What’s been happening in Rio Dulce lately?

Click HERE for Photo album–>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/U3ZxpScqjAy6GZ6f6

After our our road trip it was back to life as usual. Boat work to be dealt with, activities at Catamaran, meeting up with friends, walks along the pipeline road, so forth and so on…..

Boat work:

John built a new “shelf” in the bow of the dinghy. Our old one had been plywood and had begun to rot so the new one he built is fiberglass. Now why do we need the shelf? Well, when we have shopping we can have it on the shelf and keep it dry. Plus we can fasten the cooler in the bow to again use it to transport supplies.

Plus he built us new sole – flooring for the galley. The old was soft and he feared it would collapse into the bilge.

Medical / Dental

We both had “medical” issues. John developed an infection in or above one of his molars. This caused him agony, so he had an emergency root canal, but the pain still continued for a few days. He was on antibiotics and his face swelled up and up. He really looked a sight! But all is good now.

Meanwhile I had a cyst that became infected on my back. When it got huge and angry I had to go to the local clinic. There is not a hospital and the only available doctor is at the clinic. Well he had me lay down on my tummy on a examining table in a back office. He then proceeded to numb the cyst area. He cut the cyst and the infection out. Apparently it was very deep, meanwhile he called in the others working at the clinic to watch, I guess to learn. He did a brilliant job! 2 weeks later after I followed his instructions and John attended to them, there was hardly a mark left! And not a stitch was sewn!

Chico meanwhile is very happy wandering around Catamaran Marina

El Bongo work:

John again was involved in the El Bongo work party. When we had last been at the school JoAnne and I had taken measurements for the desk/seats and tops. There were many worn out, broken desks and chairs even the ones in use were in a rough state. We found out that the “good” ones were for the children whose parents had made them specially for their little ones. So the new project was to repair all the damaged and broken desks and chairs.

A work party set up near the Bodagas and work area here at Catamaran, power tools were shared and from 4 large sheets of plywood they cut enough seats and desk tops for 40 to be repaired. The work party cut, sanded and then applied numourous coats of varnish. They then set off for a morning at the school to replace the broken and worn with new varnish seats and desk tops. I never went but everyone said all went brilliantly and everyone was very happy.

Now another team here at the marina is making enough tops and seats to repair and replace even more desks and seats!!

Birthday fun

Here at the marina we had a several Birthday celebrations, one was for our dock master Steve. It was a surprise and set up by the staff and cruisers combined. There was lots of food and fun for everyone!

Shrimp and bread

We have also been fortunate to have had several weeks of shrimp and yummy bread deliveries. The shrimp were delivered by a local fisherman and were just huge and delicious. The breads were both lemon bread and carrot cake/bread which were delicious.

These were made by a group of cruisers who were raising money for their musical theatre where they teach the local children. Now the shrimp season is over and the bread folks have moved on.

Halloween on the Rio and Day of the Dead in Guatemala

We had a Halloween for all the children living in the marinas around the Rio Dulce. Each marina offered something different and the dinghies loaded with the kiddies zoomed from one to the other to enjoy treats, fun and games of all types.

It was quite a turn out with some excellent costumes worn by adults too.

This time of year is celebrated here in Guatemala with the Day of the Dead. The Day of the Dead, (El Dia de los Muertos), is a celebration that takes place every year on the first and second day of November in Guatemala and throughout Latin America. It is a day when Guatemalans remember and honour their dead loved ones and celebrate that they were able to meet them or to be part of their family.

We heard the locals clearing and prepping the graveyard across the water from our marina. We went over in the later afternoon to have a look at all the lovely decorations. There were a few families seated around their family grave and sharing food – having a picnic.

Our wonderful walks

Our walks started up again with the arrival of cooler temperatures. Yes, finally the temperatures are in the 80s during the day and the 70s at night so we can comfortably go for our long walks.

There has been a group of us going along the pipeline trail, actually venturing further than ever. We came across the water buffalo and have seen they are replanting the fields and harvesting the oil palm trees and rubber.

And after the walk on Tuesday and Saturday we purchase our veggies at the village vegetable stand. The vegetables are just wonderful! – even the pigs agree!!

Friends

Friends have returned from the summer ventures abroad, and we have been meeting them to catch up with news. Living this life style means we have friends form all over the globe.