Guatemala - Rio Dulce, It’s Hot

Back at Meshugga. Jet Lag. Heat. Humidity. Rain at Night. TG for AirCon!

It took me a week to get over Jet Lag, and slowly become accustomed to the heat again.

I tried a New Schedule of: Get up at 5.30am, coffee and read the news, and get going on any outside cleaning tasks by 6.30am. At 7.30am my alarm goes off, have iced coffee and listen to the Rio Dulce Cruisers Net for any info of interest, and then back outside to clean til about 9am. By this time the sun is already high enough that it's become too hot for me, and retreat inside for another rest and then look at at tasks I need to do inside. 

HaHa. That lasted a day or two. The heat is relentless. I'm tired all the time! We run the Fans inside all day long, to move the heavy hot humid laden air.

Daily temps are 35+ deg C/ 95 deg F, and humidity at 80 %.

Catamaran Marina and Resort has a lovely pool, but it's in the sun all day long, and hence the water is warm. At about 4pm the shade from trees overhangs the pool, and I like to pop up for a warm swim - the best is getting out of the pool for the cool breeze that sets in each afternoon to airdry my body. So cooling!

Meshugga is on the western side of Catamaran Island, and the afternoon breeze, often reaches 10 knots is from the east, so we don't get the wind in our slip, and the inside of Meshugga remains stifling hot. At about 4 or 5 pm we close up the boat, and switch the Aircon on. Heaven, as the boat cools down. We first do the Salon, and after dinner open the doorway to our Cabin, and let the cool air flow down the stairs to cool our cabin for the night. When going to bed about 10/11pm Nicholas switches the Aircon off, and within a couple of hours as the ambient outside temperature drops to about 25 degrees, much the same as our internal temperature, and we open Cabin hatches to let the evening breeze flow in.

Drinks with fellow Cruisers, Ladies Who Sail Luncheons, Yoga, Poker Games, Dominoes. There is lots to keep busy with, not to mention the daily specials various restaurants put on to entice.

Dinghy ride to Casa Perico, the venue for our Ladies Lunch.

Michelle of SV Reach at the Ladies Luncheon.

Volleyball at Catamaran Marina

Pool bar drinks, every evening at 5.

The front seats on our bows are beginning to look shoddy as Lagoon did Veneer Teak on Marine Ply, and after 10 years  the veneer is beginning to lift and peel off. So we’ve been looking for solid teak. We heard about a lumber yard, and after some research found one close to us, with Plantation Teak, not Burma teak (which is the Gold Standard, and very hard to get, not to mention expensive).

We dinghied to Tortugal Marina and walked through the Mangroves on a boardwalk and then about 2 miles on a path finally coming to the Sawmill. We were able to buy a few ‘planks’ of Plantation Teak, and arrange for one of the workers to help Nicholas carry the teak back to our dinghy. I was lucky to walk unhindered by such weight.

I was amazed to come across Cacoa trees, with large heavy ripe pods.  Wow. They belong to someone, but the urge pinch a pod was huge …..

At least twice a week, I jump in the dinghy and drive the 1 mile to Fronteras, the town, and do my shopping for fresh produce and any other necessities. I've still not explored the whole town, and still hear from other Cruisers about a Store providing an interesting Service or selling something interesting. The Fresh Produce Vendors often sell different produce, so it’s always worth trolling down both sides of the street to check out who might have Avo's, or Mangoes, Papaya, Apples, Pears etc. Not to mention Red Peppers or Fresh Broccoli or a nice head of lettuce. 

Dispensa has just reopened, another great addition to availability of goods. 

A short video of our Main Street in Fromteras

I was astounded to see this fresh delivery of a pallet of eggs. 

This I’d the most eggs I've ever seen in one store!

Twice a month the area hosts a Cruisers Market, where Cruisers can sell off  'Stuff' they no longer want, and local Vendors also set up tables of Cruiser Interesting Stuff. It's always interesting and worthwhile to spend a couple of hours perusing the tables. You never know what you might just Have to Buy.

In between there’s the necessaries Cookie days!

