LIVINGSTON HISTORY AND GENERAL INFORMATION:

On the Caribbean, at the mouth of the the Rio Dulce, sits the small town of Livingston.  Livingston is inhabited mainly by black people of Jamaican origin who speak Spanish, as well their traditional Garifuna language.   

The Garifuna culture began in the 1700's when West African slaves escaped after being shipwrecked and ended up on a British-controlled island in the West Indies.  They intermarried with the local Carib Indians (who themselves are a mix of the Carib people with the Arawaks from Amazonia) and the two cultures mixed and became one.  The free Garifunas resisted takeover of their land from the Europeans but eventually lost the battle in 1795 when their chief was killed by an English soldier.  The English deported them to one of their colonies, the Bay Islands of Honduras, as well as along the Central American coast.

Today, Livingston looks more like Jamaica or Belize than like Guatemala.  You'll see brightly painted houses and palm trees swaying.  A cool breeze from the coast comes in the evenings and you'll see the Garifunas who have kept many of their traditions such as the music, dance and food from Africa.

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