Rio Dulce Guatemala | Jewel of the Guatemalan Caribbean | 90+ Countries with 3 Kids
Welcome to the wonderful Rio Dulce, an extraordinary river in Guatemala!
Did you know that the movie “The New Adventures of Tarzan” was entirely filmed here in 1935? The beautiful rainforest you see in the movie is hidden in Guatemala and still well-preserved. To get a good shot of the forest they had to use some locations using the railroad service in Guatemala.
It is a spectacular place rich with flora and fauna, great views, folklore, beaches, and traditional locals. Being so breath-taking, many people call it the jewel of the Guatemalan Caribbean. A great place where you can spend the most peaceful time with the family.
Being a part of a lake and river system known as the department of Izabal, it is a great sailboat cruising destination. Rio Dulce flows out of the Lake Izabal and is soon spanned by one of the biggest bridges in Central America.
On one side of the bridge is the town El Relleno and a nearby orphanage Casa Guatemala that provides children with education and nourishment. On the other side is the town of Fronteras. It is considered to be the center of Rio Dulce, sometimes called by the same name, and many people arrive by canoes to visit the town because it contains a local vegetable market.
Enjoy the video and be sure to let us know where you’re watching from!
______________________________________________________
►SUBSCRIBE for Weekly Travel Videos:
►Check out our new MAP VIEW of our videos:
►WHERE WE STAYED: and
►SHOP Growing Up Without Borders Merchandise & Travel Gear at
►WHERE TO STAY
* Sign up for AirBnB using our link and you’ll get $40 off of your first stay!
* Sign up for Booking.com using our link and you’ll get $25 off your first stay!
► ESSENTIAL Gear (these are affiliate links, meaning we make a small commission at no additional cost to you. Your purchase helps us continue making these videos!)
The camera we use for pictures:
The phone we use to vlog:
The phone we use for pictures and to vlog at night:
Our DRONE:
The GoPro we’d like to buy:
The microphone we should be using:
Our EXTERNAL Hard Drive:
CRUCIAL Battery Pack:
Memory cards (we go through like candy):
MUST HAVE Power Bar:
► OUR HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM: For 1 FREE MONTH enter promo code: MON30GUWB
► CONNECT WITH US:
✩ WEBSITE/BLOG:
✩ INSTAGRAM: @GrowingUpWithoutBorders
✩ FACEBOOK:
✩ SUPPORT OUR WORK:
► CONTACT US:
chantal (at) growingupwithoutborders (dot) com
Guatemala - On the road to another rural village in the mountains
The roads of the remote mountainous regions of Guatemala are narrow, unimproved and treachorous. Nonetheless, we packed as many of us as we could into a small pick up truck and headed up the mountain to minister to the people who lived in the villages. We nearly lost our lives several times but made it safely up and back.
Tikal National Park, Tikal, Petén, Guatemala, North America
Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya. Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, ca. 200 to 900 AD. During this time, the city dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily, while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico. There is evidence that Tikal was conquered by Teotihuacan in the 4th century AD. Following the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned. These events were coupled with a gradual population decline, culminating with the site’s abandonment by the end of the 10th century. Tikal is the best understood of any of the large lowland Maya cities, with a long dynastic ruler list, the discovery of the tombs of many of the rulers on this list and the investigation of their monuments, temples and palaces. The closest large modern settlements are Flores and Santa Elena, approximately 64 kilometres (40 mi) by road to the southwest. Tikal is approximately 303 kilometres (188 mi) north of Guatemala City. It is 19 kilometres (12 mi) south of the contemporary Maya city of Uaxactun and 30 kilometres (19 mi) northwest of Yaxha. The city was located 100 kilometres (62 mi) southeast of its great Classic Period rival, Calakmul, and 85 kilometres (53 mi) northwest of Calakmul's ally Caracol, now in Belize. The city has been completely mapped and covered an area greater than 16 square kilometres (6.2 sq mi) that included about 3,000 structures. The topography of the site consists of a series of parallel limestone ridges rising above swampy lowlands. The major architecture of the site is clustered upon areas of higher ground and linked by raised causeways spanning the swamps. The area around Tikal has been declared as the Tikal National Park and the preserved area covers 570 square kilometres (220 sq mi). The ruins lie among the tropical rainforests of northern Guatemala that formed the cradle of lowland Maya civilization. The city itself was located among abundant fertile upland soils, and may have dominated a natural east/west trade route across the Yucatan Peninsula. Conspicuous trees at the Tikal park include gigantic kapok (Ceiba pentandra) the sacred tree of the Maya; Tropical cedar (Cedrela odorata), and Honduras Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). Regarding the fauna, agouti, white-nosed coatis, gray foxes, Geoffroy's spider monkeys, howler monkeys, harpy eagles, falcons, ocellated turkeys, guans, toucans, green parrots and leafcutter ants can be seen there regularly. Jaguars, jaguarundis, and cougars are also said to roam in the park. For centuries this city was completely covered under jungle. The average annual rainfall at Tikal is 1,945 millimetres (76.6 in).
One of the largest of the Classic Maya cities, Tikal had no water other than what was collected from rainwater and stored in ten reservoirs. Archaeologists working in Tikal during the 20th century refurbished one of these ancient reservoirs to store water for their own use. The Tikal National Park covers an area of 575.83 square kilometres (222.33 sq mi). It was created on 26 May 1955 under the auspices of the Instituto de Antropología e Historia and was the first protected area in Guatemala. In the mid 6th century, Caracol seems to have allied with Calakmul and defeated Tikal, closing the Early Classic. The Tikal hiatus refers to a period between the late 6th to late 7th century where there was a lapse in the writing of inscriptions and large-scale construction at Tikal. In the latter half of the 6th century AD a serious crisis befell the city, with no new stelae being erected and with widespread deliberate mutilation of public sculpture. This hiatus in activity at Tikal was long unexplained until later epigraphic decipherments identified that the period was prompted by Tikal's comprehensive defeat at the hands of Calakmul and the Caracol polity in AD 562, a defeat that seems to have resulted in the capture and sacrifice of the king of Tikal. The badly eroded Altar 21 at Caracol described how Tikal suffered this disastrous defeat in a major war in 562. It seems that Caracol was an ally of Calakmul in the wider conflict between that city and Tikal, with the defeat of Tikal having a lasting impact upon the city.