Woooo my gosh this place is beautiful. I am soo happy that we decided at the last moment to end our trip here. Livingston is a town right on the coast and just across a river from Belize.
It is so interesting here because it is almost an even mix of Guatemalan looking people and Garifunas -- black. The Garifunas speak both Garifuna and Spanish and usually some English.
(And then there are a few white tourists like us.)
There are street shops all over selling beautiful trinkets and crafts again, so were making friends. I love the venders. They're so used to selling things to tourists, but I don't think they're used to us stopping to talk and then saying hi whenever we walk by.
Thankfully, after coughing ridiculously all night and keeping Bethy up (sorry, Chica) my cold went away and I feel completely better. I made sure to get a lot of sleep last night (despite the coughing) and I had some more magic tea today and I feel faannntassttiicc!! (Flowers courtesy the boys.) :D
So, today was spent wandering through the jungle avoiding killer ants, swimming behind the waterfall and jumping off the top the waterfall, learning Spanish with new friends, observing the beautiful
Garifuna, chewing on sugarcane, climbing coconut trees and picking coconuts and this list could go on and on so let's get to the details. :)
This morning Beth and I went walking to the beach where we took a little break and met up with Vinicio and Ricardo. We went up in a little shack on the water and I decided to show off my farm girl muscles.
I was no comparison to his gymnast muscles (he is a rediculously talented gymnast) but we still had fun!
This is us. Tromping through the jungle searching for the waterfalls. Bethy and I had originally been planning to go alone, but it's a good thing we didn't. After about a half hour walk more (the beach is about 40 minutes from town) we left the shoreline and headed back through the trees.
We climbed over logs and stomped through mud before going through some gates, paying an entrance fee, then continuing through the woods and river until finally we saw some little waterfalls.
It was incredible, deep pockets of water flowing in between raised walls of rock. Again, it's a good thing those boys went with because we were nowhere near the actual waterfall. And, it was pretty tough in spots. Nice to have steps to follow in....and a hand to hold so we didn't fall and die, (we tried. Ha.)
We finally got to the waterfall and jumped right in. As we swam beneath the flow, I wished that I could take a camera and capture even a small part of the amazing beauty, but it is impossible. There are some things you just need to go experience yourself.
After swimming a bit we climbed up the rocks on the side and found another little pool on top. The sweet boys had never swam there before so they told us to wait as they made sure it was safe. No problem! Then, we leapt off the waterfall...I can't count how many times I did. I love climbing the rocks, and the easiest way to get down was to jump. At one point Vinicio even convinced me to climb up the rocks and trees on the side and jump off. Not even our other Garifuna friend did that, so I felt pretty proud of myself. :)
(This is Vinicio. Playing with my camera.)
After swimming and climbing and jumping for a looongg time, we started our trek back. After walking a few minutes the boys old us to wait and took off through the woods. We shrugged an sat down to wait. A few minutes later they came back with sticks-- sugar cane! Friends, add it to your bucket list to eat fresh sugar cane. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!
The boys showed us how to peel back the skin and bite the cork, suck the sugary juice out and then spit out the rest. After awhile it just felt like chewing on wet wood but still an incredible, unexpected experience.
Vinicio is quite the character, and he likes to show off. I guess one of his skills is crab catching.
On the way back, Vinicio gave me a piggyback ride because I was lazy. Beth and Ricardo were super walking and left us, so we stopped and watched the killer ants walk for miles along our trail. They seriously carried the biggest leaves, and half were going one way carrying things and half the ants were walking the other direction carrying nothing. We confused them by picking them up by their leaves and turning them around. Ha! So funny...and yes that story was pretty irrelevant, except for the fact that he was teaching me Spanish the whole time. I feel like I have learned so much while I've been here!
Oh, and I also caught a duck. It made my day, even though my friends made fun of me, oh well. :)
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