A Trip to Paradise!

We have so many photos from our trip this week that we will likely not get everything in one post.  We'll see, but we may save part of the adventures for next week.

On Tuesday we left at 5:00 a.m. to drive to Rio Dulce which is in the tropical lowlands just inland from the Caribbean.  There were enough of us that we couldn't all fit in the bus, so 10 of us rode in a van driven by our travel planner, Hermana Viveros.  Her daughter Lucila also came along with her darling 15 month old son, Jose Pablo.  Here he is sporting Dorine's sombrero!

We were delayed by an accident on the road ahead of us where a semi cab exploded killing two people and blocking the road for quite a while.  We arrived in Rio Dulce (Sweet River) at lunch time.  We had lunch in this charming thatched roof, open air cafe.

 We both selected the same meal, steak with rice, refried beans and fried plantains with lemonade.  It was delicious!!.

After lunch we all boarded the boat which had just enough seats to accommodate us all comfortably.

Here's a "selfie" of us after we donned our life vests.

As we started up the river, we passed several trees full of these exotic birds.  Our guide said the black ones are cormorants, but he didn't say what the white ones are.. 

Just a short way up the river we stopped at this old fortress.  It was originally built in the 1500s to fight off the pirates coming in off the Caribbean to plunder the local villages.  We looked around for Cap'n Jack Sparrow but neither he or nor the Black Pearl made an appearance.

We all disembarked and went to explore the fortress.  This plaque tells that it is the Castillo De San Felipe.  It had fallen into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1651.  Much of it has now been restored in modern times so it is in good repair and looks much like it did when it was in use.  At the top of this photo you can see the moat that protects it from the land side.

 

We crossed a drawbridge to enter the building.  The first room we entered was the kitchen and dining area.

 In this room are some actual artifacts from the fortress and the river.  The chain connected to the anchor is a section of the chain they strung across the river so they could tighten it up to stop ships from passing.

 This room is where they held their prisoners, that is, the ones they didn't hang.  They were chained in groups of 6 to 8 in these small cells and kept in the dark with only a half cup of corn liquor a day for nourishment.  They were mostly starved to death.

 Here are some of  the many cannons aimed out in all directions from the fortress.

 Here you can see the view from up on the second floor showing the open courtyard in the center.

 This is the control for opening and closing the drawbridge.

We enjoyed the tour, but the Murri's seven grandchildren who were along enjoyed it the  most!

We then continued down the river for 25 miles.  The scenery was mostly beautiful tropical plants, but there were also some interesting homes along the shores.

 As we approached one village, two young girls paddled their canoes out to our boat to sell their wares.  We bought a pretty shell bracelet from this cutie.

A little further down the river we stopped to see a hot spring that was along the shore of the river.   Here is our boat waiting for us to climb back in.  You can see the name is Happy Fish II.

 This derelict boat caught our fancy, then we entered a deep canyon.  Our guide told us that this rock wall contained ancient inscriptions from early ships that came up the river.

 Here you can see the lush vegetation on the canyon walls.

Just as we got to where we could see out into the ocean, we arrived at our hotel, the Ville Carribe

 This is our view from the terrace outside our room.

The rooms were decorated with a lot of sea shells, rope, bamboo, and other nautical and tropical materials.

We got settled in our rooms then headed to the hotel restaurant for dinner.  We had just ordered when a huge rainstorm hit.  The restaurant was open to the air, so the waiters had to close the vented windows.  Rain was still getting in, and we had to change tables to get out of it.  It was over an hour before we were served, but the meal was delicious.

Here we are the next morning enjoying breakfast.  It was a buffet and also very good.

 We wandered for a while checking out our surroundings.  Here is the hotel pool.

 And we couldn't resist relaxing in one of the hammocks.

This is a variety of palm tree.  It looks more like an ostrich tail than a tree!

 This beautiful flower grew along the stairway to the hotel entrance.  It is beautiful before it blooms, and even more so after.

 Mid morning we boarded the boat again and headed out toward a beach that is managed by the hotel.  It was amazing how far we had to go to find a spot that wasn't so crowded with vegetation that you could actually find the sand!  Along the way we encountered this statue.  Someone asked the captain who it was.  His answer, "El Salvador del Mundo."  (The Savior of the World).  They said his arm was broken off in a hurricane several years ago.

Along the way we went up a small river for a little way.  We found a small village where this woman was doing her laundry.

 It appeared that this was her home.  They are very isolated and must live a very simple life.

These are mangroves.  Their roots spread over the water.

 

When we finally arrived at the beach, we had to take off our shoes and climb out of the boat into the water.

 And here we are enjoying the warm waters of the Caribbean. 

 Just to the right of the middle of this shot is a hole.  On the right side of it is a  sand crab which entertained us for some time.  The little piles of sand around it are where it threw the sand out of its hole as it dug deeper into the sand.

After enjoying this delightful beach for a couple of hours, we were given sandwiches and fruit then piled back in the boat to head back to the hotel.  The ocean was pretty rough, and we would go up over big swells then slap back down on the other side.  We had to hold sheets of plastic in front of us to keep from getting soaked.  Unfortunately, that combination created motion sickness in Dorine, and she ended up feeding the fish her lunch.   Someone gave her a Dramamine at the hotel, then we took the boat to Puerta Barrios where our buses were waiting.  Dorine slept most of the way home then most of the next day as well.  But, in spite of that, it was a fantastic trip, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Since I am all blogged out, we'll post our Friday adventure next week.  It was a tour of  Guatemala City and was very interesting.