Livingston: The Other Side of Guatemala
Filed Under: Descendants of shipwrecked slaves from Nigeria; Jerry Garcia’s rumored Caribbean seaside bungalow hideout; warrior dances (see video below) and turtle shell drums; echoes of an accented pigeon pidgin English that smacks of Jamaica; and a remarkable coconut seafood soup called tapado.
This is Livingston, home of the Garifuna. This is the other side of Guatemala.
Who Are the Garifuna?
No story puts a finer point on Guatemala’s diversity and complicated history than the one tracing the arrival of the Garifuna in Livingston.
The Garifuna (or Black Caribs, as they are sometimes referred to) trace their roots back to St. Vincent, an island in the eastern Caribbean. In 1635, two Spanish slave ships from Nigeria shipwrecked there. The slaves mixed with the locals indigenous Caribs and a new culture defined by both West African and Caribbean features and traditions emerged.
In the late 18th century, the British deported the Garifuna population to the island of Roatan (Honduras). The Spanish also got involved, moving Garifuna populations further along the Honduran coast to Trujillo and into parts of Belize. In the early 1800s, Garifuna moved from Belize into what is now Guatemala and set up the town of Livingston.
Almost two hundred years later, the Garifuna continue to maintain their traditions and speak their own Arawak language in Caribbean coastal towns in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Livingston Today
An older Garifuna man explained to us:
“When I was a kid, it was all Garifuna people here in Livingston. Each time a Guatemalan arrived by boat, we’d go down to the dock for a look. Guatemalans, they were a novelty.
Then, Guatemalans began to arrive during the war. This area was safe; there was no fighting here. Guatemalans sold everything in their villages and used the money to buy up buildings from people like my parents and set up businesses.
I blame my parent’s generation for selling our buildings, but the current generation won’t invest in our future; they want everything immediately.”
When you arrive in Livingston by boat, you’ll notice all the shops and restaurants that line the main streets are owned by Guatemalans (and a few Chinese). The Garifuna have been relegated to the side streets, the edges of town. They live along the shore.
But it’s the Garifuna culture that sells in Livingston. All restaurants offer tapado – a Garifuna coconut-based soup chock full of seafood and shellfish. A few offer Garifuna music and dance demonstrations to boatloads of day-trippers.
Rasta Mesa
We dropped by Rasta Mesa, one of the few Garifuna-owned places, one late afternoon after a visit to the local cemetery on the edge of town. A restaurant-cum-cutural center, Rasta Mesa features evening shows to educate travelers on Garifuna culture and music, while at the same time passing on traditions to children in the Garifuna community. The owners have plans to expand their project into an organic community farm and a Garifuna cultural education center. It’s not your typical business plan.
In the evening, a group of Garifuna musicians gathered with bongo drums, conch shell horns, turtle shell drums and maracas. Some kids got into the action, dancing and singing away.
The best way to describe this scene? Watch the video below…and make sure you catch the warrior dance at the end.
Watch the video of Garifuna music and dance
Jerry Garcia’s Footprint?
The same man who waxed long about the changes in Livingston over his lifetime shared another little nugget: Jerry Garcia once owned a house (Casa Garcia, of course) on Livingston’s Caribbean shoreside and played with local musicians. He also gave our storyteller his first guitar and sponsored his education at the University of Illinois.
While we haven’t been able to confirm any of this, we still enjoy the image of Jerry Garcia jamming with a group of Garifuna musicians in this little town on the Caribbean coast of Guatemala.
Myth becomes truth, stories become reality. In Livingston, you’re never really sure what to believe.
That’s part of its charm.
View more photos from Rio Dulce and Livingston
Practical Details
How to get there: Livingston is only accessible by boat. Take a boat from Rio Dulce ($10-$12) or from Puerto Barrios ($5).
Where to stay: Hotel Rios Tropicales on the main road across from the municipality has simple rooms with hammocks outside in a cute courtyard. Perhaps most importantly, it has the strongest wifi signal in all of Guatemala. A double room with shared bath is 100Q ($12). Contact info: hotel_riostropicales@yahoo.es or 502-794701558
Where to eat: A lot of the restaurants offer the same menu. Here’s our “best of” list from the week we spent in Livingston:
- Best Tapado: Antojitos Gaby has excellent and inexpensive tapado (65Q or $8). The bowl is loaded with seafood – fish, crab, mollusks, conch, sea snails and shrimp – and is more than enough for two people to share.
