We've spent the last few days on the blissfuly internet-less Rio Dulce, soaking in the sun and trying some very tasty local grub. It was a long bus ride from Flores to Rio Dulce Town, and when we got there we didn't really have any idea what to do. Our hotel, Hotelito Perdido, was on a small river that connected to the Rio Dulce on its way to Livingston, but that's about all we knew. First things first, we had to find a dock with boats heading where we wanted to go. You'd think that would be easy, but we managed to turn what should have taken five minutes into an hour long odyssey. It wasn't until some guy on the side of the road asked us if we were lost that we figured anything out. The most frustrating part was that when we got to the dock we realized we had walked within ten feet of it half an hour earlier! Oh well. We paid for our launcha (125Q pp, guide book was way off) and piled in to the boat, already overflowing with pasty white people. The ride up the Rio is awesome. I've gotta admit, I had no desire to go here but Brittany talked me into it, and I'm glad she did. There were hundreds of different birds flying everywhere. I see pelicans all the time but seeing fifty of them hanging on tiny branches in a tree was new! We stopped by a section of the river that was a hot spot for lillies and finished our 45 minute cruise up the river at the hotel (150Q per double).


It's a really pretty little place (all bungalows) owned by a really nice Polish girl. She can't be more than thirty but she acts like she's your Mom, which was pretty funny. Asking for seconds at dinner, she would proudly say, "That's my boy!" Our first night there was a little miserable because we were too stupid to buy bug spray. We're in the jungle in an open air bungalow with nothing to protect us from the highly organized Guatemalan Mosquito Army (greatly feared by the government) . Yay! I actually got bit through the mosquito net. Smart little b*****s...

All in all though it wasn't too bad and we spent the next day at Livingston. Just from reading about it I knew I would think it was a dump and, drumroll...IT WAS! But the boat ride there was incredible. We were in the Rio Dulce Canyon and on either side of us there was a hundred foot tall wall of rock completely covered in trees and birds. That 30 minute boat ride made the whole trip out there worth it.

Livingston was dirty , expensive, and sooooooo hot! I was pretty miserable, but they are known for their Tapado (a seafood coconut soup) and I had to give it a try. It was a little strange to see an entire fish and crab sitting in the bowl, but it was gooooood. Very messy and way too expensive (95Q), but definitely worth doing once. Brittany got grilled conch and now knows she doesn't like conch. We walked around some more and came across what I can only imaging is a playground designed by Satan. Have you ever seen a slide made entirely of concrete? Not sure how much "sliding" is goind on there! Then we passed by a barn with the creepiest painting I've ever seen. It was a giant man-chicken-baby-humanoid-thing. Look at the picture, believe me, it's creepy! We only had a half day in town but after a long lunch and an hour of walking around in the hellish heat we were ready to go. We spent the last half hour in the town hanging out with a couple from Ireland that we had met on the boat ride over the day before. They couldn't wait to get out of Livingston either! But Brittany was happy we went, and the boat ride back was just as amazing as the ride there.

The only electricity we had came from a tiny solar panel, and there wasn't much to go around. So we all (a whopping five people) gathered at the communal house and shared a light or two while we sat in hammocks and read. The kindle has been a serious life saver on the long bus rides and in the jungle with nothing else to do. I think we've both read four books each, which is probably the most I've read in the past year!

As we sat in our hammocks reading, a GIANT toad came hopping up to Brittany. He wasn't the last huge frog to hop right next to her, and they crowded around her every night. We've discovered she must be part frog, and she is now famous throughout Guatemala as...the Frog Whisperer. She named the largest toad (seriously the size of my head) Mr. Toad Ferguson, and he visited her regularly.


After two days (and still no bug repellant) we decided to head into Rio Dulce Town so we could visit the waterfall at Finca El Paraiso. But by the time we go into town we only had a couple of hours to get to and from the falls, which was starting to sound more like a hassle than anything else. So we figured we might as well get our bus tickets to Antigua for the next day, and walked into the bus station. By some crazy awesome coincidence, the last bus for Antigua was about to pull away, and the clerk ran outside to stop it. So we got our tickets (104Q) and hopped on the bus, just three minutes after stepping off the boat. A bouncy and very sweaty 8 hours later we pulled into Antigua, trudged our way to Villa Esthela, and crashed for the night.

After my first hot shower (okay, first shower, period) in three days and another amazing breakfast at the super cheap bakery, we headed out in search of my cell phone. And they still had it! I can personally very highly recommend Sunrise Travel Antigua on 6A Norte. So now I've got my phone and a day and a half to kill in Antigua. Things worked out perfectly, and we're looking forward to being home.

When you're on a bus with forty super stinky people, bouncing along a rock road in 95 degree weather with no air conditioning, the soft, cool chair in front of your desk starts to look pretty good!