2 Go Rio Dulce

During our long journey from Caye Caulker, Belize to Punta Gorda, Belize, we met a group of some very nice people from Sweden and Germany. Their names are: Aron, Wiebke, Susan and Rasmus a/k/a Juan. We had a great time traveling with them from Punta Gorda to Livingston and finally to Rio Dulce.

We arrived in Punta Gorda late, but the six of us managed to find a hotel room and dinner, albeit rather seedy and expensive, as most border towns tend to be. The next morning, we left early for the hour long boat ride from Punta Gorda across the Gulf of Honduras to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. This was our first border crossing by sea for this trip. After going through immigration and getting money in Puerto Barrios, we took yet another boat to Livingston, Guatemala, a town only accessible by sea or river. Since it was late in the day, we decided to stay in Livingston for the night and head up the Rio Dulce river the next morning.

As with Belize, Livingston has a large population of Garifuna people. Garifunas are descended from West Africans and Carib Indians. Here a Guatemalan Garifuna cowboy loads construction material on a wheelbarrow.

Here is the Garifuna Rastafarian who wanted to take us to Rio Dulce the afternoon we arrived. We kindly said, "no", as his price was too high. We ended up signing up for a tour that was the same price, but was supposed to include more. The joke was on us, since he was the one who would be organizing the boats for that tour.

Here is our group enjoying fresh fish for lunch. From the left: Rich, Rasmus, Susan, Wiebke and Aron.

The next morning we left for our boat tour down the Rio Dulce river. It really is a magnificent voyage, as the first several kilometers leading from the mouth of the river wind in gentle curves with steep and high rising banks covered with vegetation. At times, it reminded us of the fjords of Norway.

People of the Rio Dulce and their principal means of transport.

A typical home along the banks of the Rio Dulce.

Following our "tour", the group gathers for a lunch of bread, avocado, cheese and pineapple. At the same time, we all were deciding what to do next. Aron and Rasmus decided to head back to Guatemala City, as they had limited time. Susan and Weibke decided to stay in Rio Dulce and enjoy the nature there. We decided to head towards Honduras in hopes of crossing the border that evening. We only got as far as Chiquimula, Guatemala, a town that offers nothing more to travelers than a stopover for the border crossing into Honduras and onto the Copan Ruins.

After a hard day of travel, our reward was this cold shower, Notice the intense water pressure of the shower which, incidentally, is on full blast.

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