- Best Grilled Prawns: Restaurante Tiburón Gato, on the main strip, serves up delicious grilled giant garlic prawns.
- Best Shrimp Quesadilla with Roasted Tomato Salsa: The menu at Tilingo Lingo doesn’t list this dish, but you can ask for it from Maria, the self-proclaimed “only Mexican in Livingston.” Absolutely delicious. Also on the menu: Indian food (Maria lived in Calcutta for a few years), pizzas, burritos, and stand-up Turkish style coffee. Tilingo Lingo is located at the end of the main road near the coast.
- Cheapest Breakfast: Restaurante Bahía Azul offers a typical “chapin desayuno” of refried beans, eggs, fried plantains, bread, coffee and juice for 15Q ($2).
June 10th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Are there pictures of Jerry just hangin’ around town?
On a different note, you can have “Practical Details” as part of the podcast as well…It can be a segment.
June 11th, 2009 at 2:06 am
Very interesting post abt the Garifuna, which I had heard about but knew little about. I wanted to let you know that I just gave you a One Lovely Blog award: http://www.travelogged.com/travelogged/2009/06/one-lovely-blog-award.html
June 11th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Another great post. I had not heard of Garifuna. I read Mitchner’s Carribean recently and was fascinated by the movements of people in the region.
It looks like there is a statue in the background of the picture of the boat with the bird in your slide. Do you know what that is?
June 12th, 2009 at 1:27 am
Note that should be ‘Pidgin’ English, not pigeon as in the bird.
June 12th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
@Dave: Photos of Jerry…probably on eBay.
“Practical Details” could be the stuff of a travel-oriented podcast. We don’t want to focus on travel logistics, however. We just offer them as an aside because they are quick to publish and are tailored for Google searches.
@Travelogged: Thanks for the award. Glad that you enjoy the site.
@Pete: Great to hear from you. Audrey and I were wondering aloud about you the other day…wondering whether everything was OK. Livingston and the Caribbean side of Guatemala was a surprise for us. As for the statue in the water, not sure. Perhaps a boat captain…maybe one who went out to sea and never returned. Would definitely fit Livingston if it were.
@Bill: Many thanks. Sloppy oversight on our part. Makes for a humorous strikeout, however. We are firing our editor tout de suite.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Great post! There are lots of stories like that about people of African descent in Central and South America. Nobody wanted them around and they are part of the local society today, but more so on the outside looking in.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
I absolutely enjoyed the brief history lesson there. The list of eateries on your Practicalities section seem like they’ve been “well-researched” (aka eaten) by you two
June 13th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Enjoyed the history expanation too. Great also both of the videos. Also nice to see and hear you guys “in motion”. Keep well!
June 24th, 2009 at 11:51 am
@brian: The African cultural influence on Central and South America definitely adds another dimension to the region.
@jen: Eating is important to us. Food (and the way it is eaten) says a lot about a culture.
@blaz: Thanks. We figure we ought to provide some proof that we alive…from time to time.
July 30th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
The language is not a pidgin English it is a full language called Garifuna. It is an Arawak language which was spoken by the Carribean Indians who first lived in Cuba, St. Vincent, and the rest of the area. In fact the garifuna people are as much if not more an indigenous people as they are African.
July 30th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
@Mike: Thanks for clarifying. The language spoken amongst the Garifuna is their own language that is an Arawak language. The language spoken with tourists like us is a sort of pidgen English. We’ve made the clarification above.
September 8th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Hey you guys,
Thanks for the nice article about livingston and Rasta Mesa. We hope you enjoyed your time, and it was fun to see the video. Take care, Amanda and Mega
September 8th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
@Amanda and Mega: Glad you enjoyed the article! We certainly enjoyed our time at Rasta Mesa with you and the other musicians. Good luck with all the great plans to expand your business and get more involved with the community!
December 30th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
FYI: the actual name of the town referred to as Rio Dulce is Fronteras.
July 26th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
[...] quite traveled, but here are a couple of suggestions for “off the beaten track” places:Livingston, Guatemala is a regular stop for people coming over for a day trip. However, we spent a week there and found it [...]