Livingston is not connected to any roads - the only way in and out is by boat. We took a boat up the Rio Dulce to the town with the same name. This journey is the attraction around here, it goes through lovely jungle and Garifuna villages. Birds were a plenty and there was a very scenic spot where vast numbers of water lilies lay in the water.

Rio Dulce sits in a lovely setting by a natural lake surrounded by jungle and then distant mountains. For yatchers this is deemed the safest place in the whole caribean for hurricanes. So along side delapidated riverside dwellings would be very expensive yatchs mainly from America.

The town itself maintains a relative untouched by tourist feel to it as most people prefer to stay lakeside in delightful thatched cabins. We wanted to splash out a little and stay in one of these.

A meer five minutes by boat took us to Hotel Tortugal flanked on either side by nice yatchs. This prompted the question I last asked in Cape Town - "which one would you choose".

Prices had gone up to twice what was expected but this was still the same price as the cheapest motel in the cheapest place in America and the same as camping in Australia. For this you got one of three lovely thatched on suite bungalows that you would be pleased with on a romantic getaway.

Boardwalks lead off to the restaurant and even into town. After a gorgeous lunch with actual linen napkins (have not seen those for a long time) we set off to walk to town. For such a small hotel I was amazed at the considerable effort of making the boardwalk. It ran for 200 meters through mangroves to an atmospheric thatched bridge that had a sleepy hollow feeling. There it connected to a dirt track with good wildlife and on this occasion ant watching opportunities.

The evening was as you would expect very quiet but nice, we only talked briefly to a lady and daughter from England that had spent the last two years hitchhiking on yatchs round the Caribean. Coincidently her daughter was called Emily, the same name as our much loved cat. With thoughts on home we made our way back to the cabin. A tabby cat similar to Emily followed us back and wanted to get into our room. The next day the same cat was outside by the door - this was the day that we got the news that our cat had past away.