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| Castillo de San Felipe de Lara |
Río Dulce ("Sweet River") is part of a lake and river system that has become a popular cruising sailboat destination and hurricane-hole. 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. This is a great cycling destination and pic-nic spot from Rellenos.
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| Songerie's private dock. |
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| On the bridge with Rellenos in the back ground. |
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 (Río Dulce). Fronteras has a local vegetable market,
attracting locals from the countryside who arrive paddling cayucos (dugout
canoes) by hand. On the other side of the bridge is the town of Rellenos where
we keep Songerie on a private owned dock @ U$125/month. (Thanks to S/V Ti-Bag,
whom gave us their reservation.)
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| Lake El Golfete |
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. 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.
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| small marina at El Golfete |
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| Water falls in the gorge |
From El Golfete the river twists for six miles (10 km) through a spectacular gorge. The sides of the gorge rise up to 300 feet (91 m) and are covered with teak, mahogany and palms with waterfalls flowing over the lip of the gorge after rainfall.
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| River twisting through a gorge. |
We spend the next month, finding flight tickets home (Namibia), sorting
out our Visa problem, Cycling to the surrounding villages and warm waterfall, visiting a few sites/cities in Guatemala and preparing Songerie
for a few months rest in this unbearable hot, humid, wet climate.
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| cycling along the river |
We spend the next month, finding flight tickets home (Namibia), sorting
out our Visa problem, Cycling to the surrounding villages and warm waterfall, visiting a few sites/cities in Guatemala and preparing Songerie
for a few months rest in this unbearable hot, humid, wet climate. 
