The fort of San Felipe de Lara is locally referred to as El Castillo or The Castillo. The Castillo is about 1 km upstream from the bridge at Fronteras at a point where the Rio Dulce constricts just before the river ends and widens into Lake Izabal. The fort was placed there by the Spanish to prevent English pirates from raiding the villages and caravans along the shores of Lake Izabal. It is located on a rocky point that gives it a good field of fire but was only partly successful at stopping the audacious pirates. Pirates repeatedly destroyed the The Castillo and in 1686 they captured and burned it to the ground. Each time it was rebuilt by a different engineer and made stronger than before. The version that stands today has tremendously thick walls. At one point the Spanish went so far as to string a chain across the river in an attempt to deny access to the pirates. By the end of the 1700s there were no more pirates so the fortress was pressed into service as a prison. Today it has been nicely restored and is surrounded by a park which is perfect for picnics. A dock is provided for lanchas to unload passengers. Anchoring directly in front of the Castillo is not permitted.