Rio Dulce, Guatemala

Cloudy and 82 degrees

We are still working like worker bees on s/v Island Sol.  We have had about 4 days of rain, which has put a stop to our varnish job on what teak we have.  Thank god it is minimal, although beautiful it is a pain to keep up looking shiny and protective of the wood itself.  But only one more coat and that job is complete.  Luckily our Guatemalan "teak man", Marvin, is doing this job.  

I am still cleaning the mildew off of every surface on the boat.  It is time consuming and very slow.  I am sick of the smell of bleach, although faint it is still there, but of course it is doing the job.  After this season we will hire someone to come and clean the boat every month until our return next season. eroom is done and the bedroom is done, so hopefully tonight we will be sleeping in our quarter berth Why has it taken this long to figure this out???  But the galley is done, the main head in our stat and out of that cabin.

The picture below is my "new baby".  It is a Harrisville Design 4 harness, 6 treadle floor loam.  Charlie gifted me this at Christmas.  Again, as last year, he gave me a Kromski Minstrel Spinning Wheel, I had to leave it to come to the boat. I spent last season virtually spinning and becoming a student of YouTube University.  I am still learning to spin, which is so zen and I can not wait to get on this loom.  I am hoping to get into a beginners class at Harrisville Designs in Harrisville, New Hampshire this coming summer.  Classes have not been set yet, so everyday I check my email for the summer session schedule, as I was told they fill up fast.  So that will be another "adventure" for me.  I have never gone on a trip by myself, but I am so looking forward to that experience.   Hopefully I can add that to my blog this coming summer.

                                                                    Still having trouble adding pictures to this blogsite, it is not very user friendly.  This is a picture of my spinning wheel.  I thought I was very savvy with all things fiber, but this has been a very humbling craft to learn.  I had a bag of alpaca fleece that I purchased years ago, not knowing what I would do with it.  But I carded it, spun it and finally knitted a headband.  Although this was a very simple project, it was very rewarding to me to go from fleece to a knitted garment. I am amazed that someone hundreds of years ago could figure these "machines" out.  Anyway, I have had to lay down this endeavor to do the sailing thing.....so back to cleaning the boat!

               

Rio Dulce, Guatemala

Overcast and 80 degrees

We arrived back in Guatemala on January 9th.  Our flight was good, our 7 hr. drive to the Rio was without mishap and a large launcha was needed to get all of our luggage to the boat.  As usual it was impossible to go directly to the boat after an absence of 6 months, so into a cabin at Catamaran Marina & Hotel.

Upon opening my blog, I totally dropped everyone in the grease....so to speak, as I didn't blog about our season in Belize.  So sorry, I will try to redeem myself this season as we are going back to Belize again.  We just didn't get enough of this beautiful country.  We had several visitors last year:  our old time buddies, Chuck and Linda Rinn, our new friend, Leona Marshall (our neighbor in Cat Spring) and our every year crew, our daughter, Haley Lebeuf.

Back to present:  we are, of course, working on projects.  New wind generator with its new stainless steel mount that also holds our Starlink dish.  Starlink has made a huge jump for us to stay connected with the world and of course our family.  Very different from when we started with NOTHING!  So anyone reading this can of course, through WhatsApp get in touch with me through my cell # 713 539-7468 or my email: saundramcdowell51@gmail.com.

Other projects include: new SSB radio, new filters to the diesel generator, voltage problems fixed, located leak in main engine coolant....I'm sure there are more, but that is Charlie's department.  I am working on cleaning.  We used our Ozone machine to kill the mildew and smell and hopefully the roaches, but no, those suckers are still here and the mess they leave is everywhere.  So daily I work to that end.  We have decided to focus on the galley, head, and our bedroom so we can move out of the cabin and back into the boat.  As usual, we both got sick after one day of eating in Guatemala, but since the last 4 days we have been cooking on the boat and now all is well.

So, as things move forward we will again make our way to Belize.  This year we have 2 dive cylinders onboard, so we are looking forward to some scuba diving and not just snorkeling.  The water on the outer reef is beautiful as well as our favorite island, Half Moon Caye.  So give me some time to figure out how to add photos to this blog and I will be off and running.  Until then stay warm!

 January 2, 2023

Rio Dulce, Guatemala

Hello again friends.  We have now been on the Rio for 26 days.  Things (as in projects) were rolling along until everything stopped on Dec. 22 for the holidays.  NO ONE WORKS! But today, Chris, our electrician came back to go over our check list of electrical things still needing to be done.  He says it can be done in 2 days…well we will see about that!  Below are pics of a school several of the cruisers went to in order to put new seats and backs on the metal desk frames.  There were 6 of us so we made short work of it. The principal (she is in the blue shirt) and 3 of her teachers came to help.  They were so thankful, which of course made us all feel really good.  

