sweet river, steaming waterfall

after our departure from antigua, karah and i headed to Rio Dulce, with the intension of going on to Livingston, a fishing town you can reach only by boat. the bus took longer than we though (as always), so we reached Rio Dulce at dusk. on the bus we met a dutch lady, Babette, who ran a bar right near the bus stop, and she offered to help us find a place to stay. note: guidebooks are fine and dandy, but you really cant depend on them in a literal sense. i guess thats why they are not called "factbooks." anyway, we hung out with some locals and fellow travelers while she called a nearby hostel to get us some beds and to send a boat to pick us up. the boat took us across a fairly wide river to an inlet where the hostel was. this place, Casa Perico, was a bungalow-type place, completely above water/swamp. the path to the bathroom was a wooden walkway, with shallow water just below. we stayed in the dorm ($5.50/night!) , under a tall thatched roof, which was lofted above hammocks, tables, chairs, and sofas of the hangout area of the hostel. it was really incredible. it rained a lot in the night, and the noise it made on the thatch was great. the air was thick and warm, but not uncomfortable. the next day, we decided to go to a hot spring near Rio instead of Livingston, because we were still being denied by atm machines and quickly running out of Quetzales. a boat to Livingston cost $10, which was basically what i had left. from there, we could take a series of ferries and buses to the honduras border, and stay one night in a cheap place, but we'd be stranded if the costs were more than the guidebook suggested. the springs were great though. the steaming water fell from a small cliff and created a 20 ft. waterfall of hot water, which felt like a really warm shower when you were underneath. it fell into a clear, deep stream of cold water, so the experience was perfect. we traveled there with a young couple from new york we had met in town while we were eating breakfast. we spent a few hours there, swimming, exploring, climbing vines. when we returned to our hostel, we took out a tiny carved-out canoe that the hostel had, out from the inlet and into the main river. we found a floating dock and went swimming off of it. the water was warm, and while we were laying on the dock it started to rain, a warm humid rain. it was a great night. after dark we hung out at the bungalow, playing cards with a guy from israel and eating delicious homemade bread that we bought from Babette's place. the next day we'd be back in Honduras, which was feeling more and more like home, and where we would actually have money to buy some real food!