23rd & 24th June 2008: Travelled to Rio Dulce, then taking a boat to our jungle lodge. Arrived a bit too late to go anywhere in the afternoon so just relaxed in the pool, rather than have a shower (as both the power and water have mysteriously disappeared). We're staying in little cabin above the swamp (sounds horrid but is actually lovely!) with our own hammock - which I make good use of during the afternoon. After a lovely supper head back to our little cabin, only to find a scorpion has taken up residence in our bathroom. In the towel to be precise. We're brave enough to remove the beast outside, but apparently they generally hand around in pairs. Great. Sleep under a mosquito net just to be sure!

The next morning we take an early boat ride to some amazing hot water waterfalls. Getting there via tractor and a trudge through the forest was most definitely worth it though - as we arrive at possibly the best spa in the world! The waterfall is surrounded by beautiful forests, the water in the pools below is cool and refreshing but the waterfall itself is amazingly hot, possibly heated by thermals but I'm not sure. At any rate, standing underneath it soothes achy limbs and leaves us cleaner than any other Central American hotel shower has thus far! We finaly drag ourselves away before heading back to our lodge - on our way back the heavens open and we get caught in the heaviest rainstorm I've seen here so far - sitting at the front of the boat definitely has its disadvantages now! Rather than spend the afternoon visiting Livingston in the pouring rain, we decide to relax with a bottle (jug!) of wine at the lodge instead. Rain turns into a thunderstor, with something very close by receiving a direct hit. Decide to stay exactly where we are and hope for the best! I manage to lose my key somewhere in the swamp, which wasn't very clever as there is no spare! Luckily there is a connecting door into our room so our accomodating lodge-mates let us use their room as access for the rest of our stay!