About a mile up river from our Marina is a Castle. Really it looks more like a mini-castle or even a replica castle in Disney World. But once you get close you see that it is indeed an authentic and finely built structure, made from river rock and volcanic rock that was most likely carried on the backs of the Mayans that were the slaves of the Spanish conquistadors. We rode our little dingy up the river to the banks of the castle. The site is now a national park and they provide dockage for visiting boats and charge a nominal entrance fee. The gardens surrounding the castle are well tended and the park alone is just beautiful. Because of the almost daily rainfall the foliage boasts vibrant green and all the plants are giant size. Philodendron leaves the size of small cars, python-like vines, orchids dripping from branches, trees laden with huge fruits we have never seen the likes of, and enormous bromiliads grow in abundance.
The jungle foliage dwarfed the castle giving it an enchanted fairy tale look. Once we got to the castle a tour guide latched onto us and took us through. He was very pleasant although we only understood half of the tour as it was in Spanish, however we tried to follow as best we could and the guide would kindly explain things in a variety of ways if we looked too confused. We found that the Castle was actually more of a fort and was 500 years old. Its main focus was not to protect a town, or battle large pirate ships but it served as a store house for the booty that the Spanish were taking from Central America back to Spain. The Rio Ducle was not deep enough for the large ships to traverse, so the Spanish cargo ships would come to Puerto Barrios (at the mouth of the Rio Dulce) and then the Spanish would load little boats filled with the treasure and take it to the Castle for safe keeping. It would be stored until enough booty was accumulated and when a fleet of ships was headed back to Spain they would load up the ships again and they would return to Spain with the treasures of the New World. The fort was well armed and had numerous cannons. Apparently many a pirate, British and French, knew that the Spanish held their treasure up the Rio Dulce.
We spent the entire day at the park and walked around the vast grounds. Keith packed a delicious picnic lunch and we spent an idle afternoon exploring and taking photos of the lush gardens. (Sadly all the photos are on our stolen camera), although some friends gave us a couple of their photos so we can post them on the blog. ENJOY!
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