Back in the Rio Dulce
02 October 2017 | Rio Dulce, Guatemala
Susan / hot, humid, afternoon thunderstorms, 90 degrees F
It always takes a few days to get unpacked and organized when we get back to Vida Dulce after months away. In that process we discover that an entire shopping bag of items we’d purchased to bring back was left out of our packing process - which was unusually last minute - finger’s crossed it’s in the storage unit. So far we haven’t discovered any of those missing items to be critical to the projects needing to be completed to leave the Rio so that’s good news. In not so good news, Jerry forgot his prescription sunglasses in the car so he’ll need to figure out a replacement.
The big projects this year is the installation of the new freezer and outdoor wet bar beverage fridge, new solar panels (doubling the charging capability) along with the required support structure on the arch, serpentine belts for the diesel engine alternators, and additional lithium batteries. The planned smaller projects are literally too numerous to list, as is usual for this lifestyle.
In addition there’s the unanticipated getting back projects that pop up while we’re getting Vida Dulce and the dinghy operational. So far this year it’s the dinghy; the motor is frozen up and the transom has broken a little more, this time below the waterline. We brought back some dinghy motor repair parts which we hope are the ones needed to get it going once we can tow it to the repair shop, and we keep the dinghy lifted when not in use however only time will tell if the bilge pump can keep up with the inflow. We were hoping to get one more cruising season out of her and purchase a new one in Panama however this may no longer be a reasonable plan. The biggest hassle about not having a working dinghy within a day or so of arrival is we can’t easily get to the tendas to stock up on drinking water, beer, food and other necessities. Our only good option is the restaurant here at the marina, and that gets expensive fast.