Casa De La Iguana in Livingston, Guatemala

Situated at the mouth of the Rio Dulce, Livingston (or La Buga as it is known to its' Garifuna inhabitants) is a laid back Caribbean town. Livingston is part of the mainland, however, because it is only accessible by boat and lacks a road connecting to any other town, you'll get a sense of being on an island. Thankfully there are still good connections on to Honduras, Belize and the rest of Guatemala with minimal fuss.
The town has a population of around 17000 inhabitants of mixed cultures and races with majority being of Garifuna ancestry. These people trace their roots back to the Caribbean island of St Vincent, where shipwrecked African slaves mixed with the indigenous Carib in the 17th century. It took the British a long time and a lot of fighting to establish colonial control over St Vincent. In 1796 when they finally succeeded, they decided to deport its surviving 5000 Garifuna to the Honduran island of Roatan, but unfortunately only about 2000 survived the voyage.



Everyone is welcome. It is a party hostel especially during festival times where we encourage people from all over the world to mingle and exchange travel advice and tales. The happy hour is fun and can lead to a lively bar so don't necessarily expect an early night. We try and judge it on the mood of the crowd and how many people want to stay up and how many people have an early start as to when we close the bar.