LIVINGSTON
Transportation
From Copan (Honduras): by public transport. Leaving at 6.00 I arrived at 18.00 !! An accident on the road shortly after Los Amates (near Quirigua) blocked us for at least two hours. Suffocating heat, very little water to drink, nothing to eat, and especially nowhere around to pee. It took then long time to reach Puerto Barrios, given the traffic outflow long queues. My morning had started in the best way, at 8.45 am I was already in Chiquimula … So, please consider the possibility to run into some hitches or unexpected events. In details: 20 HNL microbus from Copan to El Florito border. I got informations the day before on the exact place where the microbuses leave, and on the timetables. I left at 6.00. The transition to immigration was fast, and I did not pay anything. On the other side of the border there was a Litegua minibus to Chiquimula (16 GTQ). In Chiquimula, as I understood because it was not easy to find info, from the Litegua terminal buses head only to Guatemala City, for Rio Dulce/Puerto Barrios you have to take a walk and reach another area (the various employees of the bus companies will accompany you). Transportes Vargas, 45 GTQ, to Puerto Barrios. Another company with same service should be Carmencita. 35 GTQ for a public boat from Puerto Barrios to Livingstone, at 17.00, when I was already afraid not to be able to get to my final destination, and instead, always if I understood correctly, it was not even the last one. The crossing at sunset is very suggestive, breathing deeply the humid air
To Rio Dulce (Finca Tatin): by boat, 35 GTQ. They stop at the Hostal El Viajero pier
Sleep
Hotel Casa Rosada, 160 GTQ for a wooden bungalow. Very well reviewed on Tripadvisor but it did not convince me, in fact the morning after the first thing I did was to go out to find something else.
I moved to Hostal Dona Alida, 150 GTQ for a beautiful room facing the sea.
On the seafront between the main central pier and the Casa Rosada there are other options, the cheapest are Hostal El Viajero, the Hotel Henry Berrisford (fully booked), and then the New Millenium Benitez (I was asked 80 GTQ for a single), frankly horrifying, and infact it was deserted.
Impressions
Usual day trips from Livingston are Playa Blanca and Siete Altares, a series of waterfalls. I had been told how to reach them on my own with a cheap mototaxi + trek combination. The usual downpour, with subsequent black out which left the whole city without electricity for almost a whole day, combined with the heat and exhausting displacement from Copan, practically destroyed me. So I spent a whole day in the hammock on the balcony of my room to recover from my efforts. Therefore, I do not know anything about Livingston, nor about the Garifuna culture. On the other hand, it was from the beginning of the journey that I did nothing but run. Great place to relax. And beautiful murals
