After visiting the ruins of Tikal and spending time in Flores i moved down to Rio Dulce. Rio Dulce is a town at the end of Lago De Izabal, the Dulce river is part of a lake and river system that flows out to the Carribean, because of this it has become popular with the yachting community as it is one of the saftest places to retreat to during the hurricane season. Many hotels are dotted along the river banks and quite a few have marinas or moorings so the yachties can come in and spend a few weeks there. Many of them can only be reached by lanchas (launch boats) so you have to ring your hotel/resort to come and pick you up. I spent 3 nights at such a place and it was nice to be back by the waters edge.

 

Most activities revolve around the water with various boat trips up and down the river and longer excursions to Livingstone a small town on the coast. I decided to spend my time relaxing by the waters edge but did have a walk up to the nearby fort called Castillo De San Felipe. This was built where the river meets the lake and was used to defend the town against pirates. Only a small fort but well preserved and worth spending a morning there including some time in the grounds.

Castillo De San Felipe –

 

 

 

Another popular trip is to head out on the river to the town of Livingstone on the coast. The manager of my hotel told me that there really wasn’t too much to see and maybe only worth a day trip. I met some people since that liked it and stayed a couple of days but sometimes you just have to make a choice as you can’t see everything. To be honest i was enjoying sitting by the waters edge watching the world go by so didn’t budge an inch for the last couple of days.

SimonTheSailor