As I understand, the government will give a community a school building and hire a teacher, but after that it is up to the community to provide all supplies and anything else that is needed to teach.  So, I guess teachers get screwed no matter where they are in the world.

On December 23, the cruisers threw a Christmas Party for all the staff at Catamaran Marina.  The generosity of these Guatemalans are amazing.  They learn our names and are always greeting us with smiles. Truly a wonderful group of people.  Tamales were made in town by Mavie’s  mother…Mavie is the Hotel manager here.  They came in a large tub covered with banana leaves.  The cruisers provides cake and ice cream.  We also all pitched in buying gift cards to the local grocery store as well as $$ for our Christmas game.  As nice as it was to make tamales for this large group, let me try to describe them.  They are NOT like our Texas tamales.  There is some type of gelatinous goo with chicken, olives and prunes in them.  Sounds yummy, right?  NOT…the Guatemalans loved them and ate them up, but not so much for the foreigners.  We all sat next to a staff member, which became hilarious as we were all using our translators on our phone to try and communicate.  Next came the Poke Game…made by yours truly!

                     

So each staff member came up, poked a cup and got what was inside.  Some things were pretty good and then some, well just some candy and a small trinket.  But we made sure that all staff went home with a gift card to the grocery store or the clothing store.  Next came…The Grinch.

  

 Steve, our dock manager dressed up along with Chee, his girlfriend.  Mavie is in the middle of the pic and Sharon (a cruiser) is holding, Alan.

Alan is an orphan that Steve is fostering for a month.  He is 18 months old and just the cutest little guy in the world.  He has Cerebral Palsy, can not walk, and only blabbers back and forth with you.  With being a retired Early Childhood Teacher of Children with Disabilities I was all over this kiddo.  He became part of the crowd here and we all just loved this child.  Steve through a “going away” party for him yesterday as today he had to take him back to the orphanage.  A very sad day for us all and I can only imagine for him too as he has been the center of a lot of attention.  There are no schools for children with disabilities here, unless in large cities.  So it is rather heart breaking to know how many children go without learning experiences here.  These people are just trying to survive.

On Christmas Day there were no staff here except 2 security guys.  We cruisers took over the kitchen and Charlie (the chef) prepared 3 turkeys and made corn bread stuffing from scratch.  It was funny to us that many of the foreign cruisers had never had corn bread stuffing.  As well as we had never had Yorkshire Pudding.  Everyone brought either a vegetable side dish or a dessert.  The wine was flowing and we took over the whole restaurant. (Yes the security guards joined us, too).  It was a great evening and Charlie and I spent the whole next day practically in bed.

Next came New Years.  We enjoyed dinner with Jo and Andrew, our Canadian friends on s/v Sierra Hotel, their catamaran.  (Pic of Jo and I below at a Ladies Luncheon)

At midnight there were fireworks all around the River, it was a great night bringing in the New Year.  

So, Charlie and I are wishing you all a Happy Holiday and a wonderful New Year, filled with lots of love and good health.  Until the next blog…..

Feliz Anos Nuevo

Rio Dulce, Guatemala

 December 15, 2022

Partly Cloudy and 81 Degrees

Ole, again to our followers.  We have returned to our boat, s/v Island Sol on Dec. 7.  Our flight to San Pedro Sulla, Honduras was fine and we were able to get all our luggage out with only one inspection.  They wanted to know if we had food and of course we did.  They had a look at our chicken sandwiches and put them back.  BUT, then they found a Saran wrapped bunch of leaves.  Mind you the drug/weapons dog had already sniffed our luggage.  These leaves were Sour Sop leaves that a friend of Charlies gave him to make a tea for his Prostate health!  I told the officer this and he just rolled his eyes and put it back and off we went to meet our driver, Oti.  Oti has been picking us up here for years and driving us back to Guatemala.  As I have mentioned in other posts the drive back to Rio Dulce is on a 2 lane highway with no shoulders or lights.  The amount of 18 wheeler traffic is mind blowing and at night they are lite up like Christmas trees….so you can see them coming for sure.  So we left the airport around 4:00 pm and made it to the Guatemalan boarder at 6:00pm…or rather we were half a mile from the boarder and stopped in dead traffic.  We sat there for over an hour not moving an inch.  Finally Oti said we needed to start walking to the boarder because he didn’t want us to miss checking out of Honduras and checking into Guatemala for fear the boarder station would close.  So out we get and start walking half in the ditch, weaving around cars and trucks.  We stood in line to for the check in check out procedure for about 30 minutes and then received all the necessary stamps in our passport and back to the car.  There we were able to move about 50’.  Then set until 9:00 when finally we got on our way.  So now another 3 hours to Rio Dulce.  It was quite a trip and of course we arrived in the Rio to RAIN.  Luckily Oti got in touch with the marina and they sent a boat for us.  We went straight to a cabin as we had 2 huge Pelican boxes, a large suitcase, 2 carry on suitcases, 2 bags and 2 backpacks.  The McDowells do NOT travel light!

