River Life, Rio Dulce, Guatemala

We were supposed to get off the dock this morning and do some sailing and exploring for a month in Lago Izabal and the Rio Dulce, but the weather is gray and rainy so we will depart manana when the weather should be better.  This will give me time to update the web, I have gotten very far behind!   

When we returned to the Rio Dulce in May of 2015 we began our journey up the River with a stay at Cayo Quemado, also known as Texan Bay or Burnt Cay.  We took some time to explore in our dinghy the different river tributaries and caught a glimpse of local life.  

Some of rivers go back a few miles.  You will see jungle, howler monkeys, livestock and houses.

The houses you see along the river are very diverse.  The can be cement or wood, huge or small.

All the houses seem to have a guard dog of some kind, this one really wanted to come see us!

Everyone down river travels by boat of some kind.  There are no roads leading to a lot of the villages along the river.

The video below is in Burnt Cay, the little girls were selling bananas but did not want their picture taken, so Mike stopped filming.

Cheers Mike and Kim

Livingston, Guatemala and up the Rio Dulce to Burnt Cay (Texan Bay)

Livingston, Guatemala

We are in Guatemala having completed all the formalities for a 3 month stay.  We will apply for a 9 month extension before the 3 months are up, but the procedure to do that keeps changing.  The system is going through procedural changes so we are not sure what's up but as it stands we just have to go back to Livingston and apply.  When we checked in it is was simple we called Raul, the agent, and his nephew and all the officials came out to the boat.  They were there maybe 15 minutes then said our papers would be ready in 40 minutes and we could come into town, pay the fee and get our papers and passports.  We walked up the street to the bank to get our Quetzals, the Guatemalan money and then to Raul's for our papers.  We didn't stay in Livingston long, we checked in and headed back to the boat to head up the river to spend the evening in a safe anchorage.  Livingston is known for petty thefts and wakes from all the boats.  We anchored that night in Burnt Cay, formerly Texan Bay.

Main Street Livingston, Guatemala

Main Street Livingston, Guatemala

Right outside Raul's office is the area where the locals do laundry.  We wish they had a place like that here at our Marina.

Laundromat, Livingston, Guatemala

The pictures of the River can not do it justice it is so beautiful!  It was also a very cloudy day when we traveled through here.

Rio Dulce

Captain Mike at the Helm

Rio Dulce

Rio Dulce

  

Rio Dulce

The local people travel the river in cayucos, a canoe that is dug out of a tree.  We saw children going to school, fisherman and mothers taking their children into town.

Mother and child in a Cayuco

Fisherman in a Cayuco

A little girl taking her mom and brothers somewhere

A little girl going to school in here uniform

Burnt Cay Marina (formerly Texan Bay)

Our anchorage at Burnt Cay

Cheers for now, more about our Marina and the town later Kim and Mike