The Real Jungle Cruise...
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2007
1
11
14
Trip End
Ongoing
Rio Dulce Town, Guatemala
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Well we left Flores after three pretty cool nights. The last day we took a lancha ride around lago peten with a lanchero(boatman) named Miguel. We had met Miguel while eating breakfast by the water our first day and told him we might do a tour with him but not that day. He was very surprised when we showed up our last day and met his 62 year-old son who called him for us. He showed up ten minutes later in his lancha. After a quick stopover at his house on the lake to pick up his lunch, we headed off on his lancha to ARCAS, a protected wildlife and rehabilitation center. The first thing Miguel said to me was that i was a man of my word because we had told him we would do a tour with him if we did one.
At ARCAS, we got to see some really cool howler and spider monkeys as well as toucans and red parrots. The highlight though was the guy taking us to see the Jaguar which jumped up on the fence right in front of me and sent me flying and screaming into this girl Emma who came with Cameron and I.
Back on the boat Miguel explained to me all about his life. He is 82 and has been married 56 years. He also is a poet and recited some of his work for us. It was one of those times when i was really happy my Spanish was decent. Itīs also great incentive to improve it. I would have loved to understand his poetry and wisdom better. There are some great pictures of him on my facebook account.
Last night we arrived in Rio Dulce Town about 4 hours south of Flores. It is on another bigger lake than Lago Peten. We decided to stay at this jungle lodge that had been recommended to us called Casa Perico. We got off the bus and luckily the touts were touting the place we wanted to go. I canīt stress how rare that is. Cameron froze a bit "They want to take us to Casa Perico, what do we do?" Me: "Uh go with them, thats where we want to go right haha."
We took a lancha ride about 1km up a little river which was beautiful at night. Once we got to the place, think swiss family Robinson on the ground, we got off the boat to a planked veranda with a bar and dim lights with candles as well. Itīs a pretty cool place and hard to beat the 5 dollar price. We were a little apprehensive about the lack of windows and the mosquito nets but i sucked it up and got a decent nights sleep. We did however see a huge fucking spider in this other girls room. I donīt think there is anything poisonous around, at least the Guatemalans who work there didn't think the spider was a big deal.
Today we woke up and went to this place called Finca Paraiso, it was a warm water waterfall. Yes that is correct, it is a warm water waterfall. It is a natural aquifer at spa temperatures that falls into a cold water pool from the river. So you swim in the cold water and then can go under the warm shower temperature waterfall. It was a fun place to spend the afternoon.
Alright i feel less guilty about my lack of updating this now. I hope all is well, my latest pictures can be seen on facebook. Check it out.
Hasta Tarde,
Geoff
