I was standing on my top bunk, all disorientated, reaching over the side, my head hitting the ceiling, utterly confused

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Hola. I am in Santa Elena again now after a weekend in Rio Dulce. The bus got in earlier than expected which was nice so I have some time to update my blog before the last bus back. I can´t be bothered to tell you what I did this week but it was all good I can assure you. Rio Dulce is the name of both a river and a town, the river runs up to a big lake, Lago de Itzabel I think. There is little in the town itself, although we did buy some tortillas and sweetcorns rubbed with salt. Our desired hostel being full, we took a boat to a newish one where we were the sole inhabitants. We had our own kitchen as there was no food to buy and it was a really relaxing evening. We were in beautiful wooden building with hammocks outside and surrounded by pineapple plants and palms. We went a little up the river in another boat to a restaurant where I had a very small BLT but everything is cheap here so it doesn´t matter.

Yesterday morning, having all got a lot of rest (although the heat and lack of fan did give me some strange dreams and at one point I was standing on my top bunk, all disorientated, reaching over the side, my head hitting the ceiling, utterly confused until I started shouting for a torch and the responses of the others snapped me out of it) we went directly across the river to the castle on the other side. It had been built by the Spanish to keep ´the pirates of the carribean´out and the English ones were tortured there under the SPanish inquisition. Fascists.

Having moved to an equally beautiful hostel but with many people there for the night, we set off to a hot sulphourous waterfall an hour up the lake on a very bumpy road. The last such place I went to was in India and they had tapped the water and put it in filthy baths that couldn´t be drained. This was much better as the hot water met a cold river with a lovely pool to swim in. Myself and Hannah, one of the girls I was with, climbed up and walked along the hot stream. It was all absolutely beautiful.

In the evening I had a 60Q all you can eat BBQ buffet which turned out to be mainly undercooked meat. I ate quite a lot of it anyway and am fine today.

Now I am heading back to San Andres. There is so much more to say but alas, I just don´t have the time.

p.s. it´s my birthday on Thursday so you´d better all remember and send me birthday cards to guatemala.

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