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.