Blogs from Río Dulce, Caribbean Coast, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 7

German then English: Endlich schreiben wir mal wieder und haben damit eine ordentliche Aufgabe fuer die ganze Woche, die wir jetzt hier in Merida verbringen, einen Spanischkurs besuchen und Salsa lernen. Nun gut, nach einer nicht ganz unstrapazioesen, doch noch gut ertraeglichen Reise sind wir in Rio Dulce, am groessten Fluss Guatemalas angekommen. Nachdem wir uns ein bisschen mit Knabbereien eingedeckt hatten, sind wir mit dem Boot auf eine kleine Insel uebergesetzt. Wer weiss was es da fuer Viechzeug gibt! Die Insel ist sehr morastig, von einem Gebaeude zum anderen kommt man mittels eines Weges aus Holzplanken und unsere Huetten stehen z.T. auf Stelzen und sind natuerlich aus Holz. Neben den Huetten und entlang der Wege finden sich kleine Tuempel, in ihnen Fische, Froesche, Caimane und unzaehlige andere Tierchen - natuerlich ist das ein Paradies fuer ... read more

Hoy el dia ha comenzado muy temprano. A las 6.45 ya estaba despierto. Normalmente me hubiera dado la vuelta en la cama, pero hoy espero visita en el hotel. Desde ayer estoy en mi hotel favorito en la capital de Guatemala, el hotel Colonial. Es un sitio que os recomiendo no es caro y desde luego es mucho mas económico que los de su clase. Siendo como es de los mismos dueños del “Spring”, a mi me resulta mas confortable, mas tranquilo y con menos extranjeros. Giovanni uno de sus recepcionistas, habitualmente trabajando en la tarde se ha convertido en amigo. Podemos pasar las tardes tomando café y platicando en el jardín del hotel siempre que sus obligaciones se lo permiten. He dejado Ak´tenamit, la Ong con la que trabajaba como asesor técnico de area de ... read more

So, my new job offer... I was asked by a couple of Dutch people I know that run the Sundog Café in Rio Dulce town, if I wanted to help them out taking care of their new hostal about 5 minutes up river. As there are only two of them, if they took one business each they would never get a day off, so the idea was that I would stay with the hostal, they can run the café between them and cover for me on my days off as well. Having already checked out the new hostal (paradise!), I agreed to move in and get started ASAP. So for the last month or more I've been working at Nutria Ecolodge and Marina, and also why I never got a chance to do a blog, I've ... read more

Yesterday morning I finally left Rio Dulce, for this year at least. It was strange, really strange, but in a strange way. It still didn't feel like I was actually leaving. Of course we had the usual leaving party and leaving dinner, it was also Montse's leaving do, the long serving volunteer coordinator, along with Arturo, one of the teachers from Spain. So we all got up on the bar and danced to the leaving song, Tobaco y Chanel by Los Bacillos, an Argentinian group. Then we all fell down and got thrown in the river fully clothed in the middle of a tropical downpour, actually better fun than it might sound, the water is always warmer than the bar by that time of night. Also went to say goodbye to the kids and drop off ... read more

Utilla Bay Island 7th - 11th Augusto Turns out some people didn't turn up so alas we did not get to brave the hammocks. Got a small and splashy ferry to Utilla, a hot and beautiful little island of jetty restaurants, diving schools, bars and beaches. Beautiful English hippy backpackers were everywhere, particularly buzzing because of the festival. We luckily got the last two beds on the island at 'parrot diving school'. Coincidentally this is where our friends from Antigua were staying as well. Went snorkeling in the bath temperature, clear water and saw lots of colourful fishies and brain-like coral. The beach was pure white sand and you could not walk anywhere without being completely drenched in sweat. We went exploring and found an awesome bar completely encrusted in mozaics, coloured bottles, shells, coral, intricate ... read more