We last left off in Antigua, and since we watched 13 GOING ON 30, on TV that night....we didnt do anything to right about.
We were up around 3 am for the 4 am bus that arrived at 445. We thought we were taking a shuttle all the way to Rio Dulce...but apparently they were dropping us off at the main bus terminal in Guatemala City.
After we called the company (woke up our security guard at our hostel to do it for us) and they assured us he was almost there. When he did arrive....it was the same driver as the previous day! He apologized, and sped us and an American couple to Guatemala City.He dropped them a the airport..and sped with us to the bus station. We still had no idea what was up....so just followed him (Stacey knocking over a lady in the process with her massive amout of bags) and her bought us some tickets, pointed us at a large bus...and left us.
We checked our bags...got on the bus..and were off in minutes. Apparently we almost missed the bus...but didnt fret...as we had no idea what was happening at the time!
So at 1100 am we arrived in Rio Dulce. Re evaluated our plans...and decided on one night in Livingston...and booked a bus to Flores for the next day, rather than stay in what looked to be a fairly dirty town...but was really quite nice along the river. TONS of yachts and rich peoples houses and beautiful hotels.
After a 2.5 hr boat ride/tour to Livingston...we found ourselves being led to Hotel Rio Dulce by some random young man that was at the dock. He led us there..and tried to wait for us to show us around...but we managed to ditch him!
As you can see by the previously posted pics...our little cabin in behind the hotel was not very oppulent..or secure....but we made the best of it and tried to duct tape up all the tears in the screens..and sprayed off on the screens as well. When the duct tape let loose...I managed to put up her mosquito net...but alas...Karen had to rely on her shot/bug spray and malaria pills.
Now..to explain the haunted screen....when I took the before and after pics of the screen...for some reason the image on the display screen on the camera was moving...it was really quite freaky! So we decided it was haunted! Maybe that is why the duct tape didnt work! The ghost in the screen didnt like it!
Now....let me explain Shitty Puppy! HE is the skinny, smelly black dog in the pics. We stupidly made eye contact with him...and he began to follow us! We quickly realized that a really bad smell was emanating from him....so we dubbed him ¨"SHITTY PUPPY"
When we decided to throw caution to the wind, and go for a hike in the garifuna ghetto with a strange man named Philip, that we just met....Shitty Puppy bade us fare well! Little did we know that was not the last we would see of Shitty Puppy!
Phillip was a well spoken man, allegedly shooled in Chicago, and was a self appointed tour guide and mentor for the entire Garifuna community. He took us into one of the homes, and we met some chubby older ladies that shook our hands were really quite jolly! Then we continued on, into the bowels of the ghetto, via paths winding up hills and in between ramshackle houses. Eventually we did come to some fairly good roads and we eventually circled back to very near our hotel. WE HAD SURVIVED! All the people gave off really good vibes, and it really didnt seem very sinister...so we thought what the hell. and went for it. I did tell him we couldnt be long as we had friends waiting for us for supper....thinking that might help our cause! YES..this is a true story..and YES ALI...I went into details JUST FOR YOU! This story has been brought to you by the weapon....CONCEALED HANDGUN....and the beer MOZA! This was a safety briefing for Ali! We have been giving them to her on email or facebook...but I think we will do it on the BLOG..cause they can be very funny!
Now...back to Shitty Puppy! As soon as we left the Ghetto and bade Phillip good bye, with a hundred quetzale contribution for the childrens breakfast program (we hope) we spotted Shitty Puppy laying in wait for us. Something had him distracted...so we managed to sneak by, go for dinner, and elude him for the rest of the evening!
The next morning, we were up early and gone for breakfast by 0800 am and since our boat didnt leave until 0930 (yeah right...nothing is on time here) we went for a walk. When we arrived back at our hotel to get our bags to go to the dock...there was Shitty Puppy sitting outside the hotels front door, waiting for us. We went it to get our bags thinking he would be gone when we came out. BUT NO! He was still patiently waiting for us!
NOw this was kind of getting creepy...but as soon as we started making our way down the road to the dock....HE FOLLOWED US AGAIN! Fortunately the dock workers shooed him away...and we were free to breathe clean air again!
Stacey
Hola, Stacey didn´t mention that we decided Shitty Puppy was reincarnated from someone that maybe we had stalked in a previous life.
So, we left Livingston by boat. It was a long ride with a couple of stops along the way. In fact, we kept returning to the dock and didn´t know if we´d ever be able to leave Livingston! Finally, we made our way back to Rio Dulce and spent a few hours sitting in a restuarant on the water...having...you guessed it! Multiple Gallos. Oh, and BLOT sandwiches which were actually, quite tasty despite the fact that no one knows how to make toast.
Finally, we wandered up to the drugstore where we were to catch our ¨first class¨bus to Flores. It was an hour late so they really hustled us on. It was an uneventful trip, except for the time when we were ushered off by some official looking people and we had no clue what they wanted. It turned out they were looking for illegal...fruit.
When we got to Flores, we opted to take the first hotel we came too and it is the pretty one with the hottub and the artwork in the photos. We are heading to Tikal this afternoon, and so will update manana before leaving to Belize City where we may not have WiFi for a week. Have a GALLO day!
Karen
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