The Guatemalan Jungle

With Zephyr Lodge behind us, Blanche, Katherine and I headed for the jungle.  Rio Dulce was our first stop, we needed to get Blanche to a doctor.  We found a clinic the next morning, since I was the Spanish speaking member of the crew, I was elected to join her in the examination room.  I learned all kinds of great things about Blanche's illness, it was disturbing at times, but this is what you do for friends!  I never knew there could be so many different colors of poop in one sitting!!  We learned that the three of us were not traveling alone, Blanche had some friends riding along with her - amoebic parasites.  This would explain the constant runs to the toilet.  We loaded up on antibiotics and we were out of Rio Dulce.  The town was bustling and crowded, we needed peace and quite in a natural setting.

Boat ride down the Rio Dulce

We caught the boat to Finica Tatin the next morning.  Did I mention we were in the jungle in the dry season, well it had been pouring down rain since we arrived.  The boat ride was wet and wild, the three of us were huddled up under a tarp.  We came to Finic Tatin to go kayaking, not for the rain!  It was a beautiful place, except for the rain of course.  Katherine and I were able to get an hour of kayaking in the second day in between the rain drops.  The rest of the time was spent in hammocks reading and relaxing.  It was a great four days, Blanche's health improved and we all got some needed rest.  We also met some great people, one of which surfaced again in my travels, Rachael.  She showed up two nights before we left and was, let's go with...crazy. 

This is how you relax!!

Never ending rain

Time to move, Blanche decided to return to Xela for Spanish school, Rach headed for Zephyr Lodge and Katherine and I were off to Livingston.  We came to kayak and we decided to kayak to Livingston from the hostel.  Rain or shine we were going to make this kayaking happen.  It was a two hour paddle down the river, if we were wet, we would be wet.  It rained when we left, we looked at each other thinking - idiots.  A miracle happened, it stopped raining for the first time in four days!  We could not believe our luck, rained the first ten minutes and after that cloudy but no rain.  The views were incredible, high cliff walls in a jungle setting.  A toucan was sighted flying over head and the locals were fishing with nets in the river.  I was a perfect float.  We were paddling into Livingston, through old docks with trash in the water and old boats collecting guano and rusting away, when blue sky appeared.  Katherine's response "Hobbit look at it, it's beautiful, just like a post card!!"

It so happens that Nicole, someone I met in Antigua, was working at Casa de la Iguana.  I contacted her because this was a big weekend, Superbowl weekend.  I had one goal this weekend, to watch the Giants beat the Patriots.  We checked in and found Livingston to be a rarely visited seaside town with a lot of culture.  The people were friendly and the rain had stopped.

Rio Dulce

This hostel we stayed at, the one Nicole was working at, was run by an insane Englishman.  When I say insane, I mean INSANE!!  He was oddly hilarious, oddly unique and a former stripper.  Weird, weird man!!  One would gather from this information that the rest of the staff was equally unique, and they were.  The great thing about this situation, it made for hysterical happenings all day long.  The food was incredible and the bar flowed freely. 

Winning!!

Livingston beaches

Walks along the beach lead to waterfalls known as Seven Alters.  An amazing natural beauty that we swam in and jumped off of.  Well, some of us did, some of us watched, namely me.  I do not jump of things, it seems like an idiot thing to do!  The day we went to the waterfalls, we meet Tim and Jennifer from London.  Great people and a lot of fun.  But like a lot of English people, they had no interest in Superbowl Sunday and left that day for peace of mind.  I on the other hand was ready, and excited.  Rusty, the owner of the hostel, prepared a special Superbowl meal, moved the TV into the dining area and it was time.  The only problem was that the electricians were taking longer than expected.  There was no power, Rusty explained the importance of the game and they picked up the pace from barely moving to a slow crawl.  When the power came on, the Giants were in the end zone with a safety.  I still have no idea how it happened, but I love it!  As the game wore on, the only Patriots fan slowly became a bit quite and eventually disappeared to his room checking out the next morning before anyone was awake.  I on the other hand celebrated long into the night, creating a long slumber the next day.

I really wanted to get a Sexy Look!!

The plan was to go to Honduras after Livingston.  Well, plans change.  Katherine was planning on going to Mexico to meet friends.  She found out that Mexico was off and we decided to extend our traveling friendship and we left Nicole in Livingston and headed for Belize.  So here I sit, in sunny Belize, far from Honduras with more to tell for another time.