Oats, Coconut and Cranberries

Marshmallow CRISPIES for Nicholas

Days morf into each other. I'm making a new Boom Cover, that require huge amounts of Sunbrella and Dacron. I arranged to use the Restaurant floor, as there is nowhere on Meshugga big enough to allow a 10m/34 foot length of fabric to be rolled out, measured and marked for cutting.

Cutting fabric on the FlyBridge with the Hot Knife 

Sewing on the dining table as I really needed space to hold all the Fabric

Finished and installed. Double layered with Marine Sunbrella on top and Dacron underneath, sewed with Tenara PTFE thread. New Boltropes sides with 25 foot YKK 15 gauge zips.

It should be good for 10 years, keeping the sun off our Mainsail, and dry. 

Ashore in Fronteras on Independence Day, Busses were festively decorated. 

 Early mornings, we always have a lot of swallows coming to eat the bugs. 

Shopping at La Torre as opposed to in the street market - bit more expensive, but air-conditioned 

Meshugga at Catamaran Resort and Marina (tall mast on the left)

I had fun on Saturday doing a Virtual Baking Class by King Arthur Baking

Another month and another Ladies Lucheon.. This time at Tijax. Lovely venue, hot, but with fans and interesting women to bond and exchange info with. Great networking opportunity. 

At Catamaran Marina one of our barmaids, Diane, is pregnant and about to go on Maternity Leave and the Cruisers rallied to support her with gifts for her baby girl.

Diane

Geoffrey and Ruth of SV Jroo

Michael of SV Tenagra and Dan of SV Zia, toasting Diane

Our Resort Staff

Cruisers at the Shower

South Africa - Cape Town and others

It's been a good two months since I posted a Blog. Sorry.

Life has been busy!

Thinking back......, we found Rio Dulce to be very hot, humid, and it rained every night and most days. As our boat Aircon is water cooled, and only runs when the Generator is on, or we are on Shore Power, (which is Very Expensive here, ie 4x's the cost of South Africa or USA), Nicholas bought a Air cooled Aircon, and spent a hot week installing it, so that we could have reasonably priced Aircon as it can run off our Inverter and Batteries. 

We simultaneously decided to do our planned trip to South Africa sooner than later, and much time was spent by me with Internet searches for Air Routes, Flights, Accommodation, and Car Hire. Whilst there are about 2000 yachts in Rio Dulce, everyone has the same problem of how to get out of here to Guatemala City where the International Airport is, and that's a 6 hour drive away.

We decided on using the Luxury Litegua Bus to get us to Guatemala City, but as the 6 hours cannot be guaranteed, due to Single Lanes almost the entire way, and the possibility of an accident, not to mention trucks and other busses, we decided to spend a night in Guatemala City and catch our Flight next day. We found the Bus to be pleasant with Aircon, reclining seats, Wifi aboard, and an Loo. A mid-way stop for Restrooms use, lunch etc added a half hour to the trip but was fine, (and was included in the expected 6 hours).

Litegua Bus

Inside the Bus

As we had an afternoon in Guatemala City we walked around a bit, we were situated opposite a huge park, and we went in search for Coffee and an early meal.

Our Hotel in Guatemala City

Next day, was an early morning with a Hotel Shuttle ride to the airport and the Long Haul began. I happily found the only Amex Platinum lounge at GUA airport, and we fortified ourselves with coffee and breakfast.

Superb Zacapa Lounge at Guatemala City Airport

Our flight was delayed out of GUA, and hence on arrival in Atlanta, we had to hustle to clear Customs and Immigration into the United States, and get to our boarding gate to make the connection to Cape Town. We flew Delta all the way, so our luggage was at least checked through to Cape Town.

I'd recently purchased Apple AirTags, and placed tags into each of our bags. As we sat onboard waiting to takeoff, I checked for our bags and was dismayed to see that one AirTag was sitting on the opposite side of the Airport, where we had disembarked our previous plane.

