Back on the Rio Dulce in Guatemala, October ’18

PHOTOS LINK BELOW

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wNjV4yCsCD2arUcU7

Returning to Aeeshah and Chico!!

John and I flew into Guatemala on 5th, October. We stayed overnight in the city in order to get the early morning Litegua bus back to the Rio. So by 9:30 we were well underway back to Aeeshah and Chico, both of which we were quite anxious to return to.

I had been in contact with Chico’s minder Kevin who had reassured us he was “muy bien”. We had been reassured Aeeshah was fine by way of our friends who often shared his company at poolside.

Our dinghy however had suffered some damage. John had left it hanging from the arch, the heavy rain had filled it and a piece of plastic had plugged the drain, consequently the bottom had cracked. Moral of the story: Always haul our dinghy onto the deck and turn it over. Anyway, Kevin had rescued it and arranged for it to be repaired by a friend of his Carlos.

Well, the pictures of the repair looked excellent so we were also optimistically anticipating seeing a perfect repair.

On arriving in Fronteras at just after 3:00pm we were able to get to the pick up dock for, Sledgehammer, Catamaran’s ferry. (Just a 5 hour bus ride was a record for us). Back at Catamaran everything was perfect, Aeeshah was somewhat moldy, but fine, Chico was lazily happy to see us and the dinghy look perfect.

Aeeshah’s bi-annual facelift

Getting ready for the cruising season was our priority. Aeeshah was hauled at Ram Marina. The workers power washed her and the hull looked great so it was just necessary to paint the bottom. John had anticipated spending his days sanding and then painting, but when he arrived in the morning the guys were already sanding and then the next day painting. It actually is/was so inexpensive to get them to do the work that it wasn’t worth his time. So he supervised, did a few chores and gossiped/shared knowledge with the other guys nearby.

And right at the last minute, just before Aeeshah was splashed our new name arrived and was applied.

Meanwhile I stayed in our cabana doing canvas repairs. The main ones being the sail cover needing a new zip and restitching the dinghy cover.

India again….

Our accommodation was once again in “India” a cabana right by the dock and waterside. It really is lovely, the only drawback is the lack of cooking facilities so it means relying on take outs or salads that I can make.

Chico just took full advantage of having lots of space to lounge about. Then he would stalk the lizards in the surrounding foliage with me having to encourage him to catch and release, which he accommodated. Actually he never kills his prey, he just presents it to us for us to return to the wilds.

Walking…..

We managed to squeeze in a few walks, a couple to the area across the water from Catamaran where there is a track/lane that leads through the rubber and palm oil plantations.

It is a good hike as there are steep rolling hills, its very pretty, the occasional traffic being locals who are just so friendly and some wildlife in the form of water buffalo and pigs.

Another walk was to Castillo de San Felipe.

The castillo was first built in the 1500s by the Spanish and sits on the edge of Lago de Izabal in a lovely park.

The walk there was along the “main” road so there was traffic which made it not so pleasant. The walk around the lake shore was scenic and peaceful.

We then got a launcha back to Fronteras.

More dinghy issues

One morning on the Revolution public holiday when the waters were very busy with the massive motorboats of the wealthy that were zooming about causing huge wakes, we were crossing over to Ram when we were slammed by one gigantic wake. CRACK!!:(( Was heard and felt by me as the newly repaired bottom cracked at a weak point where the repair had been made….what a pain! It was just a small crack, but a crack is a crack.

So we took the dinghy out of the water and John set about reinforcing the repair, plus putting in a handy bow shelf. He did an excellent job and we are hopeful that our dinghy wows are over. Carlos had done a great job, but it needed to be reinforced, made stronger on inside and outside.

And then it was time for us to go on holiday to Antigua with a few friends to witness the All Saints Day/Day of the Dead celebrations and rituals, plus Ethan was arriving to join us for 6 weeks.