Bugs, roll your own, walks, yoga, lunches, friends, shopping, sunset cruise and zip-lining around the Rio Dulce

Photo link—>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/djiEpRLpweoVQr4s5

Walks, bugs, yoga and friends

Our walks continue, we now cover 5 miles going most early mornings before 7:00am of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Friends come along too and I enjoy the same views, checking the river’s level,

watching the families in the same cottages and getting wonderful veggies from the small market.

We’ve had a few lovely lunches with friends, usually saying good-bye for the summer months.

I also still wander around Catamaran watching the huge crickets on the river plants or just flower watching. We also do yoga on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, yep John is now a yoga fan! There is an hour’s session with JoAnne a fellow cruiser staying here at Catamaran. We first met JoAnne and Bill in Panama in 2016 while staying in Linton Bay and Shelter Bay, now they are here at Catamaran.

Roll your own

JoAnne and Bill invited us to a “roll your own” party aboard Ultra. Gordon and Gillian were there too, we had also met them in Panama at the same time. Gillian is Chico’s other mother as when we travel she cares for him.

This was a really fun evening where we all rolled sushi and then indulged in eating the fresh sushi, plus Aki tuna which they had made and fresh garlic/ginger shrimps with home made cocktail sauce which I made. We were able to catch up on what we had all been doing since we had last met, plus we learned sushi making, which was very entertaining and satisfying.

Teeth/John

John had his dental surgery, poor John had an implant which he successfully broke so it had to be removed. His gum and bone had to be cut away to remove the post. Now he has a few temporarily crowned teeth which will be replaced with permanent when the bone and gum heals. Plus all for a fraction of the price you pay back home and in a modern facility with an excellent dentist. No more trying to undo knots in rope with your teeth, John!

Shopping again

We had another shopping trip to Puerto Barrios where we got a toaster oven. Plus we picked up other bits and pieces we needed for maintenance around the boat which is ongoing. John is now starting to revarnish the interior and I am nearly finish all the cupboards and cubby holes, cleaning out what is no longer needed and basically reorganizing.

Sunset cruise

Our Marina – Catamaran – had an evening cruise up river to Lake Izabal where we drifted for a while enjoying the sunset and company.

There was a full boat load of cruisers for Sledgehammer, the staff served drinks, the music played, some danced, most chatted, several sat atop the roof and a fun time was had by one and all.

We had pizzas from the Catamaran kitchen, which were delicious. It was great to be able to catch up with friends we hadn’t seen in quite a while, plus to chat to others from different marinas.

Zip-lining

We went on another Catamaran excursion to the zip-line for the day. This outing was designed to raise some money for a Catamaran charity – the El Bongo school. This is a local school that hadn’t any running water, so no flushing toilets, the furniture was non existent, old or in disrepair, the buildings needed much help, plus the play-ground was not functional. John actually was part of the first, large, work team that went for a day to start the repairs. Anyway the zip-line day raised more funds and was just amazing fun.

We travelled down river to Tenimit Maya Eco Lodge and Adventure, where there is a large facility, zip-lining kayaks, and such. The launcha was stuffed with 18 of us, some folks from Catamaran and some from other marinas.

We arrived and followed a path inland to an area to where a “bus” awaited to take us to the zip-line. The area was obviously a cattle and sheep/goat farm as it had many grazing animals in the fields. We rode for maybe 5 minutes to reach the zip-line starting point. There we were put into harnesses and helmets and climbed the first tower.

The whole course was excellent! John and I have previously ridden several zip-lines and none came close to this one. It comprises of long runs that eventually end up in the “jungle”. There we had an obstacle course to challenge us.

The first obstacle was the most challenging – at least that’s what I thought; you had a wire at waist height to hold and one to walk along over a drop of well at least 50 feet. Yes, we were clipped on to the top wire, but really that doesn’t help and the wire slants down at the start and up towards the other side. For me my whole body felt like it was shaking, I wasn’t really scared, but my body reacted like I was terrified.

Across I went, keeping my mind on just the next step all the way to the end, – I finally did stop shaking by the end of the next obstacle. Meanwhile the regular rainy season clouds started to move in and started to threaten rain, but it was an empty threat as just a few drops fell. Once across the obstacle course we were back to the final zips. Which were even longer and faster – such fun!

Following the zip-line we went back in the bus to the restaurant for a lovely lunch followed by a launcha ride back to Catamaran.

Chico has continued to have fun around Catamaran Island, his phase of bringing Jesus Lizards back seems to be over.

He somehow managed to get a fish and brought is back with every intention of eating it. Unfortunately this was not allowed as not knowing where it came from I took possession and chucked it away. Chico is 5 years old this month – I just find it hard to believe he is so old already!