Rio Dulce Lake Trip!

Last Friday the other volunteers (Heather, Janet, and Wayne) and I left to drive to Rio Dulce which is a river running from Lake Izabal (biggest lake in Guatemala) to the Carribean Sea. I couldn't have asked for a better vacation with my volunteer family. We were gone for a total of 5 days spending 3 of them in Rio Dulce and the other 2 as car traveling days since it took about 10 hours to get there. We took one of our company cars and the other 3 peeps shared in the driving. I have yet to learn fully how to drive a stick shift down here, so I skipped my turns driving.

On the way to Rio Dulce we stopped at Quirigua Archaeological Park. We had to drive through a banana plantation to get to the park then when we arrived we parked and walked around the sites. This site is known for it's sculptures. At Tikal most of what I saw were huge temples while at this park there were many more stone tablets and sculptures. I have decided I need to visit every Mayan site in Guatemala. I have been to 3 so far and apparently there are more than 1,500 located around Guatemala.  It's going to be a busy year. :) Here are some pictures from Quirigua.

Heather and I got one cute picture before it started to rain on us. However, luckily it was the only time it rained on our vacation. Really good for rainy season!

When we arrived in Rio Dulce we parked our car at a restaurant and got picked up by our hotel's boat and traveled for about 10 minutes down the river to our hotel. We stayed at Tortugal Marina Hotel which was really great. Janet and Wayne rented out a house to themselves while Heather and I stayed in the La Casa Natural. It has beds for 9 people, so we rented one of the bedrooms for 2. The walls of the rooms were mesh, so there really wasn't any privacy. Luckily there was only one dude staying downstairs and we had the whole upstairs to ourselves. Not bad for $14 a night! I think it would be fun to go with a bigger group and fill up the whole house. I also learned that the shuttles there and back would cost about $50. I would absolutely be up for going back another time with more people.

The first full day we were there we took a river boat to Livingston which is a town located down the river on the Carribean Sea. I loved the ride along the river. I got to sit in the front of the boat because I was willing to sit in the sun, and the views all around were beautiful. Such a pretty location.

One of the stops we made with the boat was to this lily pad area. There were hundreds of lily pads that we drove through. I have never seen so many in one place before and was grateful for the opportunity to stop and take pictures.

While we were stopped taking pictures these girls canoed over to our boat to sell random sea shells and other random things. I thought it was so funny that they were there waiting for the boat of gringos to sell to. I ended up buying a starfish for a friend which later I was told that I was killing the environment by buying it. Who knew that my buying one little starfish was the reason why the environment is going downhill.

Our next stop on our boat ride was to a little area on the side of the river where there was a natural hot spring. We swam around for a little bit then hiked to a cave that cost 15Q to tour. A man who was standing outside the cave gave us flashlights and led us through the cave. Here is our group outside the cave.

The cave was super cool and super dark. At one point we all turned off our flashlights and couldn't see anything (duh). However, pictures turned out ok inside the cave when you used flash. I thought I would be more claustrophobic than I was, but surprisingly I was actually really calm while hiking through.

When we finally arrived in Livingston this dude Charlie met us at our boat. He kept saying he was with the tourist center in Livingston and started following us around even though we kept saying we were not interested. He learned my name and kept saying "Kelly, come this way" and after awhile we just started following him. He kept referring to Janet and Wayne as my parents which I thought was hilarious. He walked us to the other side of town, so we could eat lunch on the Carribean Sea coast. Here is a picture of some wild Livingston Carribean Sea pigs.

This was the view from where we ate lunch. In the distance we could see Belize. It made me think about my trip there last Spring with my cousin. Such a beautiful place that I hope to return to someday.

After our lunch and tour of Livingston we took the boat back down the river to another restaurant because Heather wanted us to try a special soup that this area is known for called Topado. When Heather was explaining it to us before hand I thought it sounded really gross, but it actually was really good. Here is Janet and Wayne at the restaurant.

Other side of the table.

The soup. It may look gross, but it was so good. We split it since we had all just had lunch. I would absolutely order it again.

Heather went to the bathroom and came back saying that there was a cage of monkeys along the way, so naturally I ran to play with the monkeys. When I got to the cage I started taking pictures and when I was looking down at my camera one monkey reached through the cage and grabbed my foot which made me jump. Then the other monkey grabbed my hand. It was like I was being attacked by the cute little monkeys!

The next morning we took the boat back to where our car was parked and drove to Finca Paraiso which is a waterfall of natural hot springs. There is a river on top of the waterfall which was almost too hot to get into. That hot water flows down into the cold water of the river below. It cost Q10 to get into the park which made me laugh thinking of course that was worth the $1.20 to get in. We swam around for awhile and attempted to climb up the cold river behind the waterfall. However, the current was too strong to get far up the river. 

Next up Heather and I climbed up the side of the rocks to the top of the waterfall to see the hot springs river above. I decided it would be less scary to jump off the waterfall than to attempt to climb down the slippery rocks, so we decided to jump. Heather jumped first then I went right after her. We had Janet take our pictures jumping, but then decided we needed video proof, so we each took turns climbing back up and jumping again. First, be impressed I jumped off a 40 foot waterfall TWICE. Second, be even more impressed I did it with a sprained foot (still hurts a lot and I am debating if I need to figure out how to get an x-ray) and didn't hurt myself. Enjoy the video below. :)

On our last full day Janet and I kayaked to Castillo de San Felipe which is a pirate castle which was built by the Spanish in 1652 in an attempt to defer the pirates who would come to Rio Dulce to raid supplies. Heather and Wayne didn't want to go to the castle, so Janet and I took a 2 person kayak and made our way down the lake. It took us about 45 minutes to get there because the current was going the  wrong way, but on the way home it only took us 25 minutes to get back to the marina. When we arrived at the castle we walked around taking pictures for about an hour. I thought the trip was well worth it. I can now say I've been to a real pirate castle. :)

On the way back to the kayak at the castle I spotted a little stand selling these floats. Heather and I had been talking for days about wanting floats to use while swimming off our dock, but the hotel didn't have any. I bought both of these floats for Q55 which turns into about $3 each. On one of the first days I met Heather we were walking in the market and saw a Hannah Montana backpack to which Heather says we are kind of like Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana. She is Hannah Montana because she has blond straight hair and I would be Miley Cyrus because of my brown curly hair. It made me laugh then and also when I saw the Hannah Montana float. Well worth it and maybe the best purchase of the trip.

Overall Rio Dulce was such a great trip! I really enjoyed experiencing all the other volunteers outside of work. For the most part we had a no talk about work policy which was great because then I got to know them better while talking about other random subjects. It is however good to be back in Pana for a little bit. Tomorrow is actually Guatemala's Independence Day, so there have been crazy parades going on all week. I am going to go up to Camanchaj tomorrow to watch the school kids who are in a parade through the town. Expect a blog full of cute pictures of them coming soon. :)

Right now I am sitting with Lungi at Crossroads Cafe. Because of the parades down the street there are no other customers, so we have been sitting here for about an hour taking random photobooth pictures. Man do I adore my friendship with Lungi. Hanging out with her and laughing reminds me of the youth back home. Such a blessing.