Guatemala is a country of incredible natural beauty. After leaving Vancouver our first stop was Atitlan Lake, supposed to be the most beautiful lake in the world and with its three volcanoes it was a marvel to admire. We stayed at Atitlan Villas, accessed only by boat. For most of the week we had the hotel to ourselves, some of the caretaker's family of ... fifteen worked at the hotel, no TV makes for large families ☺ It was a wonderful place to relax and we were thoroughly pampered.

We visited numerous lakeside villages enjoying the customs and traditions of the Mayan culture; especially the simplicity and friendliness of the local residents. The most basic luxuries by western standards are beyond the reach of almost everyone. Water from the lake is carried to one room houses, where there is a fireplace outside for cooking, and a family of ten all sleep on a large matress on the floor. It is difficult to understand why the world has turned out this way with such an enormous gap between the rich and the poor, a gap that seems sadly to be growing. Only the adventurous tourist travels this area, the environment is chaotic, animals roam freely, food is basic, no english is spoken, etc.. However, it is stunning, as are the people, and it was difficult not to buy everything offered; especially the hand embroidered clothing and table wear.

Each Mayan village has its own local clothing. For the ladies this consists of a long woven skirt, a sash and then a blouse with intricate stitching. They also wear emboidered material around their heads; which helps balance the huge baskets they carry. The men; especially on Sundays, wear long stripped pants with elaborately embroidered bottoms, fancy shirts, with cowboy boots and hats. They do not seem to feel the heat in all the heavy clothing. Everyone, even little kids wore the local clothing, it was gorgeous. It was difficult to get photos, as the people are very shy and I felt most of the time it was not appropriate.

Our next stop was Antigua. A very different place, with a lot of charm. We had a fun week touring the local villages, farms, museums and art galleries. Whilst trying to learn a little more Spanish. We ate well too, our favourite spot was called "Porquoi No" where for $10 we ate fabulous prawns and steak mignon accompanied by fantastic music. It was a very small restaurant with a lot of character. You had to use a rope to get up the stairs to the five tables, the whole area decorated with all sorts of musical instruments with writing covering the walls and ceiling. The waitress was probably the best we have ever had she was great value, and with her husband the chef, we were always welcomed as family (and felt like we were too).

Then back to Rio Dulce to Ta-b. We hired a minibus as the elections were going on and public transport was having problems. Instead of taking us all day, it only took us 4.5 hours. At a cost of $150 we would highly recommend doing; especially if there is a group of people.

Ta-b was in excellent shape on our return. The marina staff at Tortugal had done a fantastic job of looking after her. Moorage was $350 a month, which included checking everything out on a regular basis, plus cleaning the inside and outside each week and opening all the hatches on sunny days. The marina/hotel is delightful and we enjoyed a month living in the jungle, where the boys helped us polish and fix gelcoat areas amongst other numerous jobs.

However, the location we were in, although perfect when we were off the boat, was not perfect for living on board. We got no breeze at all and by about mid morning we were having serious trouble doing anything. 35 degrees and 91% humidity was tough, although as I write this it is a cool 28 degrees and only 85% humidity. Rio Dulce means "Sweet River" but is nicknamed by locals as "Sweat River" it certainly has been a place to detox and loose all the land weight we put on..

We had made quite a few friends in another marina called NanaJuana; which has a fabulous pool, quite the community with yoga and water aerobics, amongst other social events. So we decided to move. It is a great place to spend our last month in the Rio Dulce whilst finishing boat jobs. The World Rugby is on at the moment; which has pleasently slowed down work as we watch the games. We will not leave Guatemala until after the final game on the 31st October ... it's Halloween too, so should be an excellent last day ☺ in the marina. We have been adding to the economy, giving away jobs we would normally do, getting a mani/pedicure (girl was definitely an artist, see picture) have yet to have a massage by a professional at only $15 for an hour (100 quetzales local money), life is certainly cheap here.

Recently we have been getting May Moths(?) they live for 18 minutes and then die. They come out at dusk and can be a pain for about 1.5 hours, swarming any lights, we have a few on our dock, before dying in huge numbers all over the boat. No hatches are open that is for sure, however hot it is. At dawn (early here) we hear the birds going crazy feeding and cleaning up our decks, only thing is they then leave their deposits. So after yoga at 7am, if not before, my first job of the day is to wash down Ta-b ☺

Sadly we have had some health challenges. Russell has been sick three times. First with a very heavy cold/cough that lasted at least a couple of weeks, then a stomach bug that put him down for three days and just recently another flu bug that put him in bed for a couple of days. I have been okay apart from the odd doggie stomach; which is very common here. Think the heat does not help and lots of people have been down with something or the other. Fingers crossed our immune system is now all set up for the western caribbean.

To be honest we are ready to move on. The local town Fronteras is not a place to spend any time, very dirty, smelly and chaos on Saturday, market day. The food is cheap, but pretty basic although I did find some snow peas yesterday ☺ One has to be very imaginative cooking. My freezer is ....... still not working, new this, new that .... I find it very hard to live without it, but have been promised it will be working before we leave. I do have a new dingy cover though, first quote was $450 second was $250, yes I went for the second and it is fantastic.





Our plan is to go to Tikal and Semuc Champrey (two of the top sites in Guatemala) before we leave, so we are looking forward to four nights away hopefully next week. At present we are on the hard (on land) getting our engines sorted and bottom smoothed, slight problems as always and weather (has now started to rain during the day) is not helping. Gotta look on the bright side ... ohhh I feel a song coming on .... of life.

On that note (like the pun?) I will sign off. Next Blog will probably be from Belize. If any of you are around that way next month, please let us know as it would be great to see you. Enjoy the photos in the gallery. Hugs