3 Weeks, 3 Countries and a Shitload of Buses…Part 1 (Rio Dulce)

One of our main reasons for staying in El Salvador for so long was so we could provide Palarran with a safe home while we traveled around Central America. We have never been here before and wanted to really have time to check it out. On May 22 CB and I took off from the marina and jumped on a chicken bus to San Salvador where we would catch a First Class bus to Guatemala City (King Quality Premium bus line). These buses are as nice as first class on a plane. When we got to Guat City we took a less than a first class bus (damn near chicken quality) an unexpected 8 Hours (uffdah) to Northeastern Guatemala to a place called Rio Dulce. Rio Dulce is where all the boats on the Caribbean side hole up for Hurricane season. We met several cruisers from “that side” and enjoyed comparing notes. The area itself is beautiful. All the hostels and hotels are outside of a small, but really loud town. Most are only accessible by launch (panga) or if you had a vehicle to travel the little jungle roads. I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story.

Rio Dulce is a river that comes off Lago Izabal and makes it’s way through to the Caribbean side of Guatemala. Due to this fact, a lot of sailboats make this their hurricane hole against the Atlantic hurricane season. Most transport on the lake is via launcha (pangas) to various marinas and hotels around the river and lake area.

We stayed across the river at the Tortugal Inn and Marina. This place was quite nice with a tree-house like setting.

We had the room on the right with the open bamboo window…

The Hotel had kayaks that were free to use to check out the lake and the nearby Spanish Fort…this place was awesome.

This is Castillo de San Felipe de Lara, a fort the Spanish built in 1644 to keep out the pirates from the Caribbean.

The fort was restored in 1955 and later became a World Heritage Site. For a very small fee you can go and explore every nook and cranny of this place….including pitch black tunnels where ammunition boys ran cannon balls up to the gunners to fight off pirate ships.

The obligatory brig selfie…help!

The next day we took a panga over to another lodge called Hacienda Tijax. This place was amazing. A local guy had bought about 600 acres of land along the river for conservation and ecotourism in mind. When he bought it there was a working rubber tree plantation. Over the years he has built a resort and restaurant and built numerous nature trails. You can only hike the trail with their guide, Lucy. She is a kick in the pants and very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna. Along the hike you stop at a jungle pool fed by fresh spring water….it was cold and refreshing after the jungle hike.

Spring fed pool perfect for skinny dippin’. Usually the pool is crystal clear, but due to the heavy rains it was cloudy.

This double suspension bridge crossed over a deep ravine with giant ferns growing up 50 feet or more. Straight up King Kong territory!

The hike peaked at this observatory. From the top you can see all the surrounding mountain ranges, river valley and volcanoes…we tried to get a panorama of it, but it was too hazy to turn out

This is the rubber tree plantation. It is still in operation, but since rubber is no longer in as great of demand due to synthetics, only a small portion of the land is still worked.

A special tool is used to slice and peel a small area of bark where the rubber seeps out into this tiny cup. After a few hours the rubber hardens and stops flowing. Apparently this does not harm the tree and this scar can continuously be reopened to get more rubber. That little white ball is pure rubber and smells like absolute shit!

Stay tuned for parte dos, where we travel down the Rio Dulce by launch a to Livingston, Guatemala.