Guatemala
06 July 2017
We've arrived in Guatemala! Where Delphinus will be for the next six months until the end of hurricane season.
We motored our way down the beautiful Rio Dulce to get here, and admired the gorgeous tropical jungle as we cruised down, listening to its tranquility. It was blissful after the constant buzzing of the cities in Gran Cayman.
Our marina is like a ghost marina - pretty much every single boat docked here has been left by homeward-bound owners, and the only activity in the marina is in the bar and the pool, basically. There's a bridge leading out of the marina onto a footpath that's perfect for taking the dog out for walks on. We have that and a pool, a bar, free Wi-Fi that reaches our boat, laundry service and very kind staff. We got it good here.
The day after we arrived, the Guatemala OCC (Ocean Cruising Club) port officer - Kelly - organized a trip for us, Steve and Lynne (Aztec Dream) and Pattie and James from another OCC boat called La Adventura. We had a brief tour around the outskirts of the town of Rio Dulces after a lunch at a small restaurant. We saw all the other marinas in the area, a castle, boat repair shops, et cetera.
There's also a quarter-mile-long bridge (Puente Rio Dulce) that goes across the river.
The town is that sort of town you'd expect to see in South America, with stray dogs roaming the streets, noisy trucks, narrow roads, lively crowds, street stalls selling sliced local fruits like pineapples and watermelon... you get the idea. It's not exactly eye-catching, but it's definitely got character.
The rest of Rio Dulce is beautiful. The other week, Livin' Life and Slow Flight arrived in Guatemala, and together we took our dog Sky on a short hike through the jungle up to a Shamen Tower. The walk was beautiful, with the sort of scenery you'd expect to find in an Indiana Jones film - y'know, with the jungle setting and sweltering heat (none of us were wearing wide-brimmed hats, though, which kinda ruined the effect). Heck, there was even a huge rope bridge to walk across - several feet above ground. Sky was literally petrified, her legs stretched out as she crept along like a spider. Poor love.
And the view from the top of the tower - wow, oh wow! Lush green jungle all around us, a vast mountain disappearing into the clouds in the distance, and Rio Dulces shimmering green below us. Sky was dying to have a look (we all congratulated her when she managed to climb the ladder all the way to the top of the tower - I'm sure she must've hated us all after that. 😂), but the wall was too tall for her to peep over, poor girl.
I bet you're all thinking Sky had a pretty bad walk from all she had to go through - but that's not the end of it. On the way back, we stopped off at a natural pool to cool down. And cool down we did - hard core. The water was freezing! It was pretty obvious it was in the shade twenty-four hours a day - the pool at The marina was often in the sun so the water was generally pretty warm. We decided to try and encourage Sky to have a dip, but she point-blank refused. The weird thing about Sky is that she's scared stiff of being in the water - which isn't exactly the kind of fear you want when you live on a boat. That's why we're trying to help her overcome her fear. When she refused, Paul just popped her in. Now, don't call this animal cruelty! How's she going to overcome her fears if she doesn't experience them? It didn't work, though. The moment she was in the water, she was out again, shaking her fur dry and sulking.
Nah. I think she did enjoy herself for the majority of the walk. That was a nice long morning walk for her, so she was out for the rest of the day.
A little way from us is a large grassy field, with a castle called San Felipe on the river bank of that field. We packed up some food and joined Livin' Life, Slow Flight, Aztec Dream and La Adventura for a picnic (no Sky this time, though ðŸ˜). James and Pattie (La Adventura) didn't arrive until a little later. While Paul, Dave, Steve and Chi all went for a hike, Mum, Janice and I explored the castle.
It wasn't the biggest castle in the world, and it was difficult to distinguish room from room, since they were all bare. Still, it was fun exploring the castle and finding passages here and there. I hope I got some decent pictures.
So, there you are. You're now up to date with what's been happening.
We'll be in Guatemala for six months, so you'll be able to expect a lot about it - including a bit about kayaking soon! :D
See you soon! ;)