A Typical Day in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala

It has been a month since we have been at Rio Dulce and some days have been extremely busy and others very slow.

At about 6 AM we wake, which is okay because we went to bed by 9 PM (Sailors Midnight). Hot water is on, and poured into Starbuck’s French Press. Most days, Max and Dale are off to the shower, often one of many showers for the day. At 7:30, the Rio Dulce Cruiser’s Net (a VHF broadcast on Channel 69) starts to fill our day with the days events: Calls for Emergency Traffic, weather, Restaurant specials and prices for the day always with a reminder that HAPPY HOUR starts at 1 PM, New Arrivals or boats leaving, Boat to Boat contacts, Information offered or needed, Treasures of the Bilge: buy- sell - or trade. This lasts about 20 minutes.

After breakfast, we often waited for Dennis, our solar/wind generator mount man. We met him our second day at RAM Marina, where he designed an interesting mount for the solar and wind. While Chris, the electronic and installation guy, we saw for 3 days straight; Dennis would periodically appear, but land or sea with news of his difficult time getting materials or to measure again. The other mornings would be spent cleaning, polishing, pulling wires, installing some equipment (inverter, salt-water pump, motor mount), or just reorganizing things.

After a lunch that often included guacamole, Kim is getting very good at preparing it, we would go to the pool at the hotel nest to the nearby marina, and read, or just sit on the boat and read. Periodically, we would check emails, weather, and facebook.  Kim would do laundry about once a week, which took most of the day because the dryer at the Marina is almost worthless (and the humidity here doesn’t help). Max and Kim or often just Max would go into town to get fresh vegetables and sometimes shrimp.

We know when it is 4:30, because the white ibis return to an island in the river just about a block from the boat. They return in groups of 10 to 30 and by 5 PM the three trees on the island are covered with thousands of white spots, almost like a Kimberly decorated Christmas tree. For dinner Max would stir-fry some vegetables with an experimental sauce that Kim and him would talk about and serve it over rice, or spaghetti.  Most meals are great success. Then some more internet, reading, or a few games of Rummikub, while other nights, we’d eat at one of the many restaurants. So that’s been our days.

But yesterday was one of the busy days, because our solar/wind generator mount arrived. I now understand why it took so long, because it isn’t a mount; it’s a piece of ART (we hope functional art). And today Nov. 3, Kim and Max headed for San Pedro, Honduras to pick up Mike and leave Kim at a hotel because she flies out tomorrow.