Pictures from Antigua

Building on Center Square

Women selling their wares

In the world of little people this is a little girl.

Hand made wares. Some made with a lap loom.

Back in Guatemala

 

We are back again in the land of little women, volcanoes, hot springs and a big change for us, We are back in Guatemala. Totally different now from the life we were living just a day or so ago in the US. The local people here are very small and it’s hot. No more tall people or snow for us for a while. Here was our last chance to eat what we think is really good food for a long time maybe. A stop at Waffle House for the last time before we got on the plane. If the people there at Waffle House are reading this, “Thanks Again”. The food was good and the warmth of good people made it even better.

On the plane leaving Florida as we were taxing out we stopped and the pilot said we need to wait, there had been an event. We stopped a few minutes before we went on. With all the politics going on in the US now this was troubling but we soon took off and our track took us with in site of Cuba as we flew on south. As it turned out the event was a volcano erupting in Mexico. On the ground and back here in Guatemala, Pam and I decided to take just one day for ourselves to rest and just be tourist before we head back to the boat. We left the airport, the big city of Guatemala city and went on to Antigua. This is a magic place to us. Lots of culture, lots to see and it’s cool there. The altitude keeps it cool that high up. We will try to post some more pitchers maybe Sunday of Antigua instead of a blog. Look at how tall Pam is at 5′ 8” standing near these little women for the most part under 5 feet and some closer to 4 feet, all trying to sell her a hand made scarf.

I can’t buy everything

Once Pam showed some interest in buying she was swamped with other women trying to sell her something, It’s like a sea hulls going for a piece of bread thrown in the water. They are very talented at weaving cloth but how much can we buy and store on the boat. Being back is a two sided coin, it was great there and it’s great being back here. We are ask a lot where home is. This is a confusing question maybe. Our boat is our home but back home is the US and it was great to be back home for the holidays with our son but it’s great to be back as I have said and back home on our old home built little schooner “Pamela Ann.” For the fun of it if you want to see just where we are, you can take the lat, long off this photo and look us up on Google Earth.

Rio Dulce, Guatemala

Ice in Kansas

 

Is it adventure or is it hardship? If you follow our blog you know Pam and I can find adventure where some find something else. We are still in Kansas and we have just had a ice storm. Power out and everything covered in ice. Huddling near a portable propane heater. How bad was it staying home at our son’s house on the prairie eating food we can’t get in Central America. Living in a house takes some getting use to when we have been living on a boat for a lot of our lives now. We will just be dreaming soon about good food and the room you have living in a house as we head back to our boat this week to Guatemala. We may be back in Rio Dulce this week-end where there is not any steak. Where butcher shops, whack chunks of meat off of what ever is hanging there and slice it very thin in open air markets. Where it’s hot, always. There is no fine cuts of meat any where in the Rio. The adventure of being back will be in full swing next week. It’s there, the adventure and we will looking for it but for now we are packing all we can in as our time is running out here. What has been the biggest adjustment on this trip? I have had on shoes and socks every day being out here. That has been and adjustment but soon “That will change.”

Hacked in Kansas

I have said in lots of our blogs that Pam and I have been married since kindergarten. In our long life together we have had our ups and down. When we have been up against hard times and something came along where we found our way out, some people say it was Devin Intervention helping us. When it went the other way, they said it was just bad luck. When we were sailing back from the Bay Islands in Honduras to Guatemala a couple of years ago someone cleaned out our bank account while we were out to sea. It took sometime to to get that cleared up. Last year as we sailed north we hit a sand bar in Belize and when we went for help thieves cleaned off the boat and took most of what we had. We had plans for months to sail back to the US to make repairs on the boat in the states, a lot cheaper than the Caribbean. Now after being robbed in Belize, money was tight or to make this very clear money was even tighter if it could get any tighter. We had made plans way back to go to Kansas to spend Christmas and the New Year holidays with our son this year. With the boat stripped of the equipment I feel necessary to go to sea, remember one part of the trip back we will be out to sea maybe 7 days with no land in site. Remember this, out to sea means that you need to be able to take care of yourself out there. We took the boat back to Guatemala, a short safe trip back and left it there to fly back to the US on our credit card. Spend Christmas with our son, buy necessary equipment in the US and ship it back to Guatemala. Our plan is to tame the credit card later by working when we get back in the US. Working in the Caribbean, it’s hard to make even a little money. All was going well and if you keep up with our blog, you know we have a passion for living simply and living down on the farm is second only to traveling. Making sausage,curing hams,going hunting and just being out here close to all this open farm land. Pam was on her computer when it locked down and a message appeared with a phone number to call saying, it was Microsoft and our computer had been compromised. For a small fee they would unlock it and make it secure again. Pam gave them our debit card number and the rest is history. They called back and verified the last 4 numbers on our credit cards and told her the problem was with our bank so don’t worry about the money they were taking out and putting back, it’s part of making your computer safe, that it was a test, that’s what was happening. It seamed like what they took out they put back but Pam called and told the bank she thought we were being scammed. They said that was what was happening. Now we are working with the bank and trying to see what damage was done. Our plane tickets are paid for and we are on our way back next week. The Devin Intervention people say things happen for a reason. Only time will tell if our plan will work but the equipment we need is on it’s way back coming slowly behind us. It’s being shipped back to Guatemala. Now when we get back the hard work starts getting the boat ready for the trip back to the US but for now we are taking all we can in while we are here. Still looking for what the Devin Intervention people say when you have trouble and you want it to get better. They say your being guided to a better place. I think I will stick with working hard but maybe I will buy a lottery ticket just the same.

We went with our son on a job and the man he was working for has a big farm and he opened up one of his barns and let us see some of his stuff. We really enjoyed seeing all of this.

Mule drawn plow and see planter

Old John Deer tractor

Horse drawn buggy

Old M F tractor, He started it for us.

A model Ford restored.

 

 

Snow Day

WOW! Look at this

About 2 inches so far

It still taste good

Cold Cat

Wrong date on pictures. Snow Day January 5th 2017

Enjoying Kansas

It’s settled we have our plane tickets, we are headed back to Guatemala and our boat but not for a week are so. We’re still in Kansas and out on the farm. Since we have been here we have made fresh sausage, cured and eating a fresh ham, went hunting and eat fresh killed rabbit. The list goes on with us getting up every day putting on long underwear Now that’s a big change from Central America. It’s really cold out here and the farm cat here has kitten.

Farm Kittens

We are really experiencing farm life every day and loving it. There is very few trees out here. This is prairie land and the wind is always a factor in the weather. I went this week to work with our son and built a wall on a large farm to block the wind. It’s in a pasture for there cattle to get behind. Being out there has been and adventure to see first hand how large farms work.

Wind break for the cattle

Large farm we were working on.

Here is a truck out there and on the hood is the name they call this truck. This truck is rigged to be used for only one thing, to spread manure.

Farm truck to spread manure.

This truck says it the way it is.

We will try to do a blog this week end and explain the other reason we are staying out here past the holidays. Its not to watch TV and see the constant bombardment of politics. Maybe they will let me drive the truck named, “The Politician”. Maybe when we get back to Guatemala the election will be over here and can’t be changed, maybe it’s been over here, every where but maybe Hollywood.