Water and walking; or, Guatemala for now.

My Lonely Planet Guide to Central America makes the walk from Livingston, Guatemala, to Los Siete Altares sound very easy. It does say that it takes one and a half hours, but I scoffed at that. Who takes one and a half hours to walk somewhere? They must be dawdling. I´m a Wellingtonian. We eat long walks for breakfasts, literally sometimes.

Lonely Planet did not mention that although it is a ´beach walk´, there is actually very little beach to walk on. Also, about every 20 metres or so, there´s a little inlet that is bridged by extremely dodgy bits of driftwood. This makes the whole thing a lot more like an obstacle course. The weather as well, may not in fact be Carribean, but involve a light gale coming off the sea that reminds one of Wellington on a better day. And it is one and a half hours at a good solid pace. It may have been pleasant, apart from the above, and the rubbish strewn along the shore. There seemed to be a lot of single shoes.

There was, however, a nice waterfall at the end. And then I had to walk back.

Herein lies the pitfalls of solo travel. Traveling alone as a female does indeed raise eyebrows in this part of the world, including from other backpackers. And of course random guards at ruins and places, who question, "Donde esta sus amigos?" No, solo una. But this doesn´t really bother me. So far I´ve felt surrounded by others, quite safe, and actually glad to be able to go my own way. It´s just the little things, eating meals alone. And not having anyone to be grumpy at when I get tired and hungry and have to walk a really long way. It´s like what they say about atheists and God.

Anyhow, I better be fast. I feel like they want to close the internet place. So, Rio Dulce was large and wet. I went paddling on it and saw birdlife galore. And an otter! Wow. Livingston is a seaside town that´s pretty nice for a few days. It has the Garifuna culture, which I´m expecting a lot more of as I head down the coast. Let you know about it then. Which is what I´ll be doing tomorrow at 5am, catching the old ferry to Honduras. Oh joy. For now, back to my hammock. Yes, I sleep in it. Saves money.