While all of the girls went for a 2-hour kayak paddle at 5:30 this morning, I took in the sunset from my casa’s porch with a cup of coffee and the on-line edition of the Sydney Morning Herald – I reckon I know who got the better deal.
At 9 bells we were all off on in a hired water taxi to go check out the Río Dulce, locally known as the “Sweet River”. For our first stop we headed inland to Guatemala’s biggest lake – Lake Izabal, and the fortified garrison of Castillo de San Felipe which was originally constructed in 1644.
From there we headed out across Lake El Golfete, towards the Caribbean Sea, stopping off at the Mayan village of Q’eqchi and the limestone caves of Aguas Termales Rio Dulce, before arriving at Livingstone around lunchtime.
Our skipper took us the Happy Fish restaurant to pre-order our lunches and continued on to Playa Capitania for a view out to the Caribbean sea. A great little impromptu fun stop was when I mentioned to Sonia that the local neighbourhood bar had Gallo for $1.90 AUD, so with her being in touch with her Catalana/Aussie self, decided this was the opportune time to settle a bet she had lost me.
Lunch was the local dish – Tapado, a seafood soup of prawns, crab, fish and plantains that is not unlike an Asian Laksa, but without the chilli, curry or noodles. I have to say it was awesome dish to wrap ya laughing gear around none the less.
It took us about an hour to get back to the Hacienda Tijax as the winds had picked up and was causing white caps and choppy conditions on both the lake and Río Dulce. Not that it was a major concern as upon arrival, I simply fell into the pool and called it good for the rest of the day.
