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Bird walking on water "like Jezus" during our cruise on the Rio Dulce.
Livingston, Guatemala. Our shaky feet just touched the land of a new country. I still trembled from the rough boat ride from Belize. 45 minutes on the sea and the setting changed drastically. Nobody spoke English anymore and our few Belize dollars were worthless. The streets of Livingston were narrow
Tom watching World Cup on the road in a comedor in Livingston, Guatemala.
There is one hour left until the Game of the Century starts and there is no electricity anywhere in Livingston, Guatemala. Belgium’s national football team will play its first semi-final since I was five days old, possibly (let’s not get too entitled) the last one in my lifetime. And I’m
A girl running in front of a Coca Cola sign in Belize City.
Imagine a handkerchief of a country, barely 350.000 souls strong, where any of the following could happen: -A Latino speaks with a thick Caribbean accent: “Hi, my brotha! Wassup?!” -A Maya bar owner turns on Bob Marley’s Greatest Hits, but switches after a couple of songs to old-fashioned Spanish music.
Children playing under a palm tree on the beach in Hopkins, Belize.
My favourite moment of travelling is the moment when the road stops and the ocean starts. Waves are rushing to the coast and there is no way to continue. You have reached your destination. My second favourite moment is swimming in front of my own private beach. I float on
Tom in bus stop in Belize
You know you’ve been travelling in Belize for too long when… 1. You count your experiences in bug bites, not in days. 2. You know that there’s “no working during drinking hours” and that Belikin is “the only beer worth drinking”. 3. You start to wonder if you’ll ever get

8 Replies to “Rio Dulce, Guatemala: when the closest ATM is a boat ride away”

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  2. Toussaint Juliette

    Hi ! I just finished reading your article which tragically describes just perfectly what we’re living right at the moment! We’ll arrive in Rio Dulce tomorrow with only the rest of the few euros we managed to changed into Q and we’re desperately looking for a cash machine working with MasterCard.. Can you please save us by telling us where was this famous working ATM in rio dulce? Also for te rest of our trip, do you remember the places in which you were able to withdraw cash? Many thanks in advance ! Hopefully yours, Juliette

    Reply
    • Tom Peeters

      Hi Juliette! The golden cash machine is the one inside of Despensa Familiar, a supermarket on the main road in Rio Dulce. The good news is that things got easier for us afterwards, as most big towns in Guatemala have a Despensa Familiar and many had an ATM that worked for us (always ATMs from Banco Industrial, never 5B). The bad news is that still only one of our three cards ever worked. Be patient with the BI ATMs, sometimes you have to try multiple times before they work (so don’t give up hope straight away). In Despensa Familiar you can also pay with card, so you can save some cash. And more touristic places also often accept card payments. If you’re headed north from Rio Dulce, we’re staying right now in Poptun, halfway between Rio Dulce and Flores, so come and say hi 😉 Good luck and let us know if we can help you. Tom

      Reply
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