Holy Week (Easter) is a big time in Guatemala. If we were in Antigua, we’d be watching processionals with holy statues and painted streets along with thousands of people. For a number of reasons we are not in Antigua (primarily no reservations in a full to bursting town, also a long trip when we have to go again mid month, and end of season boat jobs to do here). Instead, we are in the Rio, near Fronteras.

Here in Rio Dulce, Semana Santa is not so much holy time as party time. And oh my goodness - they are partying. The river gets busy about mid day – that’s also when the breeze comes up and the sun is hottest. Jet skis roar around, lanchas (little tour boats) loaded with people cruise up and down, private lanchas and sport boats speed along – some towing tubes loaded with children (no waterskis, interestingly – don’t know why). Poor Madcap rocks and rolls at her dock, and because of our front row seat right out front, we also get to see all the visitors coming and going. We have a good view of the bridge too – where vendors set up stalls and folks stop their cars to look over at the boat traffic and they were bungee jumping the other day – and of course endless lines of cars and trucks keep moving by.

On most nights, we can hear music from the disco downtown, and on many nights, we also hear loud music from a highly sophisticated sound system at “the general’s house” just along the way. It would make me crazy if it was always this way, but everyone – marina staff and resident cruisers alike – assure us that this is Semana Santa activity and come Sunday night, it will all go away.

I have been walking with the women (and one man) in the early mornings. We grab a quick cup of (free) coffee and hit the trail by 7am. These are serious walkers – all but me have dog’s leashes in their hands – and we don’t arrive back much before 9. Meanwhile, Jim has been working on cleaning stainless and decks so we are both ready for a swim by then.

The rest of our days have been filled with sorting and cleaning lockers, chats with other folks on the deck, with naps and reading scheduled for the midday heat. Siestas are not just a nice idea here. They make the difference between still being upright at dusk and having fallen down from heat exhaustion. We drink and drink and drink (water) and sweat it all right back out again.

On my walks, I’ve seen teak forests, fields of oil palms, and groves of cacao trees. We spied a herd of goats Saturday morning and a couple of water buffalo grazing in a field. Pick up truck after pick up truck loaded with smiling faces hurtled down the road – on their way to Semana Santa celebrations or picnics or parties. We walked up a little road behind lovely big houses that face out onto Lago Izabel and heard that many of them belong to families who use them just a few times a year. The yards were full of late model SUV's and the driveways were gated. And balancing that, we walked by many small, tin roofed houses with open doors, windows with no glass (there aren’t many glassed windows anywhere – just mosquito nets over beds) and laundry hanging on lines. That would be the laundry that was washed on the rocks down on the shores of that same Lago Izabel. We met barefoot boys who watch the goats, and a grizzled old man with rubber boots and machete coming back from the field. And along a little canal later in the day, we dinghied past gorgeous docks with jet skis tied up and beautiful rattan furniture and crowds of adults and children laughing and playing together. It is all here.

We have seen only the tiniest bit of Guatemala and we know it’s a place we want to allow lots of time for exploring next year. The geography, the cultures, the history are all multilayered and multi faceted and we well know that what we see right now is as deep as the lichen on the steps of the Maya pyramids.