We then had a day's travelling to get to Rio Dulce, our next destination. We didn't know much about this area as very little was mentioned in the LP so it was a trip into the unknown.

Rio Dulce is a town built around the longest bridge in Central America - well that's what we were told anyway!!It crosses the narrow point on Lake Izabel.

On arrival a fella approached us about accommodation he said it was a very short boat ride away. We have had varying degrees of luck with the people who greet the buses, so we were a bit hesitant at first.....however we need not have worried! We were taken to Kangaroo Hostel, which was built in the middle of the mangroves and the only way in and out was by boat. It was run by an Aussie/Mexican couple. They told us about a day trip that we could do the following day.

So in the morning we were taken back to Rio Dulce where we were put onto a collectivo mini bus, which is like a chicken minibus!....We got our seats and when all the seats were full, and the engine started, another 8 people piled in...taking the total in the minibus to 23!!! You can see from the pictures it is just a normal sized minibus!!!...it was so funny!!!....have to say these bus experiences really added to the day!

We got off at our stop, El Paradiso Waterfall. This was a hot waterfall that fell into a cold pool.....a crazy experience...to have a hot head from the waterfall and a cold body in the pool!....Just to add to the madness we swam into a cave under the hot waterfall which was like a sauna...We think the camera even steamed up as we were trying to take pictures!

Our guide then took us up from the waterfall to a pool where we had a mud exfoliation, washed off in little hot pools....who needs Inchydoney Lodge and Spa when you can do this in the middle of a jungle for a fraction of the price???!!! On the way back down Shane jumped into the pool from next to the waterfall....good fun!

Then we were off to our next stop.....Bacoron, which is a canyon through the jungle. We paid a local kid less than a euro each to take us up the river to see it properly. When the current was too strong for the canoe to go and further we were told we could get in a swim to see more!....so we did!!!It was a tough swim up as there was a strong current, but it was amazing the see the sheers cliffs in the jungle with the river through it....

After Bacoron we went to Castillo San Fellipe, an old fort built by the Spanish to protect it from pirates! Different to any other old structure that we have seen since being here, it was also converted to a prison for a while but now it's just a lovely park.

We returned to Rio Dulce then after a nice 45min ´stroll´ and then called for our water taxi to take us back!

We had a lovely meal there that evening and were fast asleep later when we woke up to a loud bang....followed by 5 more.....Shane identified them as shots, gun fire. He fell back to sleep again while Phil spent the next couple of hours afraid for our lives!!!! Turns out that they have their own version of neighbour watch in these parts. If someone sees something suspicious they fire a shot and all the others reply to give the message that they are ok!!!...would have been good to know that before the experience!!!

Overall we had a great stay in the mangroves but we decided to head onto our next stop....Honduras...country number 4!