Livingston and the Rio Dulce
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Sun 26 Jun 2011 21:56
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With our draft of 4 feet we had no problem crossing the bar
into the Rio Dulce. This is, however, an issue for many yachts
with deep keels. Some even needing to be careened by a local tug at
modest cost to negotiate the mile of sand bar that presents a barrier
to their progress upriver. After negotiating the bar you
then have to clear into Guatemala itself and the town of Livingston is
where this procedure is best achieved.
Just drop anchor 100 yards off the shanty buildings that
make up the run-down waterfront and sooner or later a small launch
(sympathetically maintained in keeping with it's surroundings) will
arrive alongside with officials onboard. Customs, Immigration, Health
(doctor in clean scrubs), customs agent etc., all arrive with their plethora of
forms to be completed. Fortunately this process is eased by Raul the well known
cruisers agent in Livingston who, with impeccable spoken English, can short cut
the laborious task of having to run round the various officials offices in the
correct order to complete the process that is started onboard your boat. As we
wanted to get out of Livingston as quickly as possible we engaged Raul's
services without hesitation. Within 45 minutes he had the required permits
and forms along with our passports ready for collection in his office situated
overlooking the public washing area where local ladies take their laundry on
washday!
 
Livingston (by the sea)
Get in, get done and get out quickly!
The only way into Livingston is by boat - there is no road.
The place feels like a frontier town where warnings to be alert and
cautious are heeded. One cruising friend spelt it out - "Phil - Don't
stay the night at Livingston!!". Even by day the place has some pretty
undesirable characters loafing around the town dock all looking to make a
quick buck or two. What it was like at night we could only guess. We
overpaid for a Guatemalan courtesy flag hawked by one of the elder Rastas who
had accompanied the officials out to our boat but at least we had something
tangible for our $10 investment.
With Ajaya securely locked up we dinghied to the town
dock. The Admiral resolutely stood guard duty whilst Phil went off to the
bank, which had a heavily armed guard at the door, to change
dollars for Quetzals (or Pretzels as some like to call the Guatemalan currency).
Raul's office was next on the itinerary to collect the paperwork
and finally to the bakery to buy some fresh rolls before returning to the
dock. The Admiral was verbally entertaining and keeping at
bay the local boatboys, one actually saying on Phil's return that he had
been looking after the boat himself. A real joker! Then it was back
to Ajaya to get the hell out of a place that most cruisers
have no affection for.
With Livingston slowly receding into the distance
as we pushed against a 1-1.5 knot current up the river we entered
the deep sided gorge through which the Rio Dulce runs just before it enters the
sea. This is an attractive stretch with dug-out canoes and local skiffs plying
their trades, some full of camera toting tourists (guess we're two of
those!), and local straw covered huts lining the waters edge. In
the gorge the river is surprisingly deep in places with shallows
on the bends as you'd expect. We had no problem with depth but had to weave
our way amongst floating branches and complete trees being swept towards the sea
from recent storms. This amazing gorge dog legs for about 10 miles
until the first of the two lakes opens up.
   The Rio Dulce Gorge...
... with
swirls, sharp bends...
.... and the odd floating tree
trunk
   Laundry day on the
river
a small river
hotel and
for Heavens sake !! ...a Jehovah Witness Hall of all
things!
El Golfete, the smaller of the two, takes a couple of
hours to negotiate depending on your speed finally ending in a constriction
of the water between the two lakes into the main area of marinas and
boatyards. This is home to many cruisers for the summer months with a
choice of marina locations depending on your budget and requirements. Some have
pools and restaurants, some just have slips and a rancho, a relaxing area with
seats and hammocks supplemented by a kitchen with barbecue, hobs and sink
which is what our chosen destination of Monkey Bay Marina had to offer. One
big advantage it does have is the breeze which blows across the water starting
early afternoon. The north side gets little breeze and without a swimming pool
would be extremely uncomfortable. Even for us in Monkey Bay the dockside hose is
a quick way of cooling down in the heat of the day. Temperatures range between
the 70's at night to the 90's by day but it's the humidity that tests your
resolve to achieve any meaningful work on the boat. We are not short of jobs to
do whilst here.
 
The welcoming sign
..........
and a view of the rancho from Ajaya
We anchored off the Marina the first night as the strong
afternoon breeze had already kicked in which would have made our manoeuvre into
the area behind the dock a little tricky. By the morning the water was
calm and we reversed into the slot alongside the fixed dock that had
been kept for us. We were ready to commence our stay in the Rio Dulce,
wondering how we would cope given the 5 month hurricane season we
are sitting out.
  'Spice - the resident Monkey Bay mutt and
right - his well appointed airy kennel. Loves Guatemalans - not so
fond of Gringos according to John the marina manager (unless you have food
to offer)
Our immediate backdrop is jungle and on odd days Monkey
Bay lives up to its name with Howler Monkeys swinging through the branches near
the boat making a deep-throated noise that lends them their name. The
whole complex is suspended above water, the docks, the heads and showers,
the rancho and galley are all on piles or stilts driven into the riverbed
which are planked over about 3 feet about the water level. There is no road
access - we have to use the dinghy to get out and about. Out of the
20 or so boats in the marina only 6 are being lived on full time. We are
fortunate not only to have in the same marina our friends Roberta and Steve from
Chanticleer but also some really nice people from the other 4
boats. The mosquito problem here is intense, not just around sunset,
these critters operate a 24/7 offensive with large numbers permanently on duty
around the showers and heads where the clean bare torsos make for easy
pickings in the dim light. Not just the mozzies, as Phil had to pluck
off a stag beetle that had buried its choppers into his leg whilst taking a
shower a few nights back.
There is a resident Guatemalan family on site with the husband
providing labour for the marina upkeep and the wife dutifully cleaning the heads
and showers when not looking after their children. They keep chickens or animals
slightly resembling chickens which feed off the scraps from the visiting boats.
They certainly don't look well on our leftovers and wouldn't make the grade at
Colonel Sanders place!
  The chicken pit next to the recycling
shed
finished pecking for the day! Off home.
Our surroundings are reminiscent of an
episode from 'I'm a celebrity - get me out of here' (although to the best
of our knowledge we have no celebrities in attendance at Monkey Bay). You expect
Ant and Dec to come walking out of the shadows to set a 'critter challenge'
to one of us unfortunate cruisers as we sit and chew the fat after a
long hot day. Still, apart from the monkeys the largest thing we've seen so far
is a terrapin which lives near the boat and pops his head up occasionally. But
there's plenty of time! Actually we have seen something larger but this was
brought to the marina by one of the local fishermen. We bought a crawfish (or
lobster without the nasty front bits) but being complete novices in the
art of lobster despatch we left it to the man himself to deal with our acquired
friend (strict veggies, vegans and animal lovers can miss out the next two
pics!)......
 Now ladies and gents, you take your hammer and
sharp knife and insert just behind the head just here .......
ouch that's painful! (Spot the Skippers new trunks!)
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