Fish whit coco whit a bit a crab you know what i 'saying?

To get to Livingston on the Caribbean Coast of Guatemala, you need to take a lancha (a small boat) up Rio Dulce, because there are no roads that go out to that part of the coast. It is for the best though because the trip up the river really is stunning, lots of bird life and also some great places to stop. Ww lingered a while at some thermal springs where you can soak yourself in little rivulets of steaming hot water, which emerge from the cracks in the river bed. The smell of rotten egg gas sulpher is a bit strange but its totally envigorating all the same. Livingston was a real experience, a little pocket of Caribbean culture hidden away on the fringe of central america. Black people hanging out speaking Garifuna (Garinagu) or some lrelaxed hybrid of english and spanish with lots of attitude. The beach is black sand and fairly dirty looking, but walking about an hour up the coast it got a bit better. Man, i was squinting so hard to try and make out some form of the Caribbean Islands on the northern horizon, my tongue was hanging out just thinking how close I was to the coconut trees. (not really that close at all, quite a swim) There is a small natural wonder hidden away in the jungle about a hours walk up the beach from livingston, in Spanish its called Las Sietes Altares, or The Seven Alters. Apparently it is a place of import to the local people , some sort of ritual significance apparantly but I was pretty lazy reading the signs, sometimes i like to not know anything and just have my own experience of a place, especially sites of natural beauty. Its a sequence of rock pools and small waterfalls that snake up through the jungle, with dappled light overhead creeping through the jungle canopy. I meditated for a bit sitting on a mossy log and opened my eyes to find a collection of saphire blur dragon flies all over me and the log! They were the exact same shade of blue as the speedo shorts I was wearing, my theory is that they thought i was a giant member of there own species and were looking for some dragon fly lovin' *which seems to entail flying sideways (crablike) through the air at high velocities and getting it on.
Swimming in the cool waterhole the during the steamy middle sections of the day was truely a delight for the senses. The garifuna food is also an explosion of spices, seafood and flavour. I had dinner the first night at a great little restaraunt called Talingo Lingo. The owner Maria is a Mexican who lived some time in Goa, India. The food had all these influences combined with the typical local dishes. I sampled the most typical local dish know as tapado - which is a banana, a whole fresh crab and a whole fish served in a spicy coconut soup. The seafood is all caught locally and absolutely mouth watering. Followed down with some cracking mojitos, I stumpled back to the hostel a very satisfied customer. Evenings at the hostel were spent being incredibly stoned and trying to play chess, but nobody cauld really move from their chairs. I also got grifted by a local (to the tune of 100 Quetzales) I kind of knew he was going to rip me off but he must of used some kind of Garifuna Jedi mind tricks because he ended up with my money anyway. All in all a very colourfull and steamy end to my trip across northern Gautemala. In the last photo you can see the locals drying some fish, the local dogs congregate in this area!

P.S

I want to go to Cuba now. Now. There is still a chance to step into the time machine and see what it is like to live in a communist country before it changes. With Castro fading out it is only a matter of time. I doubt it can stay as it is for much longer. Can I do it? Where is my credit card?? In Mexico City somewhere...



P.P.S - check the Mandelbrot fractal in this leaf!