Work & Pleasure Rio Dulce Late July 2013
Five Islands
John & Sue
Fri 26 Jul 2013 21:58
| The last couple of weeks have been a mix of working on the boat and having a bit of a look around the area. John is becoming quite the 'Jack of all trades'. He pulled the windless apart, cleaned the brushes and put it back together and it now appears to be working like a dream, as well as doing some resealing of joins, and filling some minor jelcoat crazing. I have sanded and re-stained the wooden insect screens, so all in all we are slowly getting through the boat jobs. We helped Julia (a pom who has the boat next to us in the Marina) celebrate her birthday on Monday. A group of us went to 'Finca Paraiso' a waterfall where the river water in the pool below it is cold but the water coming over the 10m+ waterfall is hot. We travelled out there in the back of Pam's pickup, which had wooden benches to sit on - a bit hard on the backside as there were a few good bumps in the road, but not as bad as Panama roads. It cost Q10 (AU$1.45) per person to enter the waterfall reserve which is controlled/owned by the local Indian families. It is absolutely pristine with no rubbish and other than the track in, no other visible human impact. Getting into the water was a little chilly but it was like having a hot shower under the waterfall. The deposited Limestone has formed a ledge under the running water which acts like a natural sauna. It was a magic way to spend an afternoon. We returned to the Marina to enjoy chocolate birthday cake and a 'Pinyatta', which kept everyone amused watching the antics of the blindfolded, stick wielding people who were doing their best to destroy the blonde doll swinging all around them. The pinyatta was controlled by a rope being pulled by one of the guys from the restaurant who, being a local, had obviously done this before. The next day we were invited to visit Pam & Al's farm about 20 mins out of Fronteras. These guys are from Texas and lost their luxury 92ft Power boat on a reef in Belize a few years ago. They bought some land on a creek and have built a home, guest house, gazebo and barn. Pam has founded an animal welfare group here in Guatemala called 'Freddy's Friends'. Freddy is a pig that was brought to her as a piglet. He and been struck by a car and has lost the use of his hind legs. She has native animals that have been injured or orphaned as well as cats, dogs, horses, sheep, a Brahman bull and birds. After spending a couple of hours feeding and petting all the animals, John joined the boys for a cigar in the gazebo. It was a great day. Last night Olivier, Vivienne, John and I put our brains together and participated in the weekly trivia night held at Los Mexicano & Kangaroo Restaurant. Great food, great fun and we came in 3rd. The weather has been wet, not surprising as this is the wet season. Mornings are usually still, sticky & humid, then the cloud banks build up in the afternoon and the evening brings the thunderstorms, lightning and rain. Yesterday it commenced raining in the early afternoon and pelted down for a few hours. We continue to collect rain water for our tanks and as yet have not had to use the marina water. Off to lunch to enjoy some of Vivienne's Malaysian food. |