Rainy Days, Rainy Nights

Trip Start Nov 24, 2005
1
16
40
Trip End May 21, 2006


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow
Where I stayed
Backpakers Hotel
(Santo Tomas de Castilla hotels)

Flag of Guatemala  ,
Friday, January 27, 2006

Finca Ixobel is another backpacker hideaway, near the nothing much doing town of Poptun. I suspect it would be a steller place to while away days hiking, swimming and generally lounging. That is if the ceaseless rains had not turned fields into lakes and trails into rivers. So we stayed only a night moving onto Rio Dulce in the hopes of drier environs.

Although we encountered blue skies upon our arrival it was but a brief illusion. After a short boat ride to our jungle type getaway the rains commenced again. We spent the next couple of days leisurely lounging in hammocks, playing chess and sipping cervasas awaiting intermittent lapses in the downpours.

During these all too brief respites we wandered the one street that is Rio Dulce. The village is built on either bank of the river of the same name and Central America's longest bridge connects the two sides 01_relaxing in the jungle
01_relaxing in the jungle
 . In the shadow of which the town has been built in a haphazard squatter style but with significantly more permanence. One such establishment was the Hotel Backpackers where we spent our second night in the area introducing new friends to the excitement of Weed (the card game people!)

Along the rivers banks are docked countless luxurious yachts and speedboats. The town acts as a haven for yachties and watching their thick bearded, leather skinned sailors provided some enjoyable moment of speculation. What a way in which to see the world!

After a couple of lackluster days, everything in our packs damp and smelly we bussed it back to the west side of the country. Changing buses meant a brief navigation of the streets in Guatemala City. After receiving dozens of conflicting directions from well intentioned folk (the giving of directions is not a strong suit of Guatemalans) we were safely on a bus out of the city, having seen only one dead body.

We are now back in the highlands and most thankfully back to some sunshine.
Slideshow Print this entry