We are now ensconced in our boat where Charlie has begun finishing up some projects.  Almost too many to mention.  Of course we came back to the boat with our engine needing a new alternator and a new impeller.  Both of our outboard motors are not working and the list goes on and on.  But Charlie moves forward everyday.  We have met new cruisers and have been reunited with old friends again.  There is a Christmas Party planned by the cruisers on Dec. 23 for all the staff and employees here.  Then another party for the cruisers on the 25th.  No date in sight yet for our departure as we still have to deal with the SAT office to get our exit permit and pay our fine.  All we know is that - don’t apply for the permit until your boat is ready to leave the country.  They are giving boats only 5-10 days to get out after permitting.  So I will return to finish this saga.  Hope all of you have a wonderful holiday, don’t stress just enjoy.  And health and happiness to all of us in 2023.

 

Rio Dulce, Guatemala

April 23, 2022

Clear and 88 degrees

I can not believe our sailing season has vanished!  

We are still captive in Guatemala due to government failure to help cruisers overcome their overdue boat permits due to Covid, closure of boarders and personal issues that made it impossible to return to Guatemala.....which is the bracket we fall into.   We have filed a petition to SAT (the governing body in charge of vehicles and boats in the country that are foreign) 3 weeks ago.  We have heard nothing except that we should begin proceedings to "import our boat".  To import your boat, first a value is put on your boat and then you pay 12% of that value plus other fees that are pretty expensive.  We are looking at around 17K+ to do that, which we can not afford.  So we are at a stalemate. 

Several weeks ago a large group of cruisers located here in Rio Dulce met to discuss the issues with Rita, a woman who owns a shipping company here, and whose husband is the mayor of this area was in attendance.  She tried to explain what is happening with SAT and listened to the concerns of the cruisers so she could report back to her husband.  Her husband was traveling to Guatemala City the following day to meet with a Congress woman who is trying to rewrite the laws to help both the cruisers and the local economy here that depends on our currencies. { At present, you can have a one year permit for your boat in Guatemala, but then must leave the country with your boat for 3 months before returning to Guatemala.  Then you are able to apply for another years permit.}  We were told that at that meeting the Congress woman told SAT to have a fine schedule ready for cruisers so we could then reapply for a permit, and that needed to be presented to her on the Monday after Easter.  Well, last Monday we found out that the meeting was postponed until this coming Monday, April 25th.  

So, here we sit. We have corrected all the systems on our boat that failed due to being hit with lightening.  And, fortunately the electric toilets still work....yeah!  And, at this point we COULD go to Belize if we were able to pay our fines and renew our permits. You must have an exit permit to enter another country....so this is the permit we do not have.   But now the hurricane season is approaching, putting us at risk of being in a vulnerable area without protection.  Hopefully I will have some good news at my next post, but this season is a wash.  

On the brighter side, we are here with the best group of cruisers, Canadians, English, French. The cruisers congregate at the marina palapa bar by the pool for happy hour everyday. Steve our dock manager is wonderful and he is an amazing man doing so many humanitarian works for the people in the community.*  The staff here at Catamaran Mariana is awesome.  They are the friendliest people we have met during all our years of sailing.  The marina is immaculately kept and is a tropical paradise.  We couldn't be sequestered in a more beautiful place. Charlie and I are both recovering form a bout of parasite infestation now that we have gotten the correct meds....is this TMI?  Oh well, just part of being in a 3rd world country....LOL.  OK, friends I will keep you in the loop as to our future.  Hope you are all well at home.  We are still praying for Ukraine and our country as well.....what a crazy time it has been so far this year.  Take care!

* In another post I will tell you more about Steve's work here in the area.  Specifically helping families who have a disabled person by getting wheelchairs or whatever is necessary.  He is also helping with new stoves (at the cost of $250.00 US) that funnel smoke out of the homes and into the outside air.  Many children and adults are ill with major respiratory disease due to cooking smoke inhalation....so more on that later. 

 Rio Dule, Guatemala

March 17, 2022

Hot and windy

Hey Everyone, I'm back and yes, we are still here!  So Plan A did not work out and I'm not sure if we are Plan B or C at this point.  I am beginning to feel like a resident of the country.  We are continually saddened to hear of the news from Ukraine and pray that this can come to an end soon.  If you do not read Heather Cox Richardson on YouTube of Facebook you should as she comments 6 days a week on the US and the Worlds issues....all are fact based.  

