After the fantastic boat ride up the Rio Dulce, Steve and I arrived in a small port called Livingston. Livingston is inhabited by the Garfuna, an African-Caribbean mix of people. The port was small, but busy. We were immediately greeted by the barefoot folk who were quick to provide us information on where to stay and when to get the next boat out of Livingston. The trip to Belize was not recommended that late in the day, so we checked in with customs to get our passports stamped for our departure that was scheduled for the next morning. 

Livingston upon arrival...


We stayed at a hotel that sat on a bluff overlooking the main waterway in and out of Livingston. That night, we watched as all of the shrimp boats one by one made their way out and made their way back in from an evening of shrimping....at least that is what I guessed they were doing, although I was used to the early morning, 5am shrimping I did in Galveston! 

The view...




The showers at the pool...




While walking the small strip of Livingston, looking for a place for dinner, a wonderfully talkative woman named Maria approached us. As we passed her restaurant, she ran out to greet us and inform us that she had the best food in town. She was Mexican and had lived in India, claiming to be one of 10 Mexicans in all of India at the time! She proudly pointed out she was in Lonely Planet. She had definitely sold us on dinner and we returned that evening for the best Shrimp Curry and Mohitos I have ever had. 



I found the Garfuna people of Livingston fun to watch, with Rastafarian men entertaining the women with stories, dancing and singing. I was afraid to take pictures of their homes and of them, but I did shoot the picture below from the hip as we were walking along, hoping to capture something of the surroundings. The picture came out pretty good for a guess! 



My one regret is that I didn´t just ask the one Rastafarian, with the gold teeth and dreads, for my picture with him. He was a happy dude, dancing in the street, and I think he probably would have loved the idea. Sometimes my hesitation gets the best of me, so this one can only be left for the imagination. 

At 8am, we caught a boat to Punta Gorda Belize. I happened to notice the very attractive young man that sat toward the front of the boat and understood his name to be Ted. He was riding next to a woman who was a Volcanologist...hmm, that's a career I have never thought much about. The boat cut through pristine, turquoise blue waters headed away from Livingston into open sea for 40 minutes, when the shore of Belize became visible. The morning waters were calm making the ride very enjoyable. We were glad we had waited.



Once in Punta Gorda, we passed through a small wooden shack that ended up being customs. They stamped our passports and we were on our way, no questions asked. 

Immediately upon exiting the boat, Steve jumped gracefully into his position of wingman, got right next to Ted offering his hand saying, "Hi, I'm Steve and this is MY WIFE'S good friend Cathy." Then, Steve had to mysteriously go do something while Ted and I waited on the bus to Independence.

Punta Gorda...




On our way from Punta Gorda to Independence Belize, the bus ride with Ted was very interesting. While crossing through two hours of Belize, passing a different style of poverty from Guatemala, Steve took on his position as my wingman with great grace! By the end of the ride, we knew quite a bit about Ted and his journey. He however, was not going on to Placencia....que lastima!  

Our bus to Independence


The local barbecue in the park...



Independence was this very thirsty little town where the sand and dirt were consuming. We were dropped off in what appeared to be an empty space, not a bus station, a parking lot, just an open space of dirt with a few houses around. There were no signs, no indications whatsoever of what the next step might be and here, we really stood out.  

Anyway, of course Steve knew we just needed to begin walking. Eventually, a taxi drove by knowing the only place we could possibly be going was the Hokey Pokey Waterway! And that is exactly what happened. Next we were getting on a little boat, heading through gorgeous mangroves on our way to Placencia.

The Hokey Pokey Waterway...




Placencia was the most isolated, pristine beach I have visited. In the Guinness Book of World Records for having the smallest Main Street in the World, this was a special place. Mainstreet was a narrow sidewalk in which it was $100 fine to ride your bike. We spent two days in Placencia enjoying the beach, kayaking, snorkeling, riding bikes and just relaxing in the sun. I tried to go scuba diving with the whale sharks, but we were two days too late according to the cycle of the moon. We only had to step off the beach into the water to snorkel with giant starfish and schools of fish darting about. I kept saying, there are no people here!  

No people!


No people again! The Barefoot Cafe was this fantastic local gathering place....


We were walking down the beach when this came into view and I said, I have to go sit in that chair so there can be a person in this picture!


No peoples on the beach!


Main Sreet....(there is a person using that phone and maybe on the sidewalk at the end!)



The beautiful people of Belize!


Talk about a set of eyes!!


On the trip home, we got to relive the journey. We did meet three Swedish girls and a gentleman from the US. After the Hokey Pokey Waterway back to Independence and the bus from Independence to Punta Gorda, while we were waiting for the boat to Livingston, the three Swedish girls actually left all their backpacks at the dock while they went to find some food. Well, with boat schedules being loose at best, this ended up being a bad decision. After some confusion as to who we were and explaining that we were not the people on the piece of paper from customs, we were told to get on the boat to Livingston now or be left. So, we got on the boat and pulled away to the site of their giant backpacks sitting on the dock.....hmmm hope we don´t see them again! Never, never leave your bag!

Once in Livingston, later that evening, we headed back to see Maria for dinner once again. While we were walking, we passed a little tienda and there stood the three Swedish girls! Evidently, they had caught another boat later in the day. I said to Steve...they are probably in there buying tooth brushes because their bags and everything they had for their journey was stolen! They seemed pretty relaxed so we assumed all was well and decided not to stop to ask. We never ran into them again....

The next morning a gentleman from the US, (that had been with us when we had to leave the Sweedish girls), was going to take the boat with us up the Rio Dulce. Well, he didn´t show up five minutes before the boat was to leave, and though again, we tried to hold the boat, we ended up having to leave him as well! He must have caught a later boat to Rio Dulce as we ran into him once again too. He didn´t seem too upset. I think after being part of the Swedish incident, he understood how it worked! We didn´t speak of it anyway.

We made it back to Antigua without one thing going wrong on our trip. The entire week was fantastic, something I will always remember. I hope one day to take that journey again so I can watch, as whomever I am with, exits that bus in Independence and says now what.....I might play dumb for a few minutes to see what happens!

Until next time,
cathy