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Published: January 30th 2009
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After leaving Honduras we were traveling to El Peten, the northernmost region of Guatemala. Our first stop (just south of the Peten) was the Lago Izabal and Rio Dulce area.
We had been in the rain for four days and at least two more rainy days were forecasted to come. We decided that if we were going to be stuck in a hotel, it should be a nice hotel with internet, comfortable bed, hot water, bar and restaurant. We splurged and checked into the resort hotel, Mansion del Rio on Saturday the 17th of January for two nights.
Mansion del Rio charges $120 per night for a room with a view of the garden and ten dollars more for a view of the river. We opted for the garden view room to save the ten dollars, which we instead spent in the hotel bar. Our first night there, the bartender at the hotel offered to call his cousin who offers boat excursions that depart directly from the hotel dock. We made arrangements to travel along the Rio Dulce to the coastal Garifuna community of Livingston with stops at Castillo San Felipe and Aguas Calientes on Monday the 19th of January.
Sunday we spent the morning trying to find a working ATM, cheaper lodging, and a place for laundry. We found Hotel Backpacker, which had internet, dorm and private rooms, bar and restaurant, parking, and provided laundry service. We dropped off our laundry and paid roughly $13 US for a room for the following night.
By Monday morning the rain had stopped and the sun came out for another Guatemalan boat day; Chac, the Mayan god of rain, was on our side. On the way to Livingston we went by the edge of Lake Izabal, the island of birds (lots of birds there), and through the river gorge. It was a very scenic route along the river with surprisingly little boat traffic.
We also stopped off for a guided cave tour at Aguas Calientes (the water is very warm there). The cave was deep and very dark; with three flashlights it was still dark in the cave.
We arrived to Livingston about 11am. As soon as we stepped off the boat we were approached by a local guide who offered to show us around town for $10 US. I had read that Livingston is only accessible by boat and
that because of this, I had read, was uniquely distinctive from most other Guatemalan locations. There was a higher population of people of African descent and a more Caribbean atmosphere, otherwise, not much difference. Pablo, our Garifuna guide (but actually born in the Bronx), showed us around for about an hour before we returned to our boat.
On our way back from Livingston we stopped at Castillo San Felipe, a 500 year old Spanish fort located where the Rio Dulce meets Lago Izabal. This was the largest and most authentic and intact fort we have visited in Latin America. Although the fort is unfurnished, most of the rooms are marked. There was a kitchen, soldiers barracks, chapel, courtyard, towers, tunnels, and more.
After our river trip we checked in at the Hotel Backpacker. This place was perfect especially considering our room was just over $10 US per night. It was located at the river’s edge; actually our room was in a building that was built on stilts above the water. It was a wood frame building without siding so our room was quite well ventilated. The bed was descent, hotel guests were not charged to use the internet, menu
Only one bird per barrel!
if one tries to land on a barrel where another bird is, they all go crazy! items were cheap and good, and the hot water was actually hot with pressure; fantastic!
On Tuesday the 20th of January we drove to the ancient Mayan city and now archaeological park of Quirigua. This site is about an hour drive from Rio Dulce. The road to the site off of the highway is surrounded by a banana plantation. On our way up to the park entrance we had to stop and wait for the banana train to stop (take a look at the pictures). Actually the banana train, as we called it, was a machine that carried the bananas, presumably from the field to a storage or processing facility.
Quirigua has a limited amount of structures restored and accessible to visitors, however the park is home to an interpretive museum and an impressive collection of stelae with images of past rulers and anthropomorphic figures.
There was more we could have done from Rio Dulce; waterfall, hot springs, hacienda, biosphere, and botanic garden, but we wanted to move onward and northward to El Peten, our next and last destination in Guatemala.
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