Hot Waterfalls in Guatemala
New travel adventures, hot waterfalls and breakfast with a model when not working around the boat.
Friday, September 25 – Thursday, October 1, 2026
Miss Guatemala
Wednesday morning we planned to join a bunch of cruisers in a day trip to some local waterfalls, and since we knew a proper lunch would not be available until after visiting the falls, we headed to the resort restaurant for a big breakfast. As we approached the couches where the cruisers hang out at each morning, we noticed a young woman wearing an elegant, bright orange dress. It turns out that she is Melina Birk, Ms. International Guatemala, visiting Hacienda Tijax while traveling to communities for her social work. Although her work has an environmental focus, she first identifies the basic needs of the community, like clean drinking water, then works with them to sustainably achieve the basic needs. She will be heading to Japan in November as part of the Miss International pageant.
Westbound Travel
Traveling to a destination is often part of the adventure in Guatemala, and although this was a relatively short trip, it is worthy of sharing.
Feeling very full from our breakfast with Ms. Guatemala, we climbed down into the dinghy and pushed our way under five slimy dock lines and slowly motored our way over to Sundog Cafe. We decided that Sundog would be a better location to leave The Jeep since Bruno’s dock has a lot of commercial lanchas traffic.
From there we walked down towards the “Colectivos”. These are mini vans that act as a public transportation system between neighboring towns. Each colectivo is licensed and has one driver and one assistant that finds customers, helps stuff people into the van and collects the fees. In Rio Dulce the colectivo “station” is under the bridge near Bruno’s and is where the cruisers were to meet up for a 9:30 departure.
Jimmy and I arrived early and did not see any cruisers out and about. However, the colectivo assistants certainly saw us and I spent the next thirty minutes practicing my Spanish explaining that we are waiting for others, whom I do not necessarily know, nor do I know how many are in the group and that the woman leading the group has not arrived and we need to wait for her. The chaotic conversations continued even after our jefa (Wendy, our group leader) arrived along with a fluent Spanish speaker.
photo from backseat before rear hatch is closed four to a row in last two rows standing room only in the van
Eventually we crammed about 14 cruisers into one minivan, and the rest in another van.
During the whole trip, the sliding door of the van stayed open while the assistant would stand on the running board hanging onto a grab bar outside of the van. Along the way, they would stop to pick up others standing by the side of the road and squeeze them into the van. For many of us, it was a first-time experience on a colectivo, and it was certainly an entertaining, if not a very hot ride (especially for us in the back row).
Hot Waterfalls! (Cascadas Agua Caliente at Finca El Paraíso)
After paying an attendant the posted 20Q per person entry fee, we walked along the San Antonio River for about 15 minutes until we arrived at waterfall, and apparently, we were the first to arrive. The caretaker, Fernando, showed us the best way to cross over the rocks to access the falls, which emitted both warmth and a sulfuric smell to the air.
These falls are on Finca El Paraíso’s private property and are the result of hot springs located above the San Atonio River. Since Guatemala is situated over three tectonic plates along the Pacific’s Ring of Fire, there are several hot springs along the major fault lines. Five major fault lines lie across Guatemala, running roughly in an east-west orientation. These springs, and the one visited last week are both located along the Polochic faultline, while the most active volcanoes are on the Motagua faultline further south.
Stepping into the cool water, we crossed the river, feeling the water warming up closer to the falls. Then once under the falls we were greeted with a hot shower! It was fun to move between the cold spots supplied by the upstream river and the warm water falling about 20’ down along a rockface into the river.
approaching the hot waterfalls sailors enjoying a hot shower Sondra & Jimmy Some cruisers lounging in the water
Hot water flows down a rock face into the cool river below.
There is a small cave behind the falls that is accessed by swimming under the falls and under rock to reach an air pocket. At first, I thought “no way am I swimming underwater to reach a cave!” However, one of the cruisers, Eric, explained to me that it is not a long swim, no longer than an arm’s length and gave me some tips on how to get in, and I decided to go for it. I stood in the waterfall, ducked down at first, keeping my head above the water surface and reaching my arm as far as I could under the water feeling around until I found an air pocket. Taking a big breath, I dove down under the rock, beyond where I kept my hand, and popped up into the cave! After the loud turbulence of the waterfalls, it was surreal to be inside of a calm, peaceful cave. There was a surprising amount of light reflected into the cave. It was not a tall cave, and if I kept my chin in the water while standing there, I would not bump my head on the stone above. I then realized that I didn’t tell Jimmy what I was up to, so I swam back out and talked him into swimming into the cave with me.
Returning to Rio Dulce
Around 1 p.m. our big group packed up and headed back to the road, feeling very refreshed. All 20 of us stood by the side of the road and the first colectivo driver that stopped looked pretty excited to see such a big group. Once again, we crammed into the van, but this time Jimmy and I were in the front row with the driver and one other passenger. And once again, we thought the van was completely full since part of our group waited for the next colectivo, however, the colectivo assistant turned our van into a magic box that fit an incredible number of people inside of it as we picked up more passengers on the way back to town.
four in the front row very full van! Lunch at Sundog
Return to Rio Dulce & Sundog Cafe
Afterward, most of the group met back up at Sundog for a delicious late lunch. When we arrived, our boat neighbors, Sienna’s Choice were finishing up their lunch, and most of the cruisers were delighted to see them, as they have been cruising these waters for a few years with their young daughter onboard. It was a fun end to a great outing.
Other things of interest
Projects:
Dinghy outboard – our dinghy no longer gets up on plane with both of us onboard and Jimmy has spent a lot of time making adjustments with no luck. He suspects our prop has been dinged too many times.
Winches – Jimmy did an annual clean up of four of the five winches onboard Utopia. He’ll tackle the last one, on the mast, when I am available to help him out.
Galley cabinet knob – we have been unsuccessful in fixing the knob that closes our galley cabinet, nor have we been able to find one in town. It is possible that another Caliber in the area might have a spare.
New batch of ginger beer – a new batch has been prepared with slight changes to the prior recipe and appears to be fermenting quite well.
Fun Things:
Tijax Saturday BBQ (Owner of Cast Off joined us last week)
Thursday Jam night at Hoppy House is getting bigger and bigger as more cruisers return to Rio Dulce, and Jimmy has been joining in, either on a percussion or singing.
Post 26-40
Comments