The last of the Caribbean coast

   On our way back to the Caribbean beaches we passed through Rio Dulce.  Our brief stop was insufficient to fully appreciate the charms of the place, which we are assured are manifold.  We settled for a stay in possibly the worst accommodation we have seen with sleep made that little bit more difficult as we were absorbed (somewhat involuntarily) by the conversation of the gentleman outside our window.  He was in turmoil over the ups and downs of his "special friendship" with Denise.  If there happens to be a Denise reading this, and you have a somewhat obsessive friend (or stalker) who was recently in Guatemala, please follow the example set by everyone else he engaged in conversation and walk away.  We´re sick of hearing about it.

   Our trip downriver was beautiful as we took the slow boat to Livingstone, through lush canyons of tropical rainforest and tranquil expanses of water lillies.  Livingstone itself was a rougher town than we had imagined but pleasantly so, being detatched from the resort feeling of other coastal towns.  We spent a day in the company of our guide, Jacinto, wandering through the marshes and jungle around town before travelling by dugout canoe downriver to the beach.  Jacinto had a bad leg and his nephew, who assisted had little legs, being only four years old.  Kizzy was grateful as it meant she could keep up all the way to way to Los Siete Altares where the river descended through a series of limestone pools.

   The following day, after another boat and bus journey, we were in Placencia in Belize, enjoying the lovely expanse of yellow sandy beach and the pleasant surprise of their Lobsterfest - marking the opening weekend of the lobster season.  Even better than the great food and fantastic beach was the wonderful surprise of meeting up with Dan and Gita again, last seen in a bar in Buenos Aires.  They had arrived in Placencia five days earlier and were having difficulty finding the incentive to move on.  By this time they were firmly entrenched in the local community scene.  I suspect that another week in town would see Dan nominated as treasurer of the local Rotary club.