Rio Dulce - Sweet River

For the last couple of days we've been chilling in southeastern Guatemala on the banks of El Rio Dulce, "Sweet River". Our new friends Dave and Ann (www.advodna.com) recommended an amazing little jungle hotel called Tijax. From the hotel we took a two hour boat ride down the Rio Dulce to the Caribbean Ocean. It felt like we were on another planet! The river twists down a beautiful jungle gorge. There were huge limestone cliffs, thick green forests, and wildlife everywhere. Where the river met the sea we found the tiny town of Livingston. This town is only accessible by boat, and the people are a mix of Garifuna (West African), Maya, and Ladino. Spanish is a second, possibly third language here. We give this part of Guatemala two thumbs up!

A local Guatemalan girl in a homemade dugout canoe...

We passed numerous wildlife reserves on our ride down to the Caribbean...

Passing an old Spanish fort that was built to keep the pirates out of the river...Aaaargh!!!

Approaching the Caribbean sea via Rio Dulce...

Although Stevie saw real potential here, I assured her that these waves were too small to surf. She disagreed...

 Local women enjoying the cool water while doing the laundry...

We saw some amazing villages up and down the river. What a simple beautiful existence. If the IRS comes after me, this is where I'll go... shhhh...

Enjoying a Brahva beer in Livingston. The people sitting next to us were speaking some form of African language. I was picking it up pretty fast and probably would have been fluent after another beer...

This morning we plan to bust out the 4+ hour drive to Guatemala City where we hope to get the Sprinter serviced. We have a contact there so we're hoping for a seamless experience. This city is big and notorious for being a pain to drive in, so we'll see how it goes.  As with all city experiences we've had since we left the US, it should be interesting! TREE