Floating Down The Rio Dulce For A Week, Discovering Guatemala’s Hidden Gem!

After leaving the tourist hub of Flores, and the amazing adventures of both Tayasal and Tikal, it was time to venture out into an area that was a bit more laid back, and a bit lesser-known to many people, the Rio Dulce region and the city of Livingston.

When I first planned my route through Guatemala, I eyed Livingston as a place that seemed far off the “beaten path” that most seem to take through Guatemala. Most go to Flores then Lake Atitlan and then onto Antigua and Guatemala City, before moving on. There’s so much more to see in Guatemala, and the Rio Dulce region was definitely one of those places.

So I took the bus from Flores (actually San Miguel on the northern shore of Lake Peten Itza to the town of Fronteras (known locally as just “Rio Dulce”). The company was Fuente del Norte and I had to buy the ticket in person. They do offer most tickets online through their website, but if it’s a non-station stop (like Rio Dulce), then you have to get it in person at the bus station. The ticket was 150 Quetzales, for the roughly four-hour ride.

In advance of arriving in Rio Dulce, I’d already made my reservations for the first couple of stops along the river. The first was Casa Perico, and I’d booked through them directly via their website.

As I’ve mentioned before, quite often, you will find better deals and discounted rates if you do a bit of web searching. I typically look up locations on a site like Booking.com or Trivago.com and then compare to what they offer direct. Because the booking fees can be quite high (10-30% on top), you can usually get places for the same rate, minus the booking fees.

So with the booking at Casa Perico, you are also provided with a free water taxi ride, to and from the stay. You can just let them know in advance, and in their case, they said to go to the Sundog Cafe and let them know you were looking for the water taxi to Casa Perico, and they’d send the boat over.

I grabbed a quick bite to eat there, and then the boat showed up about 20 minutes later. This was all a smooth and easy process. They even had a dog.

Once I arrived at Casa Perico, I checked in and they start a tab for you for your stay. Since they do not allow outside food or drink, everything during your stay is purchased through them. Water, food, drinks, etc. At the end, they then tally it up and you settle the bill.

I really liked Casa Perico. I haven’t stayed in a lot of shared accommodation spaces during my trip, mostly due to the very negative experience I had in one in Chicago, back last summer. I also like having a private space to get some work done, and generally keep to myself a lot. My days or partying or meeting up with groups to go on wild adventures are well past me.

But Casa Perico is great for that too. There were dozens of people staying there, all ages, many solo travelers and many couples too. It’s a very popular spot for those who do come to the area, as it’s only about 10 minutes from the town, and it’s an easy in and out. The owner, Jonathan was a really great guy, with plenty of knowledge of the area and very friendly to all the guests.

From Casa Perico, they arranged the public water taxi to pick me up, and drop me off at my second destination, Casa Maya, about 45 minutes further down the river.

Casa Maya, is without a doubt, one of my favorite experiences of my entire trip thus far. From the accommodations, to the family that runs it, to the food, the experience and the peace and quiet. It had it all. I had actually booked them through booking.com, but after arriving found they also had a local WhatsApp number you can contact them on, if you’d like to book directly. They can be contacted at this number on WhatsApp: +502 5818 6727

I spent three nights at Casa Maya, and I could have stayed a week. My friend Erika arrived to meet up with me, and join me for the final night at Casa Maya and then off on our trip to Livingston.

On the third full day, we boarded the boat and headed to Livingston. Casa Maya has their own boat, so they can provide shuttle service to Livingston, which made it super easy. We arrived in Livingston, and planned to stay for three nights at the Hotel Villa Caribe, a Guatemalan-run hotel chain that has a few different locations throughout the country.

During our time in Livingston, we lounged, we wandered the cute little town, and we ate some amazing food. Livingston, and the entire Rio Dulce area has some amazing seafood that can not be missed.

Livingston is a town of around 80,000 people, but comes with an eclectic mix of several different groups. You have the local indigenous and Mayans, the Garifuna, Afro-Caribbean and Latino all living together, and when you walk down the road, it’s easy to hear three or four different languages amongst the crowd.

Unfortunately, Erika had to return home unexpectedly a day early, so she departed and I spent the final night in Livingston by myself. But it was a really great town to explore, and one I can definitely recommend.

On my final day, I hopped on the water taxi back to Rio Dulce to continue my adventures through Guatemala. I booked the water taxi a day in advance down at the docks; ticket was Q100 for the ride back. You can buy the ticket the day of it you prefer, I just wanted to make sure I was on the first boat at 9:30.

After returning to Rio Dulce, I was heading to Coban, to begin a new leg through Guatemala that felt like it too would be off the beaten path, venturing deep into the Western Highlands, following the mountains down to Xela, aka Quetzaltenango. But that’s a story for next time.

Thanks for reading. If you’d like to watch the video on YouTube of this trip, you can do so here:

Life Is Short. Wander.
– Ian