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Published: August 7th 2008
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the canyon
the jungle came right down the cliffs to the water in some spots Rio Dulce
After one night back in Antigua we took a 4am shuttle to Guatemala City (ugh) to catch the Litegua bus to Rio Dulce. We arrived in Rio Dulce around noon and a nice guy from the bus (John, who moved here from Miami years ago and is building a boat to live on in Rio Dulce) let us use his cell phone to call our hotel for the boat taxi. Rio Dulce is a little town on a large lake notable because of the highways from the west (Guatemala City) and north (Flores) and the river traffic that leads to the Carribean. It is actually a pretty small town from the look of things and we were cautioned about its safety so we've spent the past couple days around our hotel - Tortugal. Aptly named, there are a couple turtles living in the ponds around the hotel. You have to take a boat anywhere so it's easy to spend all your time at the hotel because of the great location and swimming dock. It's a 5-10 min boat ride away from the Rio Dulce dock, which is the main way of getting around since everything is on the river
the canyon
Beautiful as a canyon, and likely was just as impressive when it was a cave too and lake and roads are back routes, if at all.
The surroundings here are a lot closer to Tikal - both in the jungle environs and the heat and humidity. The jungle around us has certainly been alive during the night with those huge moths (see Semuc Champey post), cicadas and some pretty cool birds. We saw one Toucan fly out of a tree while taking the boat across the river.
Tortugal is a really nice place with 5-6 bungalows and 4-5 good-sized double rooms. We have stayed in one of each during our two nights here (both $38us) and slightly preferred the Cuarto room over the bungalow. There is a good restaurant, friendly staff, and really nice ownership. Also, Jefe the dog is likely to be a highlight of any stay here (though the three nice cats who slept outside our door were very cute too, especially the one who curled up in a flower pot for an extended nap). Thursdays and Fridays are movie nights on a big projector screen outside, which served as a great welcome our first night here Friday.
We had a wonderful thunderstorm Friday night that included lightning all around us
and thunder that was very loud, but the day time weather was beautiful each day we stayed. That thunder was far more impressive and bone-rumbling than any we get in the Pacific Northwest and it was neat to be in the jungle, hear the rain flowing off the roof, and really be in the midst of a big storm.
On Saturday we did a tour with one of the staff (Elder, who is great!) and three other people staying at the hotel. Two of them were actually from Portland and run in our nonprofit and school circles - small world! We drove close to an hour and a half to a canyon formed when a cave system collapsed. We all piled into a shaky little wooden canoe and our guide paddled upstream a couple hundred years. The water was high because of recent rain and we climbed out at two spots while our guide navigated the areas with rapids. It was very beautiful with the jungle climbing up and down the sheer cliffs on either side (trees, vines, etc) and soft waterfalls dripping on us as we floated back downstream. There was one point on our way back when
our guide and Elder lost their hold on the boat and we floated down one of the rapids backwards but we all made it through alright, without any bruises and all our camera equipment still happily dry.
After that we headed 20-30 minutes on the way back to a waterfall where a stream and some hotsprings meet. The stream was cool water (though still not cold, since it is Guatemala, after all) but the waterfall was very hot. It was neat to swim through to stream to and under the cascade of hot water. Then Elder took us on a climb up the side of the waterfall back to an area with pools to sit in. We sat and laid down in the very hot water and put moud on our arms and legs. Very relaxing stuff. (
for travelers: the tour was $22us each for transport and entry fees, and though not as exciting or adventerous as other tours we've done this trip for comparable it was still fun and worthwhile).
When we got back to Tortugal we went swimming out to their sun dock. It was a lovely way to end the day, bobbing in the warm
river water and sitting on the dock. Something we could easily spend tomorrow doing if we weren't heading to Livingston.
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