The drive to Rio Dulce was beautiful. As you come into the town, the road narrows and is full of double parked trucks and produce stands that stick out into the street leaving about a lane and a half. This lasts for a couple blocks until you get on the bridge, the largest in Guatemala I was told, that spans the narrows between 2 large lakes. From the top of the bridge water, greenery and small islands stretch in both directions with many marinas full of expensive large boats.

When we first arrived, we went to a marina recommended by friends, Planeta Rio, but they wanted $24 US to boondock in a field! They quoted the price in dollars too. We left and parked the rigs at a gas station while Patti and I drove the jeep around looking for a spot to camp. The other place recommended, Bruno's, was really small and tight to get into and once in there we would be just inches from other parked cars. Plus, it would mean a U turn in the incredibly crowded area at the foot of the bridge over the river and we knew Bobby and Mimi would not like that.

We drove in and out of several other places and then spotted a huge space near the water while driving over and looking down from the bridge. It was inside a gated marina with good access and security. We went into the office to see if we could stay and there was a guy from Texas checking out. I was talking to them in spanish and he came over and asked me to intervene for him as they had told him his electric bill was over $800 US for 3 weeks. I talked to the employee and he agreed it was probably wrong, I translated the Texan's words that he would pay them $100 US and no more. It worked out and the Texan was very grateful and offered to buy us a drink or dinner.

We said we'd meet him later as we still had to figure out where we were going to stay. They gave us a price of $16 US a night and we took it, there weren't any other deals in town and we liked the security. Bobby and Mimi were pleased with it when we took them in, we had been gone over an hour and they were starting to get worried when we went back for them. Our new friend came by and we went over to his very nice, very big boat for drinks and walked down the road for dinner. The Marina turned out to be a really nice place, we were close to the water and near some nice bathrooms with showers and unlimited hot water. For an RV'er, unlimited hot water showers are a little bit of heaven! They even had a TV room with cable and some english channels.