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Published: April 16th 2011
From Copan Ruinas in Honduras it is only 10 km to the border of Guatemala. The border crossing was pretty straightforward, and I was able to change my Lempiras for Quetzals at a good rate. A Danish guy who was low on money and planned to cash in Guatemala, borrowed some money to get across the border and onwards by bus.
We had to change buses in Esquipula and again in Morales from there it was another hour on a very crowded chicken bus to
Rio Dulce.Upon arrival we first had lunch near the bridge. 35 Quetzals for a steak and a beer. The steak was pretty good actually, and Gallo, the most common Guatemalan beer was good too. After a bit of looking around we decided to walk down to the pier and check out if there were any boats to one of the guest houses on the river. Actually from the pier you could see one just west of it, called Xalajas. It looked nice and the prices seemed all right too, so a boat ride of less than a minute (which lasted 10 minutes really, coz the outboard engine kept failing) and we stepped onto the little dock.
We were greeted by the host, Illanna and shown our rooms. Me and the Danish guy decided to share a bungalow, perched just over the waters edge, whilst at the same time nearly hidden in the jungle behind it. It had two bedrooms and a bathroom. Really great. To get to the room you need to walk along the boardwalk built over the water. A few yachts were moored in front. From the restaurants swinging hammocks there is a great view of the bridge spanning the Rio Dulce.
Dinner was served right on the deck, after which I did some serious 'hammocking'. I enjoyed talking to Luis, the local guy who worked at the place.
There's so much birdlife along the river too, loads of graceful, white crane birds, pelicans and birds I don't know the name of. They sit right on the deck of Xalaja guest house and dive into the river right in front. You can actually see them grab fish through the clear water of the river.
I woke up early the next morning, having been woken by the sound of water under the bungalow, birds and insects in the bush right behind it and
the noise of the many cattle trucks crossing the bridge. I read my book while watching the sun come up from the hammock. After breakfast the Danish and I got a boat ride back into town (the boat going to the other side of the bridge this time, passing a small island in the river covered in birds along the way) from where we took a minibus to a local spot called 'el paradiso'. After paying our Q10 entrée fee we walked the 500m or so along the river in which local families were bathing and doing laundry to the waterfall area so aptly named. And it is beautiful! The river itself is fresh water, streaming down from the nearby limestone mountains and cascading through the lush jungle around it. At this very spot however, hot water from a fissure in the rock above came down an overhang, and the smell of sulfur hung heavy in the air. A thermal spring! Wow, amazing spot really. Fish even swam in the hot water right below the fall, and they loved getting at your skin too, when you'd stand still long enough, they'd come right up to you and start eating the
dead skin cells (or might even have been the 'live' skin cells) of your legs. There were a few spots where you could sit on the rocks with the bottom half of your body sitting in the water, with the top half being showered by the hot water from above. A little too hot actually, if you ask me. We ended up staying for probably two hours or so, before we had lunch back at the road and hailed a mini bus back to town.
He had to get some cash so he could pay me back and pay the guest house, so I spent some time talking to a guy from the USA who was now retired and living part of the year on one of the yachts moored in front.
After a great jerk chicken dinner on the deck overlooking the river, I joined some of the local guys chatting and drinking beers. I think it was during our 3rd or 4th beer when suddenly it went pitch black from one second to the other, followed by a collective scream coming from the town. Electricity went off, just like that. All the light from town, the bridge
and the places along the river, everything just turned pitch black. So we had to resort to candle light, which was actually quite neat. It was easier to imagine what it must've been like years ago, when it was just fishermen living along the shores.
After another good sleep and an early wake up call from nature, I decided to move on, although with pain in my heart. I really liked the place, and hope to come back one day. I paid the guest house Q125 for the boat to
Livingston, which they called and picked me upright from the dock of the guest house. Saying my goodbye's, the boat went upriver first to pick up a few more people and to give everybody a photo opportunity of
El Castillo San Felipe.
The largest part of the trip was across the wide parts of the river that seem more like a lake. After visiting an inlet covered in lotus flowers and some local kids selling shells from their little dugout canoes, and another thermal spring area right at the edge of the river, the boat enters the spectacular part of the ride to Livingston.
A narrow canyon with walls
of up to 300+ meters high covered in jungle greens and hundreds of these white crane birds. Hard to capture on a camera, but easy to forget to blink your eyes. Really stunning! Too bad it went so fast, would love to do that part myself one day, taking my time on a slow boat.
Getting close to Livingston which lies at the mouth of the river, the water got more choppy, and I started to get worried a little on my plan ahead; I was going to take a boat from
Puerto barrios to
Punta Gorda in Belize, which is quite a distance over open ocean. Hmm...
I checked into an inexpensive place, thereby declining the offers from the Rasta's or
Garifuna people for the local hostel where most seemed to be heading to.
There wasn't much to do in town, apart from having a look at the gators in the local park, next to the museum on Garifuna culture which I left for some other time and the beaches to the north. I walked there not knowing there was a great spot called the seven altars, another swimming spot and falls within the jungle at walking distance from
Alligator
Livingston town parktown. I only found out later about that spot, which was a shame, but enjoyed the walk along the coast anyway. A small island, no more than a rock, just off the coast had a statue of a woman on it, who I would now know who that is if I had gone to the museum I guess. It will very likely have something o do with the Garifuna culture and how they have been brought over from Africa by the British. To be honest, I had expected more from the town. I didn't experience much of the Garifuna culture, instead I was mostly harassed with questions if I wanted to buy weed or hand out cigarettes.
Although local boats go to Belize from Livingston, these only ply the waters twice a week which meant I had to stay in Livingston another day, which I didn't feel like. So the next morning I took a lancha to Puerto Barrios just down the coast, and another bigger lancha from there to Punta Gorda in Belize. This cost a total of Q235, but worth the money... (I guess) I didn't like the boat ride that much at all! Not a big
fan of the open sea, it was a little less windy than the day previous but man, it was choppy out there! The boat guy who sat higher up, in the back, he got wet first but after a while we were all soaked. This lancha, made of fairly thin fiber glass or whatever it's called, seemed to resist the force of the water well, but it was a bumpy ride, for sure! Totally recommended if you're into water and action, he he. All right, that's it from Guatemala for now, but will be back after a short week in Belize.
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