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 1.
Our patient driver Axel handled most of our intercity travel. Towards
the end of the six-hour trek from Atitlan to Rio Dulce, we paused
at Quriquasite of the tallest Mayan stela, a memorial
monolith, yet
found. |
 7.
Flocks of cormorants roost communally on several islands within the
13,000-hectare Rio Dulce national park and nearby nature reserves.
Manatees also populate these waters but we didn’t encounter
any. |
 2.
In a blustery rain, our lanchero Luis Alvarez took us
to Finca Pariaiso, a communal farm featuring a large school. We bought
banana cakes and oranges
from local children and boarded a tractor for a trip into the jungle. |
 8.Livingston
is a “Garifuna” village
chiefly populated by the descendents of West Indians and former African
slaves. Lunch at the “Happy
Fish" featured the famous local seafood soup “topado.” |
 3.
A short riverside walk brought us
to a secluded pool warmed by a steaming waterfall from nearby hot
springs. |
 9.
Livingston, once a United Fruit
Company port, was named for Louisianan judge Edward
Livingston, who wrote Guatemala’s legal code but never visited
the town. |
 4.
We returned to the farm for a delicious lunch along with a hundred
or so school children, some of whom chatted on cell phones while
waiting for boats to take them home. |
 10.
Surf & turf? We don’t know why this pig was tethered to
a stake in the rising tide along Livingston’s polluted ocean
beach. The distant statue honors the town's eponym. |
 5.
The next day, Luis guided us eastward past the historic Castillo
de San Felipe de Lara, built in 1595 to guard the lake from English
pirates. Beyond it, the shores teemed with egrets and
herons amid mangroves, orchids and tropical flowers. |
 11.
We paused at a volcanic pool and shared beers with the
Castille family, who distributer the national
beer Gallo, new Brazilian import Brahva, and Pepsi. Below, the
setting sun paints the bridge at Rio Dulce as we head
home. |
 6.
Vast rafts of hyacinths (an invasive species) provide both cover
for fish and crocodiles and hunting grounds for wading birds. |
 12.
A final dawn at Banana Palms as we pack to head into the northern
lowlands of Peten, home of the Mayan metropolis of Tikal. |
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