Well, we had made it 2.5 months, but we finally got robbed this past week. Getting off the bus on the way to work on Friday, Pat�s wallet got pick-pocketed. He got sandwiched by a couple guys and when he checked his pockets later it was gone . . . guess we�ll have to be more careful. Luckily all that was in it was some money and our gym passes. We went to the gym and they were nice enough to give us new ones, so it wasn�t too big of a loss.
This past weekend we went to Livingston (I presume??). Saturday we woke up at 3:30AM and a shuttle picked us up at 4:00AM to take us into Guatemala City. We caught the 5:30 bus to Puerto Barrios, which arrived 5 hours later at 10:30. From there we walked to the dock and caught a boat (because there are no roads to Livingston) that took 30 minutes to arrive in Livingston by around 11:30. Yes, that adds up to a 7.5 hour trip! Note that we splurged and paid extra to get the shuttle and Pullman bus. . . We can�t imagine having gone in a chicken bus!!!
Livingston is a town of only 6,000 people, most of which are Garifuna. The Garifuna people are descendants of African slaves, indigenous people and other groups who have come to Central America over the years who developed a distinct culture and language (but they also speak Spanish, and a bit of English). They are settled on the Caribbean coast and their main economic source is fishing. The town is very different from the rest of Guatemala and seems like a different country. On the walk through town we met a man by the name of �Alexander the Great� (or so he said) who showed us to a hotel we liked and decided to stay at. He was very persistent in asking for a tip, saying he needed to get some food and wouldn�t use the money for any drugs or anything like that, so we tipped him. And as he was walking out, he added �By the way, do you guys want any weed?� Yes, we�re not too sure about that guy. :-P Anyway, while in Livingston we decided to try the local specialty for lunch: tapado. It is a stew made of fish, shrimp, crab, plantains, and coconut milk. It was good, but a little shocking to find both a whole fish and a mostly whole crab inside:
Excuse me, waitress? I think there�s a fish head in my soup.
At the same restaurant we met a very friendly cat who looks surprisingly like Alyssa�s cat Mitzi back home:
How did Mitzi get to Livingston?!?!
After lunch we took a 1.5 hour walk on the beach to get to a place called 7 altars. Along the way we took this picture:
Proof we made it to the Carribbean
The 7 altars are a series of waterfalls and pools in a stream that flows into the Caribbean, only about a 1/4 mile from the beach. Unfortunately we didn�t have much time to stay because it was getting late, but otherwise we would have gone swimming. Instead we just hiked up the stream to see all the falls. The water was fairly warm and the falls were beautiful. Here�s some pictures:
7 Altars
7 Altars
Sunday morning we were back at the dock ready to leave for the long journey home by 9:30AM. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that our 5 hour bus ride back to Guate was on a nice double-decker bus and we got seats on the top floor! It was quite the change from the chicken buses! And then after we got to Guate, we took a chicken bus home, and ironically it made it the hour ride to Antigua and then died about two blocks from our stop.
We�re excited to let you know that we�ll be going on our much awaited and well deserved vacation next week, so we won�t be able to post next week. Things are going well at the project and it�s hard to believe that we�ll be leaving for home in less than a month.
