Guatemala Caribbean coast: Rio Dulce and Livingston

Overview

Lying to the east of Guatemala City and connecting with the Caribbean coast is the Motagua Valley, which broadens into a steamy tropical floodplain carpeted with banana plantations. This less-visited region of Guatemala provides a very different aspect: an Afro-Caribbean culture focused on the genial garifuna settlement of Livingston, the cool clear waters of the country’s biggest lake, Izabal, and the tropical river Rio Dulce, which ploughs a furrow through an unbroken wall of dense rainforest. Rising from the lake’s mouth is the castle-like fort Castillo de San Felipe which protected this major transport artery from pirates in colonial times.