Guatemala Part 2 — Quiriguá and Rio Dulce

On the way out of Puerto Barrios we stopped at Quiriguá, an ancient Maya site famous for having some of the tallest carved stone stelae anywhere in the Maya world. These things are monsters — sandstone slabs a couple stories tall, carved top to bottom with rulers in giant headdresses and glyphs down the sides, each one standing under its own thatched roof out on a huge grassy plaza. The boys lined up in front of one for a photo and Enzo gave it his best opera performance. There’s also an acropolis in the back — stepped stone platforms around a sunken plaza that you can walk right up.

The other residents of Quiriguá: iguanas. They were everywhere. Enzo made friends with one on the lawn, or at least got as close as the iguana’s patience allowed.

From there we headed to Rio Dulce, where our hotel required a commitment: the Kangaroo Hotel, a random spot right on the water. You leave the car behind and get to the hotel by boat. It came with its own rope swing into the river, which the boys wore out — everyone took turns launching themselves in.

The next day we took a boat tour on the river, past sailboats, a random full-on pirate ship docked at the bank (Jolly Roger and everything, no explanation offered), and out to Castillo de San Felipe — a 1600s Spanish fort built at the mouth of the lake to fight off actual pirates, cannons still pointing out of the walls. We only saw it from the water, which is honestly the angle it was built to be seen from anyway.

#unpavedparenting