Comments on: Why We Ran Out of Livingston Within 24 Hours

By: Vivion

Vivion — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 01:44:34 +0000

Just stumbled on your article and it made me laugh a little. I lived there for a while as a kid, when my family were (nomadic? I guess). it was both beautiful and bad. No one sold coconut water, and I do remember the coco bread, which, having lived on a diet of stale bread and canned beans for a few months, was pretty good to me lol. Everyone is broke but the good thing was that everyone smoked lots of weed. Well, except for the indeginous people- but back then there were not too many, mostly Garifuna. Your article makes me wonder what happened, your article was written three years after I left, so it makes me feel very curious.

By: Adrian Martinez

Adrian Martinez — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 21:22:02 +0000

Hey, it’s a shame that you have such a different perspective on the experience. I think that sometimes what you are looking for won’t always come to you, you have to search for it as these people that we meet and things that we may find while travelling aren’t what we should just should expect and take for granted. If you had gone to the area where the Garfina people live you could have talked to them yourself to find out about their rich complex history and culture. We were welcomed by a family who shared their culture with us and let us cook/make music with them. Sadly none of the people in my hostel cared to really engage with the people from the place the were visiting outside the comfort of their hostel/popular traveller areas. Please just consider talking to people/give places a chance. You can find beauty everywhere if you try hard enough.

By: Henner

Henner — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 11:31:39 +0000

I am surprised that there seem to be almost just people who look for the bad things around. Take places as they are, know that people who live there might not have the same history, opportunities and wealth to keep their space as sweet, tidy and great as tourists want to have it.
I went to Guatemala many times and already the first visit (including volcano eruption, dirt directly beneath the signs “do not litter”, poor kids walking barefoot for ages to reach their school, etc.) I fell in love with this country. It is not just about the
historical sites of Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, Tikal, Uaxactún, Nakúm, San Felipe, Quirigua, etc.,
the nature of the Pacific or Carribean beaches, the volcanos, the Riscos de Momostenango, Semuc Champey, the Lago Atitlán, Lago Petén Itzá, Lago de Itzabal, the Quetzal biosphere, other nature reserves, the mountains to El Salvador and Honduras.
Mostly it is about people. And despite I am definitely NOT a Latino but a pale, tall, white, European guy and this way an easy target someone would assume, I feel more welcome and safer than in some other so-called 1st world countries. Every time I go back to Guatemala I find new things to explore and make new friends.
Keep your eyes open for little things. Have a look to parts Westerners forgot about – a smile, a friendly word, a thank you, an interesting question, a “may I help you?”. You will be surprised how rich those ‘poor’ countries are.

By: Jazzy

Jazzy — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 03:58:04 +0000

In reply to Boris Fauret. I am glad you found the beauty of Livingston! Everyone has a different perspective, after all the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

By: Boris Fauret

Boris Fauret — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 02:10:53 +0000

Blame the whole humanity when you see the beach covered with plastic wastes !
Blame the imbalance of economical opprtunities in Guatemala when you notice the garifunas are gradually put aside… Even in such a remote place !
Livingstone – and its surroundings you can visit by foot, though it’s not common – is real poverty, no fake paradise. And that’s why I really loved it.

By: Jazzy

Jazzy — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 13:51:30 +0000

In reply to Bob. Well Bob, you already know we feel the same way! Livingston was just not our cup of tea! Glad to hear we were not the only one. Thanks Bob for sharing your experience in Livingston with us! Appreciate it!

By: Bob

Bob — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 17:02:56 +0000

I have traveled to many countries and places.Most places I enjoyed some
not so much…
I was in Livingston in 1994…
Livingston is by far my most disliked place I have ever been on holiday…
I disliked it from the moment I got there and could not wait to leave..
Its a bit hard to pin down what I disliked about it..
I was feeling lots of bad vibes in Livingston really a lot..
The unfriendly people and the so so food did not help…
I really disliked the place and was very happy to leave…

By: Jazzy

Jazzy — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 11:55:21 +0000

In reply to Eddie Enriquez. Hey Eddie, you are right! We do have a smaller budget than most as our money does not replenish as we are traveling off our savings. So we how and where we spend our money matters. We also definitely heard of Playa Blanca, Los Siente Altares or Las Gaviotas being beautiful parts of Livingston and had actually planned to visit those but shortly after arriving, we choose to skip it as we figured that we would prefer to spend more time in a place we enjoyed more. Yes it was a super short time to get a feel of a place put just like with people first impressions are important and our expectations played a big role as well. We are not saying Livingston is horrible and no one should visit, we are just speaking of our personal experience and why it wasn't our cup of tee.

By: Eddie Enriquez

Eddie Enriquez — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 04:48:31 +0000

Hello Jazzy, I travel to Livingston at least twice a year to visit family who reside there. I really don’t understand how you can get a feel for a town like Livingston in a few hours ? You should of went to playa Blanca, Los siente altares or Las Gaviotas. But if you considered an hour long boat ride for 16 dollars expensive then maybe you were traveling on a low budget which would limit your chances of getting to the nice places

By: Jade

Jade — Sat, 02 Jan 2016 22:04:20 +0000

That’s so strange. I live in Livingston and have never found Indian food…. yet coconut water is found everywhere…. I wish you had been to some of the smaller, Garden a owned places; they do the best food, and at cheaper prices….
Livingston is teaming with Garifuna culture…. The clothes, music, dancing, it’s really something else
Unfortunately the beach gets like that after a hard wind or current…. It is really sad…. such a shame you didn’t get to see the good bits, it really is a great place x