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| Mel at the main entrance of RAM |
The words Rio Dulce means the sweet river in Spanish. It is a large river – approximately 43km’s long with the Lake Izabal the largest lake on the river.
The town of
Fronteras is where RAM Marina, along with a few other marinas is situated and
is connected to the town by the highest bridge in Central America. Before the
bridge was built between 1977 and 1980, the only access across the river was by
boat. Many people refer to the town of Fronteras as the Rio Dulce, as there are
quite a few other towns within Guatemala called Fronteras.
On our
first day back in the Rio Dulce (Monday 20 February 2023), after first seeing
Passages, Mel and I walked across the bridge. It just amazes me that it doesn’t
snap in half with the load of traffic and extremely heavy trucks that go
constantly across. It was lovely walking around the town although since last in
the Rio Dulce, things have changed quite a bit. I am never sure that I am happy
with the changes especially when it involves new ‘Western’ type shops and
shopping centres. I feel for the local stores and market sellers, who sell the
same thing, like fresh veggies, basic hardware supplies that these new
‘Western’ upmarket stores offer as well. Apparently, in one of the new shopping
centres that is currently being built, a Walmart is opening. That will be the
death of all the small businesses in Fronteras and the uniqueness of the place;
maybe even a bit of the cultural will disappear. I feel quite sad about it,
but….what can I do?
There is a single lane road that goes across the bridge and into town, with the street vendors and shops right on the side pavements. It is sheer madness, as these huge container ship trucks and trucks transporting sand, wade their way through the town, along with everyone else.
Mel was
keen to show me around, as he had spent almost 3 months in the area last year
preparing Passages for our time now. He took me to one of the main restaurants
for lunch – everything here is served with brown beans paste. It tastes alright
and obviously one becomes accustomed to the taste. We did a bit of grocery
shopping, as the Casa (house) accommodation we were staying in, has a fully
equipped kitchen and we stayed there until Passages was in the water and
liveable – more later.
That
afternoon, the boat surveyor came to assess Passages for insurance purposes. Chris
will be paying Passages two visits, one while she’s on the hard, so he can
assess her hull and bottom bits that are usually hidden away under water, and
then again later in a few weeks’ time when we have finished putting her
altogether again. Every time we put Passages into storage, Mel takes down the halyards,
the sails and covers equipment that could get damaged by the elements. When
stored correctly, they last much longer than being out in the open – naturally.
We had
forgotten how time works here…. Manana. You think things will happen when you
would like or asked for them to be done, well, that is simply not the case, and
there is absolutely NO need to react or respond in anyway due to the situation.
Things will get done eventually. It’s hard but one just has to go with the flow
if you want to have a pleasant time here on the Rio.
Passages
had a whole new paint job in May last year, so her signage/identification had
to put back on. Also, when Mel was last
here, he had the engine’s injector pump overhauled. Unfortunately, when it was
time to leave for Perth, the work on the injector pump had not been completed. This
has now been done. We arranged for the signage to be placed on Tuesday, hoping
to go into the water on Wednesday morning. Well, the signage was done on
Thursday and Passages only went into the water on Friday morning. The injector pump
still has not been installed….. apparently, there are some issues between the
Marina and the person involved so who knows when the engine will be fully
functioning.
As I am
writing this entry (Tuesday 28 February) nothing has been organised yet – Manana.
In the
meantime, there is PLENTY to be done on the boat. Lots of cleaning and sorting.
Basically, it is like giving the boat a spring clean. Sorting through things
and analysing what is worthwhile and what can be thrown out. There is an
organisation here, run by one of the long standing yachties, Julia, called
‘Pass It On’. Anything you don’t want or need, Julia takes off your hands and
if it can be resold, it will. The funds go towards the local orphanage and the upgrade
of remote communities.
In the
Mayan culture, there are very few women’s rights. The whole social and family
structure is ‘behind’ the way we are today – men are the head and play the dominate
role in the family structure, and a women’s place is in the home, looking after
the children and the household chores along with any farming and growing of
crops to earn money for the family household. There is a problem with teenage
pregnancies/incest and rape – there is a home for girls/women who have fallen
pregnant under ‘difficult’ situations, the organisation ‘Pass It On’ assists
these girls/women as well.
Tammy, from
the boat ‘My Inspiration’ told us that once a month, a group of women from the
sailing community, go to the home for unwedded girls and helps them with their
babies, pamper the girls by doing their nails and generally just making them
feel special. The last time Tammy was there, there was a 13 year old girl, who
had just given birth to a baby. She was a child herself and now had a little
one to care for. Her parents didn’t want another mouth to feed so she has ended
up in the home.
Tammy and
her husband, Darrin, – Mel met them when he was here in May last year, have a
38 foot catamaran and are from Memphis, Tennessee. We met up with them for dinner
one night at Anna’s Coffee House. They have now left Guatemala, for the Bay
Islands of Honduras, although we may see them when we are in Belize as they
will be sailing there in a few weeks’ time.
