YOLO from Rio Dulce to Lanquin to Semuc Champey to Quiche May 2023

Rio Dulce was a town we'd heard about in our yachting days as a good hurricane hole in Honduras.  The river goes all the way into Guatemala.  The town of Rio Dulce isn't much to speak of, just a few boatyards and marinas.  We parked in an open lot and the Tourist Police came and collected us at dark and ushered us into their compound for safe keeping.  We came back to the open lot the next day to see this traveling circus truck broken down on the road with the people were sleeping under the cab.

We found some info on a hot waterfall, and drove along the Lake Izabal until we reached El Paraiso.  No signage, but a guy in a tiny shack took our money and gave us some tickets and told us we could drive down the road to the waterfall.  Nope, that road wasn't for us, so we parked in the shade of a big mango tree (after he okayed it with the owner of the campground who owned the space) and we walked to the falls.  Along the way, we met this little boy, carrying a load of sticks for firewood.  They use their heads to bear the weight of their load.

Quite a bundle for such a small tyke.

The hot waterfalls.  The water coming over the falls is super hot, well beyond safe hot tub temps.  We couldn't stand under stream of water.  But it emptied into a cool river so you could get a mix of temps by moving around.

Karen in the cool pool below the hot waterfall. You could actually swim under the rocks behind me into a small space that was like a sauna, but neither of us would do it.  I don't like to open my eyes under water in places like this.

There were small minnows in the water who would nibble at the dead skin on your body, too.  Felt odd at first, but you get used to it.  My leg injury from my fall in Belize was nibbled clean here.

A very pretty place with few tourists.  Jason in the cool water of the river.

Jason in the hot waterfall.  By the time we left here, we could stand in the hot spray for a bit.

A cashew nut and fruit on the ground near the waterfall.  Cashew fruit here is used to make drinks and ice cream, too.

We headed back to the Rio Dulce Tourist Police to park again for the night.  This flatbed semi was loaded to the hilt with motorcycles destined for ???recycling???

We headed west along the southern side of Lake Izabal and got to the tiny place of Quiringa, where the largest Maya stone stella are located.  We were about 'ruined out' by now, so didn't go inside, but rather parked across the street in this banana plantation owned by Chiquita.  Our view out the van was this.  The blue bags are supposedly insecticide-infused and keep the birds and bugs from destroying the hands of bananas.

Coke has a serious handle on the soft drink market here in Guatemala.  This Coke delivery truck came with its own armed guard.

Another watermelon vendor who hangs the bright pink fruit as an advertisement.

A hammock vendor puts out a colorful display of his wares, too.

Estanzuela is a tiny town with a free Museum of Archeology and Paleontology.  It had giant sloths, dinosaurs, and Mayan artifacts, quite the mix of things to view, all for free.  We asked if we could spend the night and they said yes, so we had a safe place to sleep as they locked the gates and had security.  The groundskeeper even gave me six mangos from the trees here. Nice.

Here, they even have the water tower as a memento to Coke.

These school buses/chicken buses brought tons of school kids to the museum the day we were leaving.

A truckload of bananas on the road.

One of those transport buses loaded with passenger luggage on top.

We headed to Lanquin and Semuc Champey to see the caves and the famous water pools in the river in the middle of the jungle.  We wanted to go to Semuc Champey first and joined the throngs of tourists and locals heading out from Lanquin in the backs of the pickup trucks.  They crammed in over 20 people into the one in front of us. We all got stopped for road construction for 40 minutes.  The vendors swarmed the stopped trucks to sell drinks and snacks.  The orange pipe is tied to the side of our truck as a hostel worker was taking it out to build with in the remote place called Utopia.

The yellow bridge that crosses the river to Semuc Champey.

Jason at the visitor center at Semuc.  At least they had bathrooms and water available.  They also had changing rooms and showers for those who wanted to rinse off after dipping in the river pools.

Karen at the sign at the entrance.   Google the Semuc Champey to get the full story of this place.

The turquoise pools form in the river naturally and make for a stunningly beautiful place to swim.

Small waterfalls move the water down the succession of pools in the river.

You can sit on the rocks in the river or swim from one pool to another by climbing over the edge.  There are places deep enough to dive into as well.  Unique place, about to be ruined by the paving of the horrendous road to get here.

Once the road is paved, there will be throngs of tourists and local crowding this natural wonder to death.

Jason jumping into a deep pool.

Jason standing at the edge of a pool where the water flows from the one above.  It's cool river water and very refreshing.

Folks congregate on the shallow rock ledges between the pools.

Looking acoss the pool to the scenery of the jungle beyond and downriver.

Jason doing a shark imitation in as hallow area

The pools were formed when a natural limestone bridge about 300 meters long collapsed over the river.  Now the river mostly goes under these pools,

Here is where the rushing river goes underground.

Another view of the river heading underground.

An amazing set of places to cool off here.  You can tell we were impressed!

And to think this is all naturally formed.

Jason hiked to the top of the lookout over Semuc Champey and got this great bird's eye view of the river and pools below.

Looking upriver through the chasm at Semuc Champey.

There are hundreds of people down there in the pools, but Jason is so high up, you can't really even see them!

This excavator nudged loose a rock that nearly rolled into our truck on the way out.

A food vendor in the parking lot wanted us to eat at her stall.

We didn't get back to Lanquin Caves until 5pm, as all the trucks left at 4pm but we all got stopped again for 40 minutes while they dynamited the road for more construction. This is the river coming out of the Lanquin Caves. It was rushing at quite a speed here.

The entrance to the cave at Lanquin. Bats fly out of here at dusk every evening,and these people were here to see the bat exodus.

A hundred feet or so farther down the river was the swimming area and tubing ingress spot. The current wasn't so fierce here.  The water was cold, though, and I just took one dip and got back out.

A lady carrying two chairs walking down the road.

We hit an unpaved stretch of road that had been a victim of a huge landslide and wasn't yet repaired.  These youths attempted to stop us, but we barreled through them without slowing down.  I imagine they were up to no good.  Luckily the pavement started up again soon thereafter.

Cowboys prancing down the road through town on a special day.  We had to make detours as they closed the roads for some festival.  We later learned that Mother's Day and campaigning were enough to close off the main highway to make a carnival and spontaneous market for the day.

Kids playing on the playground where we parked behind a gas station in Cunen.  They wanted their pictures taken and we tried to share some vocabulary.

Woven baskets and hats for sale along the road.

A steep wall on a curve in the road looks like hoodoos in the making.

A man squeezing cane juice out of sugar cane from the back of his truck in Santa Cruz del Quiche.

Interesting old building in Quiche.

A colorful old colonial building along the town square in Quiche.  Motorcycles are still the main mode of transport here.

This church front was adorned with streamers holding hats and crosses.

Jason walks past a display of tomatoes in part of a market in Quiche.

We stopped for gas here and noticed the similarity of their sign and our logo.  I asked the guy inside if I could post a sticker and he said yes.  Its to the right of the door.