The Majestic Rio Dulce & The Wonderful Livingston Island.

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• published: 16 Jan 2014
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Dulce River (Spanish: Río Dulce, or "Sweet River") is a river in Guatemala, completely contained within the department of Izabal. It is part of a lake and river system that has become a popular cruising sailboat destination. The river begins at the point where it flows out of Lake Izabal. At the entrance to the river there is a small Spanish colonial fort, the Castillo de San Felipe de Lara, built to stop pirates entering the lake from the Caribbean when this part of Central America was an important shipping staging point. Just after the river flows from Lake Izabal it is spanned by one of the biggest bridges in Central America. On one side of the bridge is the town of Fronteras, commonly referred to by the name Río Dulce, the local center of commerce for the area. Fronteras has a local vegetable market, attracting locals from the countryside who arrive in dugout canoes. Most of these boats are powered with Japanese outboard motors but many come to market day paddling these cayucos by hand. On the other side is the town of El Rellenos. Nearby is the children's village of Casa Guatemala, an orphanage that houses roughly 250 children and provides them with education and nourishment. From Fronteras the river flows east for a couple of miles. In this stretch there are several marinas and resorts. The river then flows into a long narrow lake called El Golfete. This lake has an island and a large natural anchorage. A few houses and a couple of small businesses line the shore. El Golfete is about 10 miles (16 km) long and a couple of miles wide. From El Golfete the river meanders for six miles (10 km) in a spectacular gorge. The sides of the gorge rise up to 300 feet (91 m) on either side and are covered with teak, mahogany and palms. Wild flowers bloom throughout the foliage and howler monkeys and toucans can be seen. Waterfalls flow over the lip of the gorge after rainfall. The river enters the Caribbean Sea near the Garifuna town of Livingston. Livingston is the name of a town in Izabal Department, eastern Guatemala, at the mouth of the Río Dulce at the Gulf of Honduras. The town serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. It was Guatemala's main port on the Caribbean Sea before the construction of nearby Puerto Barrios. Livingston is noted for its unusual mix of Garífuna, Afro-Caribbean, Maya and Ladino people and culture. In recent decades Livingston has developed a large tourist industry. Livingston is named after American jurist and politician Edward Livingston who wrote the Livingston Codes which were used as the basis for the laws of the liberal government of the United Provinces of Central America in the early 19th century. Transport Boats run several times a day from Puerto Barrios, and twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays from Punta Gorda, Belize. Boats also run every morning from Livingston to Punta Gorda. However, due to collusion between boat owners, the fares are much higher than passage from Puerto Barrios. There is another boat that transports tourists from Livingston in through Río Dulce. It runs every day. All access is via watercraft since there is no road link to the rest of Guatemala. Languages A number of languages are spoken in Livingston including Spanish, Garifuna language, Mayan Q'eqchi', and English is also widely spoken.