Day 13 - Rio Dulce and Livingston

  Rio Dulce, Guatemala
Friday, November 30, 2007

Day 13 - From the campsite beside Lake Isabella we made our way back (along the dirt track that will be rememered for the enourmous potholes) to the town of ???????? (unsure of name) also lining the shore of Lake Isabella but is closer to the River Dulce or Rio Dulce in spanish.
The activity today was included in our trek america price was a boat trip down the Rio Dulce starting from Lake Izabal and finishes at the town of Livingston on the Caribbean coast. The boat ride was relaxing and very interesting as we passed an old spanish fort, an island teaming with birds, fought our way through the masses of water lillies, admired the local villagers mastering the river on their wooden boats while basking in the Guatemalan sunshine. 


    Waterlillies everywhere!    

Young girl exposed to the Rio Dulce

Half way down the river we pulled over to see a cave and its natural sauna powered by hot steam and gases realeased by volcanic activity escaping through cracks and fissures in the cave wall. Unfortunatley the smell of hydrogen sulphide gas 'very eggy smell' meant we didn't stay down here too long. Also found here is a bubbling hot spring beside the river, which we only had time for a 5 minute dip, the temperature varies in places but is generally like a very warm bath which was great as I had no shower last night/this morning.

Continuing our journey doen the river, we passed through a steep gorge before we finally reached the Caibbean sea and the town of Livingston. This town feels more Caribbean than Guatemalan, reflected in the cuisine and the locals who are darker skinned. So with two hours to kill here we (the group) stopped straight away for lunch which in hindsight was a good decision as the speed of service was terrible slow, mirrors the laid back lifestyle here. A few of the group went for the local seafood soup and were quite surprised when then soup came out with two medium sized fishes and a crab hidden within the broth. While I personally went for the fish which appeared to have more bones than flesh. To cap off our first Caribbean experience on this trip we had this mad diasbled women singing very badly at tourists in a vain attempt to get money and when she saw us, she followed us to the restaurant and continued her high pitch wailing however just as we were almost to the point of giving her money to shut her up, she hopped into a taxi and disappeared. In the remaining time, Bobbie had time to get her hair braided while I managed to find a beach at the far end of town, a typical Caribbean beach with it sandy beaches and palm trees but ruined by a vast amount of litter strewn across the beach and water. 


An unspectacular Caribbean beach


Waitor, There's a crab in my soup!!!

After our two hours we headed back to the quay to board our boat again to head back up the Rio Dulce. Met up with Jennie again and continued our drive to Poptun.