No One Comes to This Part of Guatemala, But We Loved It!

We did not expect to be exploring Río Dulce in Guatemala, but we had the oppprtunity to partner with Guatemala's tourism board, INGUAT, and they organized some awesome adventures in this less visited part of the country. It isn't super common for tourists to Guatemala to visit Río Dulce unless they come via the Caribbean Sea, so we hadn't planned to visit this area, but we are SO glad we got the opportunity to visit this beautiful piece of the country. Thank you to INGUAT for hosting us and creating this awesome itinerary for us!

Río Dulce is on the Southeast corner of Guatemala, and has water from the Caribbean Sea flowing into it. It turns out, there is so much to do here! We arrived to the area and were immediately blown away by our beautiful pet-friendly hotel that was almost IN the river. We stayed at the Hacienda Tijax Hotel, and on the day we arrived we had the chance to hop into kayaks with Evie and go straight into the Río Dulce to get a feel for the beauty of this natural space. After a delicious lunch, we took a hike on the hotel's private grounds and found ourselves at a lookout point from the times of the Spanish colonization of Guatemala. We got epic sunrise views of the Río Dulce from the top of the lookout, and couldn't believe the epic start we had to our 3 days in Río Dulce!

Our second day was jam packed. We started off with a canoe ride up a river where I truly expected to go overboard and spent the majority of the boat ride planning how to save Evie if we went overboard (thank goodness we recently bought her a lifejacket). After our harrowing canoe ride, we visited the Castle of San Felipe de Lara. We honestly had no idea there were any castles in Guatemala, so it was an awesome surprise to have the chance to explore one and hear it's stories from our guide during out visit.

The next part of this day was pure bliss. We hopped on a boat and took a long ride through Isabala Lake, Río Dulce, and made it all the way to the mouth of the Caribbean Sea. The boat ride was serene and so peaceful. There is so much to look at because people have built homes, restaurants, and hotels along the river to soak up the beautiful landscape. After a long boat journey, we arrived to Livingston, a really unique part of Guatemala. Home to the Garífuna people, we felt like we had landed in a new country when we arrived to Livingston. We had a late lunch, walked around quickly, and then it was time to get back before it got dark!

Day three was all about The Quirigua Ruins. Exploring this Mayan historical site was a beautiful way to end our three days in Río Dulce, and a wonderful way to end our time in the incredible country of Guatemala!

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== Chapters ==
0:00 Why are we here?
1:43 Trying not to become croc food
5:00 The most beautiful hotel
6:36 Almost missed this for the pool
11:56 Really thought this would end poorly
17:00 Guatemala has castles?
20:40 The best way to see Rio Dulce
23:40 Is this still Guatemala?
27:00 Can't believe this is goodbye

#roadtrip #guatemalatravel #riodulceguatemala #dogtravel