Rio Dulce with the Millers (and others)

Mike, Gretchen, and I, along with my neighbor Stephanie, piled into the car on Thursday, the first day off school, and met up with two others cars to caravan to Rio Dulce. We stopped at the ruins, as posted below, and then finally made it to the hotel at Rio Dulce. Rio Dulce is the river that connects Lake Izabal to the Caribbean Sea. It ends right near this Garifuna town of Livingston. Garifuna is a mix of Caribbean and African people who live along the Caribbean coasts of Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and Nicaragua. It was a really cool little town, with a kind of Jamaican feel to it. We got to our hotel on Thursday late afternoon, took a refreshing dip in the pool and hung out there all day, eating dinner at the restaurant that night. Then we rented a boat for the day for all of us, and it took us all the way down the river to Livingston, making some cool stops along the way. We had lunch in Livingston and then came back. Here are some pictures of our day:

In the boat on the way out!

Mike and Gretchen getting blown away!

We came upon this tree and if you look closely it is inhabited by tons of white egrits.

These birds are cormornats. They are taught to dive down into the water and catch fish and then they have to stand here and dry off their wings before they can continue diving. They are pretty cool. Rachel (the science teacher!) was telling me that in Asia they tie their necks so they can't swallow the birds and they use these birds to help them fish. I actually saw it on the Amazing Race later!

No idea what these insects were, some type of grasshoppers or something, but they were all over these plants!!!

Then our boat driver decided to pick one off the plant so we could get a closer look at it!

Then we went to this place where there were lily pads EVERYWHERE!!! It was beautiful!

Finally made it to the town of Livingston.

The beach at the Caribbean Sea. We didn't go in!

Mike, enjoying his "coco loco." These are pretty popular here, coconut milk and rum!

Mike eating his lunch of the local soup, with an entire fish in the soup!

We stopped along the way home so we could swim in the river. Gretchen and I decided to get in for a little bit, even though it was really cold and I'm sure we were the entertainment for the day for the Mayan women in the background.