Our hostel right on the water with the bridge in the background.

Matt enjoying the view

Looking a little tired but pleased with my home made vase and perfectly formed water lily.

I´ve skipped our three days in Copan, Honduras as Matt has begun a post and should have it up over the next few days. We were there over new years and left Copan on the morning of the 2nd of January for Rio Dulce, a town within the Rio Dulce National Park. The tourist shuttles we´d been relying on up to then didn´t offer a direct service so we had to change to a local air conditioned coach at Rio Hondo, an hour over the Honduras/Guatemala border. We were led to believe that the shuttle was timed to arrive just before the local bus and that driver made sure you were on the right bus but this was not the case. We were dropped off in the heat of the day in a place that is best described as a fork where two of the major roads through Guatemala meet. Buses would pull up every two minutes and hoards of people selling fruit, drinks, nuts, ice cream, sweet bread and god knows what else would rush at the buses, pushing goods through the windows and even mounting the bus, only jumping off when the bus started moving and picking up speed. While it was fascinating to watch we were the only tourists around and felt very out of our depth.

Monkeys being far too quiet for our liking!

Turtle getting some rays.

There was a small bus terminal which sold drinks where we parked ourselves with our four bags and waited for two and a half hours for our bus to arrive. When it did, it was not the air conditioned coach we expected but a bus slightly better than a chicken bus where a little room was made for us on the back seat along with two women and their four children. Once again as the only tourists on board we had to make use of our very limited Spanish to get by. Every now and again you would spot the children staring at us before looking guiltily away. Despite the cramped conditions and the language barrier everyone was very friendly and accommodating.The idea was to get to Rio Dulce before nightfall so we could orientate ourselves and save some money by walking to our hostel. We arrived late in the end but happily paid for a taxi to our accommodation for a hot shower and a warm bed after a much longer day of traveling than anticipated. We now know to take what the local tourist operators say with with a pinch salt, build in extra time and expect the unexpected.

Rio Dulce

Prime real estate – gives you an idea of the number of birds.

Rio Dulce is the biggest town along the river and lake system of Lake Izabal and the Rio Dulce river, and serves as a market place for the many small Mayan communities living by the water´s edge. Cars are of no use here and are probably unaffordable for most but many of the communities have a small boat which they use to ferry people to and from the town to sell fish and buy essentials. The bridge over the river which joins one side of town to another is the longest in Central America and you see many local Guatemalans stopping on the bridge to have their picture taken.

As expected within a National Park there are loads of animals which live in and by the water and the surrounding jungle. On the morning of the fourth of January we got up early and headed further up the Lake Izabal to El Estor. There we picked up a private charter boat to explore Bocas del Polochic park, an area of wetlands, flooded forests, and savannas. It was a cold morning (by Guatemala standards) so the area was quieter than usual. The first Howler monkeys we spotted were too busy huddling together and trying to stay warm than entertaining us. Matt went from just wanting to see a monkey to wanting to see them swing from tree to tree and do something but we can’t always dictate to nature and the monkeys stayed their quite, still, cold, sulky selves. We did get to hear some other howlers deeper in the jungle greeting each other. The sound is pretty deafening and sounds more like two tigers ready to do battle than a few docile monkeys just saying good morning. While on the trip we also saw some turtles sunning themselves, a few lizards and some interesting birds. We were hoping to see a manatee, and waited about for quite a while but once again nature didn’t feel like complying.

On the one hour trip back to Rio Dulce we were squashed into a local service 16 seater minibus with no less than 26 other people and some chickens.At one stage there were three people hanging out of the door. Matt, easily the tallest person that ever stepped foot in the minibus, was fairly squashed and still the driver beeped the horn and shouted out for more and more people to get on.

Once back in Rio Dulce the midday heat coupled with the bus journey left us feeling pretty hot and sticky and I made the fatal mistake of buying some watermelon slices in a plastic bag from a street vendor. We´d bought it in other places and been fine but a few hours later we both started feeling pretty miserable and spent the night taking turns throwing up. The next day we had booked to take the boat to Livingston and despite very little sleep and still feeling pretty dodgy we decided to press on. We spent four days in Livingston and it really took until the last day for us to feel ourselves again. And so we´ve learned lesson number two – don’t let confidence cloud your judgement. Fruit in a plastic bag on a hot day spells trouble!