Guatemala one more time

Ah, Guatemala. It just seems more relaxed as soon as we cross the border. Now in Rio Dulce (East side South of Belize), we are located between Lago Izabel and El Golfete. The area is a boating meca and safe haven from hurricanes as the lakes are surrounded by mountains, well just really big hills by Alberta standards. We stayed in a hotel at the Mar Marina so for a couple of overland travellers it is quite the site to see all these yachts. Some are in dry dock, others are parked in the marina and others are just anchored in the bay.

We took a boat ride up the river to Livingston, which is on the coast. The river ride was awesome as we got to see alot of birds, plus there are unique homes along the banks that are only accessible by water, talk about being off the grid.



Livingston itself is a small town but the area has a population of 60,000, according to a local expat from London. In the course of 5 minutes we learned how he started a restaurant for his then “girlfriends’ “ Mom, then they broke up and now he has closed the restaurant. Oh ya, Livingston is also a major drug transport hub as it is half way between Columbia and the US. There is no proper road into Livingston and the local mafia likes it that way so and they also keep the petty crime in check so that the government does not get involved. Pretty smart all things considered.
From Dulce we had planned to go to some caves in Tranquin, our map show the road as being paved but we found out later that it is not. No wonder we could not find it, it helps to know what to look for. So, I guess we will have to return to Quatemala to see the caves. As it turns out there is about 150km of gravel road to get to the caves, so we would not have had time to make it before dark anyway, plus there was no info about accommodations along the way. Instead, we ended up in Tikal a couple of days earlier than anticipated.


We thoroughly enjoyed Tikal Ruins, they far exceeded our expectations and we would recommend this location if you are planning a trip to this area. The hotels in Tikal park are expectedly more expensive than the surrounding area, room rates varied from $60-$100 USD, so if you are on a smaller budget there is camping available or places just down the road like Remate or even a little farther like Flores are a better choice. Tikal “village” is also run on one generator, so the only time there is electricity is from 6-9am and from 5:30-10pm. We managed to walk all the ruins in about 8 hours and were pretty much wiped by the end.




We grabbed a couple of tamales from a vendor lady ($5Q) and then seen a couple of bikes in the campground. We went over and introduced ourselves to Frank and Simone, a German couple who have sold everything and are travelling the world on their bikes. They had already covered Canada coast to coast, then up to Prudhoe Bay Alaska and down to Tikal, about 45,000km so far. Wow, makes our trip look like a weekend getaway. After Tikal, we decided to backtrack a little and spend a day in Flores, what a great decision that turned out to be. Flores is actually an Island, and Santa Elena is on the mainland, the two are joined by a 200m bridge. This allows for an easy walk, or take one of the many Tuktuk taxis. Flores is geared towards tourists and there are many artisan shops, restaurants, bars, and accommodations to choose from. We found a little Taco vendor in the central park and decided to have a snack, 5Q per taco and 5Q for a Melon Licuado (like a cantelope milkshake), all very tasty and lunch for two $3US, not bad at all. As it was Saturday, it was a very busy market, although there is a market there every day, Saturdays are extra busy much like our Saturday shopping in Canada. We snooped in the market, there was everything imaginable; spices, fruits, veggies, new and used clothing, saddles, dvd’s, toys, stationary, a butcher’s section and even a guy selling what appeared to be Botox injections. About an hour of snooping was enough, so we bought our breakfast fruit and headed back to our hotel, for a break.