213: EIGHT of the BEST Day Activities in the RIO DULCE

Oh, hi everybody. Hey, we are going to share with you the seven great wonderful day trips that we take from the Rio. In this video you will learn about the Shaman Tower hike, sailing to Lake Isabel, visiting two historical sites, the Castillo and Kiriagua, eating your way through delicious fruits at Frutas del Mundo, taking a hike on the Pipeline Road and finally luxuriating in the hot waterfalls and cool river of Agua Calientes. So sit back and relax like I'm doing right now and if you like this video make sure you subscribe, hit the like button, share. We really appreciate that so other people can have this entertainment and valuable information and guys we want to hear from you. We want your comments so we can get right back to you. Thanks a lot for watching. Oh and a big thanks to our patrons. Patrons, we love you so much. If you're interested in becoming a patron make sure you click on the link below this video or on our website and it'll take you right there. Okay, let's get into our video now. The Shaman Tower is a stone tower located on the grounds of and built by the owner of and this is where we're going to start our hike from. We're here now. We're going to go out out here, out to the parking lot, cross this bridge over here, make a right, cross this bridge, only two people allowed and then up to the Torre del Shaman. We are off. We have the keys, we have the map, we know where we're going. The hike to the tower is beautiful as you enjoy all that the jungle has to offer and your prize is an amazing view of the Rio Dulce. You even get to cross a few suspension bridges along the way. Lake Isabel is amazingly peaceful and quiet other than the panoply of animal noises that usher you into a new day or the blasting of disco music that follows you to your bed. The journey to the lake is easy and interesting, crossing under the bridge, past the Castillo and through the narrow pass at the mouth of the Rio Dulce before depositing you into the largest lake in Guatemala. Instantly you marvel at the grandeur and beauty of the mountains. We've just entered Lago Isabel and it is beautiful. The lake surrounded by the mountains. What do you think babe? I believe it. We're here. Lake Isabel. Finally. Look at this. Mountains are amazing. A favorite sailing destination on Lake Isabel is El Astor, the closest town to the amazing Agua Calientes, the hot springs waterfall, but we'll talk more about that later. The Castillo de San Felipe was built in 1652 to keep pirates from looting the villages and commercial caravans of Isabel. Though the fortress deterred the thieves, a pirate force captured and burned the Castillo in 1686. By the end of the next century, pirates had all but disappeared from the Caribbean and the sturdy walls of the fort were converted into a prison. Eventually though, the fortress was abandoned and became a ruin. The present fort was reconstructed in 1956 and the Castillo is protected as one of the principal tourist attractions of the area. What did you think about it? It was fascinating. I thought it was very strategically located also right there at the mouth of the river. I mean there's no way anybody, any ship, would have made it through there alone. It would have gotten just a close-up punch by several cannonballs. It makes you wonder how many ships are sunk right there. You know the crazy thing is a lot of those castles are built and were never used. I think it was really only used for its intended purpose for about 40 years. All that stuff built and they probably didn't fire many cannonballs at all except for practice. If you're interested in the Mayan culture, Quirigua is a must-see. It is an ancient Maya archaeological site almost one and a half hours from Rio Dulce. During the Maya classic period AD 200 to 900, Quirigua was situated at the juncture of several important trade routes. Construction of the Acropolis began in 550 but rapid expansion only began in the 8th century due to King Yopat's military victory over Copan in 738. Yopat sacrificed the king of Copan in the great plaza in Quirigua and thus ended the years as a vassal state of Copan. Quirigua is famed for its intricately carved stelae, the brown sandstone monoliths that rise as high as 11 meters like ancient sentinels guarding the quiet well-manicured tropical park. The monuments include long panels of glyphic text that are considered among the most complete and beautiful of all Maya stone inscriptions. In the later part of the 8th century the Mayas created another kind of monument called zoomorphs in the forms of mythological animals bearing elements of toads, jaguars, crocodiles, and birds of prey. So this is from 780 AD and you can see the head of the ruler coming out of the mouth of the crocodile. We have just looked at all the stelae that are down below behind me. This is the Acropolis that we're on now and all of these structures were created around the late 700s AD and fascinating to see the amount of detail that still exists and the meanings behind each of the statues for the Mayan culture. It's been amazing. It's hard to believe how much work they had to do to clear out the jungle to get just this amount of excavation. Frutas del Mundo is an organic tropical fruit farm founded by Dwight Carter, an American Peace Corps volunteer, and this farm produces unusual exotic fruits for private entities. None of their products are directly sold to supermarkets for general consumption. However, the farm does conduct educational walking tours for the public. If you enjoy learning and trying new things then you will absolutely love to visit this farm. The best part of the tour is sampling all of the crazy fruits, but you also learn about grafting, nursery management, and integration of animals and agriculture. Okay, you can get some of them. It's really sour. This is a miracle fruit. It makes everything taste sweet after you eat it. So there's very little fruit around it and it's mainly a pit. Here, look. And now you taste this one. Okay. Yes, oh right. Yeah, it's going to be. Wow. Is it amazing? Wow. Everything's a dessert now. Wow, I like this miracle fruit. It's like an apple. Magic juice. It's a ylang-ylang. It's used, it's a white intoxicating tropical flower used in perfumery. Oh yeah, it smells great. That's incredible. Oh wow. Oh, what is that babe? Oh, you're not supposed to eat the outside. You guys gotta give me some magic fruit quickly. Magic