Livingston, Guatemala

     Josh and I left our swamp hostel in the morning on a boat down the Rio Dulce river to Livingston near the boarder of Belize. We met two cool Canadian girls sitting next to us and we all had a great time joking around and talking during the ride. The river was beautiful with lush jungle surrounding us, monkeys jumping from trees and old locals calmly paddling along side us in their make shift canoes using planks of wood as paddles. Women in the river washed their clothes and little kids played in the water while waving at us as we passed by. A real sense of warmth with the people of rural Guatemala.

     We arrived in Livingston some hours later and as we got off the boat were instantly engaged by a local Rastafarian looking dude who said he had a good place for us to stay. We already knew where we wanted to stay so we declined and walked down the street but he kept following us. Turns out the place was full so we went to another place with this guy still following us. He went ahead of us and we saw him quickly running into a few hotels and then out again. When we got to our second choice place the owner looked uneasy and told us that the place was full. It was obviously not and as a girl walked out of her room we asked her and she said she was the only one staying there. Now something is fishy
     Turns out this Rasta guy was some sort of gangster of this place and told the hotels to say they were full so that we had to stay at his place. We now knew he was shady and wanted nothing to do with him and told him off where he got rather aggressive. We had just arrived and had already made a local enemy, great. Walked down the street some more and found a decent place to stay. Josh was tired so I took off on my own to explore the town.

    Went down by the ocean and was very suprised by how much trash was on the beach, it was like a dump. A local man saw me looking at all the trash and came up to me and started talking about how bad it has gotten. He was about 80 years old and by the way he talked I could tell he was very smart. We ended up talked for about an hour about environmental issues and the local issues of Livingston. Turns out he ran a Orphanage in the local village and invited me to come check it out.
     Livingston is right near Belize so the locals are all direct African slaves who were abandoned in Belize by the Spanish. He walked me through a very very poor village and as I walked past windows I could see eyes lighting up as they saw me and soon the entire village was out side of their homes to come look at me. Kids had no clothes on at all and the homes were as shanty as you can get. Everyone was smiling and I smiled and waved back. The man led me into one of the homes where a very old woman was sitting in a rocking chair listening to a radio. She turned around and looked at me with these huge eyes and weather torn face, smiled and said hello. I sat down next to her not really knowing what to say so I told her my name and where I was from. She told me some stories of living in Belize and the struggles she endured as a African, it was very interesting but hard to follow at times and her speaking had a strong Caribbean accent and was slurred from age. I said my goodbyes and the man took me to the Orphanage.
    I was really taken back by the situation. The Orphanage was nothing more then a very big shed with a dirt floor and a faucet sticking out of the wall. about 20 kids were laying on the dirt sleeping while the others were playing and running around. They all looked very skinny and malnourished but very happy. I hung out and played with the kids for a while and then asked the old man what I could do to help. He said they were in need of clothes and food so I asked for him to take me to a grocery store where I bought large bags of rice, vegetables, non perishable items and various sizes of shoes and shirts. I only had about $50 US with me but it bought quite a bit. Brought it back with the help of some other locals and played with the kids some more before making my way back to our hotel.

     We were told that there was a really good BBQ and party at the hostel down the road so that evening we walked down there to find a very cool scene and alot of nice people. Had a huge Shrimp dinner with about 30 other travelers and partied the night away.

    Josh and I decided to go back to our rooms and as we are walking down a long dark stretch of road we see three shady looking guys walking towards us. I am instantly sketched out as my shoulder is useless and there is no way I could fight someone to protect myself. They guys walk strait towards us and as one gets close he lifts up his shirt and motions with his hand like he his going to grab a gun from his waist. I tensed up and thought we were going to get robbed or shot and then he puts his shirt down and quickly lunges at us like he is going to hit me, then laughs and they all walk away. They were just trying to scare us but it really put us on edge and made this whole town seem sketchy.

   The next day we moved to the hostel so we did not have to do anymore late night trips and had a great time with everyone at the hostel for the next couple days.