I decided to stay an extra night here in Penas Blancas because it was just too nice to pass up.
I got up and ate breakfast with the family I met the night before. My plan was to do a long hike and after much confusion I finally went on my own with some oral instructions from Don Chico. I hiked down the cow pasture to the edge of the woods where I found the path that would start climbing up.
I was so sure I was going to get soaked the whole hike
It very well may have been my favorite hike I’ve ever been on. The greenery was unbelievable. There were some majorly sketchy parts of the hike. One where I basically had to shimmy next to a tree while holding onto branches to not fall hundreds of feet below.
Somehow for most of the hike it didn’t rain much. The entire rest of the day it would pour every 10 minutes. It’s really unreal how much it rains here.
The hike went up to a waterfall and then I followed the ridge along to try to get to the top of a mountain. I had some amazing views on the way of just sheer dropoffs.
I couldn’t quite make it to what I assumed was the end but it was probably for the best as I kept getting lost. I tracked the hike on my phone though so kept walking back to intercept the drawn line on my map. I headed back down where I would rest a little bit at the cabin unable to think as the rain pummeled the roof every 10 minutes.
I woke up around 7 am and headed out to the common area of Boatique. I drank some coffee and worried about my stomach because I was planning on going on a boat tour up Rio Dulce to Livingston and the boat ride would be around 2 hours each way. And my stomach is ALWAYS jacked up in Guatemala. Really the only place in the world I have this issue. I have come to think that it is the coleslaw they serve with almost every meal here. Usually it is the only thing that isn’t cooked and they presumably keep it in unrefrigerated containers for long periods of time. Who knows.
I ordered breakfast with a couple other people from the hostel and we ate together and I packed up my things because I wasn’t sure if I was going to stay another night or not. I left them at the front and the boat came to take us up to Livingston. First it went down to the Castillo de San Felipe de Lara which was a cool view from the water even though I had already explored the Castillo.
Then we picked up a ton of locals from the dock. The boat was jam packed with people and a bunch of kids that appeared to have a pretty awful cases of chicken pox. One boy was crying and covered in red bumps. I felt pretty awful for the kid. He didn’t stop crying the whole trip.
We started boating up the river and just made a couple little stop offs. The first one was some pretty nice looking lily pads and then we headed to this hot spring area. It was incredibly underwhelming. The water was pretty cold and it was just in part of the lake.
Gorgeous spot
Then we headed the rest of the way to Livingston. My first impression was pretty awful and my 2nd impression was worse. We were immediately swarmed by people trying to sell us boats to other places, especially to Belize. It brought me back to the incredibly pushy in-your-face Belizian culture and made me reflect on the fact there was a reason I chose not to drive through Belize this time around.
We pushed through the crowd and walked down the street. There’s really nothing nice to say about Livingston. The little city is falling apart from the ground up. We walked to the beach and took the route along the beach all the way to Playa Blanca. The entire hour of hiking along the beach was walking over plastic, trash and smelly streams flowing into the ocean. It appears as if not a single person in Livingston takes pride in their city.
Trash absolutely everywhere
Right at playa blanca there was a little less trash and we found a nice pier to sit and chill for the whole 30 minutes we had before heading back.
Nice spot to chill
It would have been nice to do the Siete Altares hike but we did not have time. It would have been about another 30 minutes walking down the beach to get to the entrance. Presumably, you could take a boat from where we landed in Livingston straight to Siete Altares.
We hiked back on the main road which was blisteringly hot and tuk tuks sped past us leaving us inches and honking at us each time.
If I never have to see Livingston, Guatemala again for the rest of my life I will be a happy man.
We grabbed some mediocre nachos and a bottle of coke on the way back to regain some energy and jumped on the boat back to Boatique.
It only took about an hour to get back to Boatique where I flew the drone a little, ate some dinner, and relaxed.
Rio Dulce
I really love this hotel. It’s everything I would want out of a future home except it’s a little secluded. It is built on a swamp and only accessible by boat. But the perfect place to chill for 2-3 nights and not have to think about anything else.
Today was just what I needed! Nice and relaxing. I woke up at 8 after 10 hours of sleep, had an amazing breakfast at Boatique hostel and then tried to get a couple things done on my computer.
Around noon I rented paddle boards with a couple other hostel goers and spent a couple of hours going up the streams. They were pretty murky and freaky but absolutely beautiful. Once we were directly under some howler monkeys and got to hear them sing their songs and watch their balls dangle above us.
Paddleboarding
We went back, ate lunch, and the Austrian girl left for Livingston. I paddled a little more as the sun set. I had dinner with a few other travelers. It was just a nice long happy day.
Paddleboarding with a view
Tomorrow I plan on doing just a day trip thing to Livingston. Apparently it costs 200 quetzales to boat up and down and stop at some things along the way
