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Here, I am going to try Gus' Rio Dulce tour.
Scratch that - Gus left without me. Booo!
UPDATE: It seems Gus changed the time the tour departed and failed to notify me. Booo! He did email at least one person and they notified at least 2 other people, but somewhere there was a breakdown in communication and I received no notification from Gus or anyone else. I did eventually end up with a plan B - more on that later.
P.S. There is at least one Gus troll on CC. Gus gets enough good reviews. Not sure why he thinks he needs a troll?
When you exit the ship, it seems just about everyone is wearing Go With Gus stickers which was a little confusing to me. There will be a number of people outside of the cruise terminal that will "help" steer you to various tours. Inside the terminal, there are a number of booths selling basically the same tours. There is an Internet/Call center. You can buy water, beer, sodas, etc. inside the terminal and there is entertainment and an arts/crafts market of sorts.
I went with a waterfall/city tour picked up at the dock for $35 and thought it was outstanding. Of course, much of it was the guide and I highly recommend her - very friendly and polite and her English is perfecto! Alejandra Morales (a scan of her card is at the bottom of this page). The $35 included transportation, tour guide services, admission to the Escobas falls, cold bottled water/soda and more. Tips are not included, but obviously welcome.
There were some delays in getting the tour going, and some impatient angry Americans (ok - I was sort of one of them). Alejandra apologized for all of it, but none of it was her fault. A rocky start to begin with, but by the end Alejandra had won everyone over with an excellent tour. I guess the lesson here is that if things don't always start out how you like, they don't always get worse. Sometimes they get much better!
I think what we did must have been a more or less standard tour, but the driver (SORRY - I forgot you name - my bad!), and Alejandra were willing to stop anywhere we wanted for pictures or whatever. Examples included stopping at a cemetery (for pictures, not for a "divorce"), stopping at a pharmacy (not sure what they got), stopping for a local beer (not included, but she was sweet enough to buy for some- I think?). We also stopped at a market where some fresh and HOT local tortillas and coconut (I think) bread were picked up for all to taste.
Trolley tour, Puerto Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala - not sure if Gray Line is still doing.
NCL Sun in Puerto Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala
Free entertainment in the terminal, Puerto Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala
Free entertainment in the terminal, Puerto Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala 2
Tours are available at the port
My $35 City and Escobas Falls tour
Animals sometimes have the right of way.
Hauling wood.
At the entrance to the Escobas falls
