Saturday, December 08, 2012

Lago de Izabal - El Estor and Rio Dulce

Our jaunt through Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador was really the result of trying to score the Mayan ruins of Tikal and Copan. We identified Rio Dulce, Guatemala as a place to break up the trip between the two ruins. The problem was Rio Dulce seemed a little too touristy. We decided to forgo the obligatory boat ride between Rio Dulce and Livingston, and make a detour to the small town of El Estor, located on Lake Izabal.

I did not think El Estor was worthwhile. I had thought that it may turn out to be the only non touristy town for our Guatemala tour. The downside of non touristy towns is limited hotel selection. Of the three hotels on the lake, one was closed due to the dueƱa's illness; another had cells for rooms and Mr. Surly for a manager; we stayed one night at the third one but due to the ill-plumbed bathroom, we had to move to a land-view hotel but with very nice owners. Also, two boys came up to me and asked for a quarter and another for sweets -- my #1 pet peeve: lack of dignity and lack of manners. In addition, we had the most rain so far too. It seemed to shower continuously in the afternoons.

El Estor is not without attractions. 7 kms east is Bogueron Canyon where the Rio Sauce flows out of a jungle canyon and into the lake. Although we found the boat ride into canyon to be quite dramatic with hanging vines, overhead rocky walls, and howler monkeys, it was barely worth the time, effort and money for the excursion from town.

Lago Izabel.
Lago Izabal - El Estor, Guatemala

We enjoyed eating a couple of meals at Arabella's
Veggie Platos at Arabella's - El Estor, Guatemala

Boqueron Canyon.
Boqueron Canyon - El Estor, Guatemala

The "V" is Boqueron Canyon.
El Estor, Guatemala

Municipal Buildings - El Estor, Guatemala
Municipal Buildings - El Estor, Guatemala



6 comments:

Susan in Florida said...

As usual I am loving the narrative and the photos!
When I see you again, please tell me how you get the fabulous panoramic shots.
Were y'all canoeing? One of the shots looks like it was taken from a canoe.

ethiessen1 said...

Nice Freudian slip: howler moneys :-)

john said...

Eric, Good one eh? ;-) Thanks for the catch. Btw you and Ed, we're covered!

Susan, Thanks for the kind words! We were in a large canoe with a required boatman. ;-(

Anonymous said...

The texture of the lake surface looks unusual, lots of small color variations, like a painting. --Weiqing

john said...

Q: What are we eating at Arabella's?
A: We are eating a veggie "plato de dia"; kinda like a "meal" in India. The plato has eggs, beans, a small piece of cheese, plantains, and comes with a drink (purified water or coffee) and with all the tortillas you can eat. That's a rolled/scrunched up tortilla in SL's hand. ;-)

john said...

WQ, Yes the lake has a "texture"" - I was hoping to capture that in the photo and I guess I did!

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