The flight was terrible as usual. Like catching a bus. On arrival in Cape Town, one bag arrived on the carousel, and the did other not. On reporting it to Lost Baggage for Delta, the Lady gave me a run-around, until I showed her the Apple AirTag, which STILL showed the bag in Atlanta. By this time I had established that Yes, Once Again, My Bag had been delayed/lost. It's the umpteenth time - about 15x's this has happened to me. I am jinxed.

Arriving in Cape Town. Iconic Table Mountain.

Apple AirTag showing My Bag still in Atlanta Airport

Beautiful Sunset, overlooking the Freeway Off-ramp into Cape Town,  but you could not hear it.

More Sunset, this time from Bossa Restuarant on Woodbridge Island

My Good Friend, Melissa

Another lovely friend, Derryn

Our days henceforth was filled with Pre-Booked Medical appointments, getting our Drivers Licenses Renewed (in RSA they only issue for 5 years), and getting Replacement Passports, as our existing ones will expire at an inconvenient time whilst overseas for Renewal.

As it happens, an MRI showed that Nicholas' first surgery on his Shoulder in Miami did not fix the problem, and so additional surgery was scheduled for a few days later. I hustled from one Cancer Scan to the next, MRI's - Bone, Breast, Brain and Liver. Pet Scans, Mammograms, CT scans. I also had a Tooth Implant done.

Nicholas surgery was successful. My Scans results are similar to 2 years prior (which I am enormously happy with), and my Dental Implant went well.

Drivers Licenses applied for, and typical Africa, the only machine in South Africa which prints the Driver License cards (which are acceptable world wide as a source of identification), broke down. So, we were issued with Temporary Licenses.... My sister-in-law, Penny will kindly collect of Permanent Driver Licenses, once available, and courier them to us.

Our passports applications went smoothly. Due to Taxi Strikes, (ie: the workers could not get to work, and couriers were not delivering), our Passports collections were delayed, and after much pleading at Home Affairs, (as Passports have to be collected in person), a kindly employee went the extra mile, to find our Passports in the back room, and have them ready for us to collect on the Friday, as we were flying out of Cape Town on Sunday.

We also flew to Johannesburg. Nicholas to meet up with company staff. Me to visit my mum.

My Mum, Genevieve

I flew to Durban to visit my family, fabulous time with my big sis Tania, and an amazing Family get-to-gether at my niece Lauren's house. It was awesome. Thank you all for coming, and Thanks Tania and Edward for hosting me.

My sister's excellent Milk Tart

My Great Nephew William

Zach, Lauren, Abi, Danny, Theo and girlfriend

My sis, Tania and her Granddaughter Abigail

Fun times

Abi and William

My Wonderful nephew Warren

My Amazing niece Lauren and Fab nephew Theo

Back in Cape Town, prior to flying out, we joined Penny and Mike in Hermanus at their lovely cottage for the weekend.

Ficks Pool Sunset Drinks, Hussar Grill for great Steaks, Craft Market shopping, Hills-Side walks watching the Whales with their calves. Morning Coffee and Waffles overlooking the Bay. Good times with Nicholas' sister Penny, and Mike. What Fun! Thank you!

Stunning Ficks Pools in Hermanus. Location doesn't get better for Sunset drinks

Mike, Penny me and Nicholas

Fun in Hermanus

And so, it was time to start the Long Haul back to Meshugga. We decided to make a 24 hours stop in Atlanta, as Nicholas needed a few spares, which he ordered on Amazon and delivered to our Hotel. After that it was the same procedure in reverse. Except that we used a Taxi to drive us from the Airport to Meshugga, as we did not want to spend another night in Guatemala City. The drive was terrible. Traffic horrendous, and a slow driver, and hair-raising watching him negotiate whether to try overtake in an aged car. I preferred the Bus to the Taxi drive! Both took 6 hours. The Taxi cost $200, the Bus cost $45 for both of us. Unfortunately we arrived at Guatemala Airport too late for the bus departure, only later finding out that there is an Overnight bus, which does not stop at all between Guatemala City and Rio Dulce - but that info is too late. Hopefully we will not be repeating this trip.