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So I left Tikal and headed to Rio Dulce on my own. Ready for the next adventure....the plan...do some volunteer work in Rio Dulce at the orphanage nearby. There is a backpackers in Rio Dulce called Hotel Backpackers (very original) which is owned by the orphanage. They usually have long term volunteers..people who volunteer for 3+ months. They sometimes have shorter term volunteers such as myself...who usually stay for about a week. My plan was to stay 2 - 4 weeks. The long term volunteers stay at the orphanage which is about 15 minute Lancha (boat) ride from the Hotel Backpackers, but short term volunteers stay at the backpackers.
I arrived at the backpackers and no one seemed to be expecting me (despite many earlier emails) and everyone was really unfriendly and unhelpful. The backpackers is extremely run down. Anyway the next day I had to get up at about 6am to catch the boat to the orphanage. The day I arrived the torrential rains started! Seriously for 3 days sold it did not stop raining for even 1 minute...I have never seen rain like it! So my ride to the orphanage in this tiny boat, no roof, no life jackets down the river at 6am was not much fun. Got to the orphanage and again it was pretty disorganised. I subsequently found out that is the way things work there...you just kind of have to figure it out for yourself.
I was taken on a tour of the orphanage and then spent the afternoon with the kindergarten kids. The kids were gorgeous...so excited to see me (even although they did not know me) ...screaming my name and all trying to hug me. I spend a few days there...mostly with the kindergarten kids who were very sweet and quite challenging. The orphanage is pretty run down and they kids eat rice and beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The toilets are horrendous and my job most the time was to take various kids to the toilet! An experience I will not forget quickly. Other than that I did not really have much to do as I am not a long term volunteer, so I felt I was just loitering around all day. All the other volunteers stay at the orphanage, so every evening I caught the boat back in the rain and then back again at the crack of dawn.
It also eventuated that no one seems to know where the money being donated to the orphanage is going...it all sounds quite strange to be honest.
Although I feel really bad about it, I had the most awful time there. The backpackers was terrible, the people not very nice, and I felt I was not contributing at all when I was at the orphanage. After a few days I am sad to say I decided to leave. It was a hard decision as that was not what I had envisaged or planned, but I was truly miserable!!!
Although there was hardly anyone staying at the backpackers, I met a few people...including 2 girls...one from Holland and one from England...and I decided to leave Rio Dulce with them.
I must say the whole experience was a terrible one (too much to write it all down), and maybe somewhere along my travels I can get to try volunteering somewhere else.
The day before we left the dreaded Rio Dulce, we took a bus to a spot outside of Rio Dulce where there is a hot water river and cold water river that meet at a waterfall. The bus ride there was interesting - with the shuttle completely overloaded with about 3 people even sitting on the roof. When half way there, another taxi flagged them and indicated police further ahead, they stopped and somehow (god knows how) fitted the guys on the roof into the taxi! The waterfall / rivers where beautiful and we had a great time swimming in the cold and warm rivers / pools.
The next day Katie, Michelle and I decide to head to Livingstone on the Caribbean coast of Guatemala. We caught a boat down the river from Rio Dulce to Livingston which was beautiful (see photos)
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