Free Travel!

Just got back yesterday from ten days of free travel!  My group (Anna, Kiersten, Rachel, Cody, and myself) started out with a bus ride at 6 am to Rio Dulce, which is on the east coast of Guatemala. Our ride was punctuated by two evangelists talking about the devil and the end of the world as well as a bunch of different vendors. We found a great café in Rio Dulce, run by a Swiss guy and patronized by a crowd of drunk European retirees who told us all the best sights to see. When I asked the one woman about canopy tours, she misheard me and was about to start telling me where to find cannabis. Yeahhh, those weren't the last interesting travelers we met. So we ended up seeing a really cool castle, complete with underground tunnels, that was built to defend against pirates.  We also spent a morning at a place where hot waterfalls run down into cold pools.  It was fantastically refreshing in the heat, plus there were caves behind the waterfalls that we explored a little. 

After Rio Dulce, we took a boat to Livingston, which has a whole different feel.  It's a community of Garifunas, or descendents of the blacks who were brought to be slaves back in the day.  It's a very caribbean culture, and it was a whole different side of Guatemala.  We met an old Garifuna guy who gave us a tour of the "real" Livingston, which may or may not have been a scam.  But either way, it was interesteing to hear him talk about how all the aid goes to the Mayas while the blacks live in poverty.  He pretty much knew everyone in the whole black part of town, and I enjoyed hearing people speak Garifuna.  We also met a group of students from Canadian Mennonite University, who had sort of been following us from place to place (and had stayed briefly at CASAS).  They spent last semester on a road trip across Canada and then were doing study abroad this semester.  In the evenings we played a lot of cards and just hung out.  I really liked the fact that there wasn't exactly nightlife in Livingston, but that people sat around outside stores and houses and just talked. 

After Livingston, we headed up to Placencia, Belize to hang out on the beach.  It was still super hot, so it was nice to swim and relax in our hammocks.  I got stung by a jellyfish while swimming, but just peed on it and it was all good.  ;)  One day we went snorkeling and saw all kinds of cool fish and coral and crabs!  Placencia had more nightlife than Livingston, but it was surprising that the bars weere mostly full of retired gringos who live there now.  It's almost as if the tourists and retirees are a whole different community from the natives.  It was strange to hear so much English (although there was some Creole as well).  I was glad for the time to relax, but I found myself missing Spanish and Guatemala City.  It was very exciting to come back and hear stories from everyone's week!  Today we rested and had orientation for the leg of our journey in Chiapas, Mexico, which strangely enough also begins with a bus ride at 6 am.