So, it is now the consensus that our boat was hit by lighting, while it was on the "hard" at RAM Marina.  Due to the fact that all our systems were down that is most likely the case.  And, God forbid we have not even gotten to the toilets (the heads) which are also electric.  Oh me.....well we have sailed for 8 years with hardly any issues this big, so I guess we were due.

Charlie has completed the hot water installation, no easy feat and all while laying on his back or side in our back quarter berth (bedroom/garage).  Everything is an effort (our boat motto), but all the spaces are so small to work in.  We are having a portion of the head space in the quarter berth cut our for more storage - actually all of Charlie's fishing poles, so now whoever sleeps there can actually store items on the side shelf....Haley that should make you happy!  We have had a young woman, Veronica, come and clean all of our sofa cushions.  They look almost new and we are very happy with that.  She also tried to clean the 3 carpets but we ultimately had to hit them with a water pressure sprayer to get all the dirt out of them.  

     Can you tell I still don't know how to move my pictures around. 

                                                                   

 So yesterday Charlie decides it is time for me to go up the mast and sew a leather boot on the end of our spreaders.  Our mast is 53' tall and I am a little over half way up.  The spreader is a horizontal metal strip that separates the shrouds coming down from the top of the mast to the deck of the boat.  The shrouds are 3/8" twisted stainless steel cables.  So there I am "sewing" this piece of leather onto the end of the spreader with a 3" needle and waxed thread.  I was a little nervous as I have not done this for about 6 years.  Then today I went up again and sewed the other boot on the other end of the spreader, not so nervous today and I got it done in half the time.....yeah me!  So we continue to push forward and tomorrow we will know if our electronic parts arrive from the states via mule (friends of our electrician are arriving hopefully with out stuff).  If this happens there is still hope for a sailing season.  Hope you stay well, spring is around the corner.  Hasta Luego!

And the Work Goes On

 

 Rio Dulce, Guatemala

3/3/22

Windy 80 degrees                                                                                         

It has been a month since my last post and there has been some progress in our effort to get out of here and begin our “adventure”.  In regards to our boat:  the new water maker has been installed and is working great.  We will actually be making more 4X the amount of water per hour as our old system.  The old hot water heater has been drained and removed, unfortunately revealing a few new issues that need correcting.  Our electronics are coming along, depth finder is working now but radar is still down.  The varnishing and waxing is finished and she is looking beautiful.  Next week we will have a couple come to clean our upholstery and carpets.  The new AC has not arrived and neither has our solar panels which seem to be lost out there somewhere.  Even though we would love to have both these items it is not essential to our leaving.  Both the engine and generator have new oil and gosh some other things I can’t remember.  But both are in good working order. Charlie along with some outside help has worked long and hard, with frustrating stops due to rain or lack of parts.  But he perseveres!

The week after my visit to Casa Azul, the orphanage on Lake Isabel the “Poptun Girls” came to Catamaran Marina.  The group of missionary doctor, who have been working in the area for the last 2 weeks, were staying in cabins here at Catamaran.  Poptun is a community about 2 hours drive from here.  “Mama Connie” runs a home for young mothers who are pregnant or who have had their babies.  These young girls, some as young as 12, have had babies by incestuous relations/rape.   Catamaran hosted the girls so that the doctors could open their clinic to them.  Many of the cruisers volunteered.  We began  the morning, before the girls arrived, making 120 cupcakes….from scratch I might add!  We set up tables for; bead making, coloring, hair braiding and nail painting (this was my station).  After all the girls were seen by the doctors, it was pool time.  Then the marina prepared many pizzas for lunch and a cupcake icing station.  Then back in the pool.  Finally, everyone was out and had dried off and redressed.  They were then off to Boatique.  This was the marina/hotel that Charlie hosted my birthday at.  Boatique treated the girls to dinner and then they stayed over at the hotel before heading back to Poptun the next day.  Needless to say it was a treat for them to just be kids for the weekend.  My heart went out to these brave young women, who were all too young to face motherhood.  But thanks to Mama Connie they are housed and loved.

We have seen several of our cruiser friends leave for their season of sailing in the last week.  There are still issues with the government and boats that have over stayed their permits.  We are waiting for our boat to be in running order before we attempt to send in our letter and documents.  We don’t want them to say, OK you can go NOW….and then not be able to actually leave due to essential things still needing repair. So here we still are, but we had no idea the condition of Island Sol after 2 years of sitting idle.  So, I am hoping our next post will be out in blue water….but we will see.  Thanks for hanging in there with us on this journey with us.