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Mark Moxon's Travel Writing

Guatemala: Río Dulce

The view across the river from Hotel Kangaroo
The view across the river from Hotel Kangaroo

When you're heading south from Flores towards the highlands around Guatemala City and Antigua, you have a choice of two routes. The most popular choice is to head through the centre of the country to take in the picturesque swimming holes and caves of Semuc Champey, which is generally regarded as one of the most beautiful places in Guatemala; the other is to head down the eastern flank of the country to visit the Río Dulce, or 'Sweet River', where you can take a beautiful and oft-recommended boat trip out to the Caribbean coast and the Garifuna settlement of Lívingston. Here, the culture is unique in Guatemala as it doesn't have a road connection to the rest of the country, so although it was a bit of a toss-up between the two routes, in the end we figured we'd try out Río Dulce rather than Semuc Champey, as it feels like we've seen enough caves and swimming holes to last a lifetime.

Our cute little swamp hut in Hotel Kangaroo
Our cute little swamp hut in Hotel Kangaroo

Castles and hot waterfalls

El Castillo de San Felipe
El Castillo de San Felipe

On our first day we took a kayak across the river to an old colonial fort, El Castillo de San Felipe, from where you can see the expanse of Lake Izabal stretching out to the west. I love old colonial forts, and this one, which dates from 1652, is wonderfully atmospheric, despite being rebuilt in 1956 from ruins. With turrets, dungeons, battlements, cannons, faded white walls, red tile roofs and great views, it ticks all the boxes that I'm looking for in a colonial fort, and despite being a quick trip to get us in the mood, it was, for me, the highlight of our trip to Río Dulce, probably because it was the only time that the weather held off long enough for us to actually see anything.

El Castillo de San Felipe
El Castillo de San Felipe
The hot falls at Finca El Paraíso
The hot falls at Finca El Paraíso

Up the Río Dulce to Lívingston

The main road in Lívingston
The main road in Lívingston

That night the downpour didn't just settle in, it started applying for residency, which was a bit annoying as we'd saved the best trip until our last day; the guidebooks rave about the boat trip up the Río Dulce to Lívingston, and we simply had to give it a go now that we were here. The boats that take you downriver are actually colectivos that stop off at a few touristy spots on the way, though most of the people on our boat turned out to be tourists rather than locals. Most notably, one of the other passengers was a classic long-haired and bearded hippy, who had wonderfully colourful trousers, a sleeveless T-shirt sporting an amazing print of a native American, and the most astonishing body odour that I've ever sat downwind from. There were four rows of seats in the boat, with two or three people in each row, and we'd ended up at the back; the hippy was right in front of us, and every time he raised his arms to take a picture, the smell that hit us was so intense it made us cough. It was quite mind-blowing.

A backstreet in Lívingston
A backstreet in Lívingston
La Cueva de la Vaca
La Cueva de la Vaca
Lívingston's famous tapado
Lívingston's famous tapado
The shores of El Golfete finally starting to peek out of the cloud
The shores of El Golfete finally starting to peek out of the cloud