Still in Guatemala

We are still in paradise for two more weeks and then we fly back to the US and Kansas. We have been doing a little writing and this brings back memories of the days long ago of us dreaming about having a boat someday and sailing into the sun set. I have been for years now trying to stop sometime during the day everyday and smell the flowers as they say. Not only do we have a boat now. It’s our dream boat. We dreamed so long about building the boat we have now that our friends would cringe if I pick up a pencil and said anything about boating or boat planes . We dreamed so long at times it seemed impossible and the harder we tried and got no where it seemed as if we were being punished for wanting it so much. We were in Southport NC working in the nuclear power plant there when we laid the center line string. We told every body two years and we will be gone. Sailing around the world. Ten years later we left with nothing working reliably and with less money than most people take for spending money going to the beach for a week end. The important thing is we left with our dream boat not flinched but with enough Pam said we needed to go on. Our old boat is home built in steel from the plans we drew and mostly what other people have thrown away. We gave up long ago on sailing around the world but she has a lot of sea miles under her keel just the same. With all the things she is built from there is most of the time a story with where it all came from. For now we will leave her safe we hope at a dock in the Rio Dulce river in Guatemala. We want be gone long maybe two months and we will be back. Back home aboard the Pamela Ann named after Pam. But for today, have you ever dreamed of sailing and maybe working on someone’s sail to make money in paradise as you go.

Our Sail Loft in Guatemala

Maybe making or doing something to help the local people as you go. We just finished reworking the top on the grocery boat that comes by twice a week selling groceries to boaters and the proceeds go to the school Casa Guatemala. We have little to give but maybe reworking their top will help some.

Casa Guatemala food boat

Stopping to realize where we are today and every day. Remember dreams do come true. We have so little but we do have our boat and if some how we lose it all. We will always have the memories. To our friends in Kansas if you hear our old antique motor bike fire up you will know were back making memories out there. The Adventure goes on.

TOO HOT!!

Just another day in paradise as they say. May is the hottest days of the year here in Guatemala and most of the gringos are gone home to are where every it’s cooler. We are going ourselves in a few weeks. Back to Kansas to do a little work at the little house on the prairie we bought out there. All the things that happen here around Easter are over and it’s just days of finding ways to cool off. Our mast are varnished wood and when we were gone in the winter, peckers woods, pecked holes on our mast. We haven’t fixed them yet. I don’t like the epoxy you can buy here and we are bring the good stuff back from the US to fix them. Remember you don’t buy what you want here you buy what you can find. Pam has made covers now for the mast and I hired the little guy that works for us sometime to put them on.

There are a few things here that are better than other places in the Caribbean. They sell fried chicken here not so cheap but they fry it in garlic in the batter. We know a place where they use no garlic this is the restaurant stove. You hear people say they have cooked on a wood stove before but I bet not like this. Pour a little concrete on top and start cooking.

Eating as we go is hard sometimes to find things you find every day all most any where in the states. Finding a good steak is out here so to satisfy our taste for comfort food the corn is good here this time of year and Pam is making grits.

Sound’s simple but some time simple food is great. There are a few Burger Kings in the Caribbean and even a hamburger can be special. As I have said we will be back in the US soon and Pam is already saying “Learn to pace yourself. You eat like Pack Man.” Not true maybe but there is so much there you can’t buy here.

Just Guatemala

After going to last week’s Wolf Dance it has been mostly tame here.

Some more of the Wolf Dance

They’re doing political things here now and people are getting together with banners and making as much noises as they can. Sometimes you can hear a speech but like I say horn blowing and fire crackers are a norm. Maybe politics is the same all over. Maybe most of it is just a lot of noise.

local Elections

It’s hot here now and most of the gringos are gone leaving their boats in storage. We have done hot most of our lives. It can get hot up a bayou in Louisiana or down on the farm where I grew up in South Carolina. Here in Guatemala a lot of the land inland here is desert but near the coast it’s what is left of a jungle. The jungle is slowly going away as the locals have more kids and chop away at it. How hot is it here? Mostly in the high 90s but with the humidity and the bugs, you mostly drip and slap. We may be going back to Kansas in a few weeks ourselves for just a little while. It’s hot there or will be getting hot soon but with dependable power and very low rates we can at least stop the slow drip when we get out there and I won’t be hearing Pam saying, “I think I’m melting.”

This is a normal meal if you eat out. The black stuff is black beans mostly the only bean they eat here. Where the fork is laying is rice and about tasteless. The rest is a slice of pork and beef cut very thin and cooked on a grill. On the side is corn tortillas. We were telling her we didn’t want any tortillas but she brought us two any way. Cooked on the grill with a few burned places the way they just love tortillas. If they see your running low on tortillas they will bring more. The locals eat stacks of tortillas every day. The music here is mostly rap in Spanish and so loud it hurts so if you stop to eat in a restaurant if they are playing any kind of music just walk on. If you think it will get better, it won’t take long to find out. As I have always said, “The food is bad the music worse and it’s hot so why are we still in the Caribbean? It’s just fun to be here and see all this. Where else will you see people gathering and some one go in a store and buy a 12 foot long roll of fire works go out side and just set them off? Dogs running Pam and I getting back then every one starts blowing their car horns. Does this mean they are going to vote for some one or start a revolution or just life as we know it up the river here in Guatemala?

This has nothing to do with the blog, just a sheep.