutural outing to learn about the Garifuna people, but it was cancelled both days due to low interest (only me). I also went out those two nights to see the Garifuna bands play in the bars, but, those were cancelled too. I was a little bummed about all that, but it was relaxing and fun to hang at the CdlI.On the third day, I went on another tour which took me to the "7 Alters" waterfall park and Playa Blanca (both pictured). I went with a group of Israelis and Ed from the UK. I must say that it was a real blast. We set out at 9:30 and the CdlI folks packed us sandwiches and drinks. The short hike up the 7 water falls was fun and jumping off the last waterfall (behind me in the photo), was a blast. I really like watering holes for swimming.
We left Siete Alteras for Playa Blanca after an hour or so.
When we got to Playa Blanca were given 3 hours to chill on the beach. I crawled off under a palm tree for my lunch and a beer. Then I found a hammock and read my book for an hour or so.After that, I joined the younin's under another palm tree. We went swimming and laid on the beach and had a nice time. I learned a couple of new things about Israel, such as the poorly translated saying "He/She is eating a movie", which is used to describe when someone is paranoid.
We returned to the hostel for all you can eat taco night and had one more night of fun before I set out back to Guate.
In the morning, I got everything paid up and set out for the Lancha back to Puerto Barrios. When I got half way to the dock, I realized that I left my passport back in the lock box at the hostel. I had 5 minutes to get to the dock with about a 10 minute walk from the hostel to the dock. I ran pack to get the passport, then ran to the dock, only to meet the Lancha with the motor running. I made it in the nick of time.
After the Lancha I caught the bus back to Guate and this is where the Antiboredom comes in. I am normally pretty goal driven and like my routines. When plans are executed well and logistics are efficient I tend to get happy and relaxed. On this trip, and I am not sure when, but all that melted away. I am not sure what time it is right now and I have to think about it a little to know what day of the week it is. I would need to count back to when I arrived here to give you an accurate date. On the bus ride back to Guate, there was this enormous traffic jam. We waited for close to 2 hours with virtually no movement. I can tell you with all honesty, that it didn't bother me in the least.
I have been putting myself into daydream states that last for hours on end. It is like the feeling when you are with a group of people and you zone out and someone needs to bring you back. Normally the guilt for ignoring people in that situation slightly overcomes the joy of not being there mentally, but in this case, there is nobody or thing or event to stop me. I can just sit and think.
Normally in life I am waging a constant battle of boredom. When I am with family/friends, playing a sport, watching a good movie, etc, I am not bored. Then there are other times when I am not interested in my work, flipping the channels, sitting in an airport, I am then bored and I do something to alleviate it. I have gotten rather good at it with all the information toys in my life, both mobile and stationary. I have great people in my life spend time with. Crap, I even have a pool table, but something different is happening during this trip. I have really let go and dialed down to a new frequency in my head and it is really different.
I do still have some realities of the world to deal with however, such as my making it to bus stations, boat docks and airports on time, but I have good long periods to prepare. Today, I am trying to think about how to handle my personal little Bay of Pigs situation with the Cuba trip. The issues is that I can't pay for my flight online with my credit card due to the whole embargo thang. I can pay with cash for everything, but there is a daily limit to the amount I can withdrawal per day and with the expenses in Cuba, plus the airfare, I might not have enough cash. When I get to Cuba, there are no ATM's and you can't use credit card anywhere, so I need the cash going in. Ah, the joy of whimsical travel to Cuba.
My plan is to work Sue and My back accounts for the max withdrawals to build up the funds and then, when I get to the airport, there is a chance that I can pay at the ticket counter with my Visa. If that doesn't work, then I think I am going to go to Costa Rica or Honduras to get my Carribean experience. Those are cheaper and shorter flights, so it may leave me with some money to go Sailfishing or something else exotic like a canopy tour. Either way, it should be a blast with more daydreaming, book reading and meeting new people.
I will post again next week from where ever. Cheers.
