What a warm welcome we had in Mario's marina from old and new friends! The view from our new home-base isn't too shabby either. There is a lot going on in the river during high season and you have to find your way and get the lay of the waterways, town and overland.
A walk on the road behind the marina took me along an oil pipe through the small farming village la Esmarelda.
It took a little while to figure out what they were farming from all of these trees, until I was told that they are rubber trees. So that white sap is actually latex dripping from the bark.
The houses, tiendas and farm animals were very quaint.
New friends Bob & Trish (Barnacle) know their way around this river quite well after living here for eight years and offered to take us on a river tour on their runabout.
The landmark Rio Dulce bridge reaches into the town of Fronteras and straddles the river opening into Lake Izabal.
The lake is "protected" by this really cute little fort that is now a national park, all popular spots for family fishing and chores!
Not only did Trish & Bob help us get oriented to the marinas and town facilities, but we discovered that we share common interests of the natural variety, so we also took a few picturesque detours up the many feeder rivers in the area for more of a glimpse of life on the river.
As mutual birders, we did see several interesting kingfishers, hummingbirds and even a scarlet-rumped tanager.
My current camera wasn't quite up to the task, although the cattle & horses grazing on the pastures and cooling off in the water were fair subjects.
Only one side of the river has howlers and the day we went a whole troupe was lounging in the trees.
These are in fact chestnut-backed howlers and their brown highlights shone in the sunlight.
Bob has a nice super-zoom camera and mine is on its way, so we'll have to head back up a few rivers together looking for birds and monkeys again once I bring mine back to Guatemala.
We tend to be laid-back travelers, not doing a ton of scheduling or research until the time is right. This keeps us ready for any spur of the moment undertaking that presents itself. So there you have it... we're heading to Tikal next week!