Rio Dulce and Livingston

Waterfall at Finca Paraiso

Me and Thomas at the waterfall

This past week Thomas and I took a longer trip down to the coast.  Our first stop was in Rio Dulce (Sweet River) where we stayed in an amazing hotel named Hotel Kangaroo run by an Aussie man and his Mexican wife.  We had to take a 5 minute boat ride to arrive at the hotel built on stilts in a marshy area of the river.  Our room overlooked the water and 2 of the walls were almost completely made of mosquito screen.  We felt like we were in the jungle.  The next day got even better when we went to Finca Paraiso.  We took a small bus to a farm and then walked along a path in the woods until we found what we were looking for-the waterfall.  Although this waterfall might not be as beautiful
as some others you may have seen before, it is certainly the most unique.  Along the bottom of the waterfall is a cool, slower moving river.  The water that makes the waterfall originates from hot sulfur pools on the cliff above. The water the flows along until it falls off the cliff creating a hot waterfall that pours into the cool river.  It was incredible.  Thomas and I spent the whole day in the water-climbing up the cliff into the bathwater pools above, swimming behind the waterfall, and standing under the warm waterfall and letting it give us an aqua massage.  This was hands-down the best part of our whole trip!

View from Hotel Kangaroo

Room at Hotel Kangaroo 

Beach in Livingston

Crabs at the hotel in Livingston

           

The next day we took a long boat tour down the river to Livingston on the Caribbean coast.  The views from the boat tour were fantastic and we had the opportunity to see several unique natural features along the way.  When we arrived in Livingston it was like we stepped off the boat into another country.  The Livingston area is known for the Garifuna culture- think a mix of Jamaica and Latino culture.  The food there was also unlike anything we’ve had-soup made of coconut milk and seafood, which was surprisingly good especially considering I don’t like coconut.  Thomas and I found our hotel on the beach, which turned out to be a roughly constructed bungalow, but the sound of the ocean made up for the accommodations.  Unfortunately, though the culture had a Caribbean flavor, the beaches didn’t get the memo.  They were covered in both sea debris and trash-not something you’d want to spend any length of time on.  After one night in Livingston we decided to head back to Guatemala City and spend some time with friends before we leave on Monday.  I am unbelievably excited to go back to the USA and spend some time with my family tomorrow!!!