It is now
March – 10 March ….. since my last entry, Mel and I have been cleaning,
scrubbing, and polishing the boat. She looks brand new. This part of sailing,
the cleaning, scrubbing, and polishing bit, many people forget about when they
say ‘How lucky you are!’ Yes, we are extremely lucky, BUT there is a saying –
Sailing is ‘maintenance in paradise’ and it is ongoing and extremely necessary,
of course. We have gone through the boat from bow to stern, with Mel checking
all the mechanical and electrical things and I have been cleaning and
reorganising the household stuff, along with provisioning of the boat for when
we are out at sea or in some remote anchorage.
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| From Tortugal - the other side of the bridge. |
Mel also took me to a lovely restaurant called Casa Perico. The only way you can get to the Casa and the restaurant is by boat. The Casa and restaurant provided a launcha/taxi service, so we were picked up at our boat at 6.00pm and taken across the river and up a small river inlet to the Casa. It was quite magical going up this small river and then seeing the glow of the lights at the end. When we had finished our meal and were ready to head back to our boat, they took us back down the river and out onto the Rio – it was lovely and very special.
Since being
here we have also slipped into the weekly routine of going to the movie on a
Thursday evening at MAR marina which is literally 300 metres from our boat.
Every Thursday is movie night. You can go for a meal while watching the movie
or just go to watch the movie and enjoy a drink of your liking. Popcorn is
provided. Since we have been here, we have seen Elvis, A Man called Otto and
the Woman King.
9.00am, it was pretty hot and humid but well worth the climb. (Photo – taken from the middle of the Rio Dulce looking at the viewpoint/lookout we climbed to).
We also went to the hot springs for the morning – Agua Caliente. We walked over the bridge into town and caught a Collectivo – a Toyota minivan. As is the case in many countries, the minivans provide an extremely important part of connecting people in more remote areas with the main cities and towns. In
Guatemala, they are a great way to get around to the many sights. They are cheap and you basically have to have patience as they do run on some kind of schedule and it is first come first served, plus they pack in as many people as possible. I am sure you get the idea of people standing on the door step, hanging for dear life.
The hot springs were wonderful and a great way to relax and get rid of the all the polish imbedded in my finger nails. The hot water flows over the rock’s and into the cool water of the river. We climbed up the rocks to feel the hot water at the source and the guide gave us some mud to smear over us. The water
was very hot, and you could not stay in it for long. It was even challenging to walking across some of the small streams. We met up with another couple from the boat yard, Rob and Jolene, along with a guy called Bill and another couple we had seen around the town Richard and Alessandra.
When it was time to head back to Frontera, we
all waited at the bus stop for a Collectivo. Sure enough, one arrived after
about 5 minutes of waiting. It was packed BUT they managed to get Rob, Jolene,
Bill, Richard and Alessandra in. They tried to get us into the Collectivo
however, we hung back and said we would chance our luck and either hitch hike
which is quite common or wait for the next one. Everyone thought we were crazy
as the driver of the Collectivo said we would be waiting for over an hour.
Well, less that 20 minutes later along came another one with only 5 people in
it, so we drove the 15kms to Fronteras in style.
One very
special aspect of sailing and I suppose travelling in general, are the people
you meet. Since arriving at RAM, we have meet Sue and Geoff on Blue Jacket,
Gary and Suzanne from Toronto on Aquavita, Daina and Chris – not sure of their
boats name, along with Rob and Jolene. Everyone is so willing to help when
assistance is needed. It is great. It is also refreshing to hear that I am not
the only reluctant sailor. Many of the
women are in the same position as me, the partner/husband is the one who really
wants to sail, while the spouse/wife is there to support and is learning along
the way. PLUS – the arrangement of 6 months on the boat and 6 months at home (at
their land base), is very common, so I don’t feel so different or odd. I am
perfectly ‘normal’. Yes, I know what some of you are thinking.
( BTW – if
I ever write a book about our travels, I would be tempted to name the book: The
Reluctant Sailor.)
Anyway, our
future plans: While we wait for all the official paperwork for us to leave
Guatemala to be sorted, we are heading off to tour Guatemala. We will be in
Flores and Tikal – northern part, close to Belize, for a week. We will briefly
return to the boat, before heading to the west of Guatemala to Lake Atitlan,
Antigua and maybe spend a day touring around Guatemala City. Why I say maybe,
because there are elections taking place soon, with lots of demonstrations
planned. Many say it is not a nice OR safe city to visit, so we will see. Maybe
next time we fly into Guatemala we could spend a day or two seeing the sights.
Until next
time, take care and enjoy whatever you are doing.
Bye for
now.
Mel and
Caryn
sv Passages
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