Dulce River

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For the Dulce River in Argentina see: Dulce River (Argentina)

Río Dulce ("Sweet River") is a river in Guatemala. It is part of a lake and river system that has become a very popular cruising sailboat destination. It is entered at the town of Livingston. The river meanders for six miles in a spectacular gorge. The sides of the gorge rise up to 300 feet 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 rainfalls.

The river opens into a long narrow lake called El Golfete. To starboard is an island and a large natural anchorage. A few houses and a couple of small businesses are on shore. El Golfete is about 10 miles long and a couple of miles wide. At its farthest end it becomes river again for a couple of miles. It is this area that several marinas and resorts are to be found.

As the river is about to enter 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, the local center of commerce for the area. On the other side is Rellenos. Fronteras is where the local veggie market is and Indians come in from the countryside in dugout canoes. Most of these boats are powered with Japanese outboard motors but many come to market day paddling these “cayucos” by hand.

At the very entrance of the lake is Castillo San Felipe built by the Spanish when this part of Central America was an important transshipping staging point.