The grill was soon fired up and the group got to talking over unlimited rum punch. Wish Willy himself sat down to tell a few stories before plates and bowls of fresh shrimp kebabs, lobster tails and chicken wings appeared on the table. The fish was particularly tasty, soft and flaky whilst the sauteed vegetables were quickly snapped up. The twelve of us made a good effort, but there was no way we could have cleared that table.

After visiting San Ignacio in Belize, we also stopped at Flores and the Mayan ruins of Tikal.

Reaching Rio Dulce, to get to our hotel, we had to board another form of transport. We sped down Rio Dulce, Guatemala on a speedboat, towards our hotel for the night on its own private island. The cabins over look the water and the warm water of the river is very inviting, as long as you don’t mind the odd fish. We were not in the hotel for long. We dumped our bags and hopped straight back on the boat to Livingston, where we were heading to try the seafood stew speciality, Tapado. The boat crept through mangroves as we searched for storks and iguanas. There are many indigenous communities living on the shores of the river and we passed by their houses as well as checking out the daily catch of the local fisherman. The river opened back up again as it neared the Caribbean sea with dramatic limestone cliffs lining the banks. The scenery in Guatemala is truly breath taking, so fertile and green.

Once we had arrived in Livingston we headed straight to the restaurant, it had been a fairly long day of travelling and we were definitely due our lunch. The Tapado includes whole crab and fish, as well as other seafood, stewed in a coconut concoction. There were many other curry like dishes for those not feeling as adventurous.

After lunch we had an hour so spare to wander around the town, buying souvenirs and more coconut delights. The coconut and ginger sweets were my favourite and I stocked up for future bus journeys.