fruit. All right, now I gotta try it again. It is good. Oh yeah. So I'm gonna go for the inside this time. Oh yeah, it's kind of, the peel's easy to get. Very sweet. Oh, that's what this is. I see this at the market. This one tastes a little bit like a papaya, they say. We haven't had this one yet. Is it good? Does it taste like a mango? Kind of, it's like plum and mango together. Oh, interesting. Tastes like mango. I've never tried this before. It's like a little mango. Is it a fruit? He says it is. Yeah, it's almost like a grape inside. Jackfruit. They're not ripe, so he said he's gonna keep looking. Notice the location of the durian fruit tree. It's like all the way in the back of the yard. Outcast. The outcast, exactly. And no mosquitoes around it. Yeah, exactly. I'm gonna hang out here. And it's tart and sweet at the same time. It's interesting how many fruits are tart and sweet. It has like a seed in each. Who would like a piece? Is the middle part really super sweet? A little tart. Is this what you eat, this part? Pull it, pull it right out. No, you see that? Break that whole thing out. That's what you want to eat. Yeah. I guess that there's not a market. I had the wrong thing earlier. I like the consistency of like cotton ball. I love this. It's a nut, but the monkeys put their hands inside, grab the things, and cannot get out. Oh. So, you know, because they don't release the nuts. Ah, yucca. So it's a hybrid. So they get the bread fruit without seeds. Oh, wow. So they mix it. I forgot the name of the other one. And you get no seeds. I think it's fruity fun and masa fun. So they graft it, give fruit faster, grow faster, more resistant to the winds or breakage. That's the graft. The graft? Yeah. Wow, that's amazing. So by grafting it, they'll have chocolate a lot faster. Four or five years. Otherwise, it's 15 to 20 years. So they graft it. So when it's in the air, they just cut it again. Oh, this is the miracle fruit. Yeah. They grow chipotle burritos on the tree. In the wild. Oh, it smells good. Yeah, it's like a big grapefruit, but it's sweeter and drier than a grapefruit. It sprays like a grapefruit. Juicier because of all the rain. This is a lychee tree, but lychees, they like cold climates. So they just make a graft and then they send to the side of Guatemala. Yes. So it's a sour. It's just for drinks. Oh man, this is really good. It's like a passion fruit. Man, it's really good. It's like passion fruit, but it's very tart. Look at that bamboo. You can make a sorbet out of that. Aftertaste is good, right? Oh yeah. It's like kind of sweet. This is the sweet one. The sweet ones I love. The inside is better than the outside. So they grafted these as well. They graft the marzipan on top of the red fruit. It's interesting there's one red one. Yeah, I was just going to point that out. What does it mean? It's just that it's ready to get cut. The one red. Really? Yeah, they start maturing by color. Avocado, limon, look at his face. Oh yeah, that's ready to go. It's good. It's another, they call it the Brazilian water. They make some juice. Durian consistency. Keep your reach on there and grab this on. Oh, now I see. Wow. Gotcha. Oh, that smells so good. Sour. He'll love it. So these are really good. Yeah, I'll try these. Is it peppery? Oh yeah, you tell me. It's great. Oh, that's delicious. All right, this is acai. I had no idea they were part of the palm. I love the skinny palm trees. They're so cool. And you can eat the trunk too. They have pomito from acai too. Oh, we've got some fish. Yeah, this is probably where they caught. Is he going to grab our lunch from here? Yes. Oh, gracias. Wow. Oh, this is definitely a stinky one. Yeah, this is it. Snake fruit. Do you eat the seed? Okay, sure. Gracias. Oh, man. I love it. In a plate, ferment and then roast the seeds. It's kind of like coffee. First time ever eating the cacao. This is fresh. There are two different kinds. This one's a little bit fruitier and it's interesting because the fruit, it's like a coffee bean. The fruit's around it and it's really sweet. But if you bite into the seed, you can really tell where the chocolate comes from. You can taste hints of the complexity which comes out when it's dried in the sun and roasted. Really interesting. It's a little bit like slimy and the seed is inside the white part. A whole day, you know, cleaning and putting in little bags and then you put in the freezer. Okay, it's good. It's like bubble gum. All right. Oh, you have a new friend. Sweet. Hi, babe. What'd you think about the fruit tour? I wasn't expecting so many different types of fruits, especially ones that I've never had before. So many. And you kept thinking it was gonna end and they just kept going on and on. It's like crazy. This is all organic farming and the way they plant things is not a lot of the same plant in one area. They interdisperse them. It was fascinating. Yeah, it really was. And we just had this amazing lunch of tilapia and collard greens and rice and it was really good. A little bit of local vino, had some chocolate. Oh, and some fried breadfruit. Yeah, it was amazing. The Pipeline Walk is a very hilly dirt road that meanders through local villages and rubber and palm oil plantations. It's called the Pipeline Walk because a pipeline accompanies you the full length of the road. Though the surface is uneven and quite rocky, it is the best place to get exercise where there is fresh air and very little traffic. And you get to interact with the friendly locals and animal life along the way. We are off the boat and on a hike. The road surface is not the easiest but it feels so good to be on a long hike. Just loving this and the views and meeting locals. We see the leafcutter ant, pretty cool, and just nature in general. It's just really been fun. Located on Lake Isabel in the town of El Astor is the beautiful Agua Calientes, a hot waterfall which cascades 12 meters down to a cool water pool. The jungle attraction offers hiking, mud baths, and freakishly hot water which cascades down the rocks heating your neck and back while your torso is numb from the cool river. It's a beautiful place. You can see more video footage of Agua Calientes in our last video. Guys, I hope you found this video really helpful and hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoy making it. We hope that you'll come to these places also. If you never do, we hope you'll feel like you've been there. See you next week. Bye you all. We love you.