Apparently the last time that I wrote an update there was no notification email and all the aunties in England got concerned. Been awol for while but hopefully this time it works.
We are now safely at a marina in Guatemala’s Rio Dulce. This is our first time at a dock in over 3 months. We are going to leave the boat here for the season and we will be heading home shortly. We made it!
A lot has happened down here (and in the world) in the past month; here is a bit of an update from our last month of travel.
We sailed the coast of Belize for a couple of weeks. We made our way north to Caye Caulker which is a great barefoot settlement to spend a week lounging around. There was great snorkeling, diving, roof top yoga, beach bars, etc. George took the water taxi to Belize City to meet Rhea (who finally made it down here) and they traveled inland to San Ignacio to see some ruins and Tikal.
Melanie flew down here to meet me for a much deserved vacation after completing her Master’s degree in Toronto. She arrived in Belize City the same day as Rhea and found the water taxi to meet me at Caye Caulker.
George and Rhea returned to the boat a few days later and we started to island hop back down south. Then Mel got sick and our adventure took a little detour...
Mel fell quite ill and we needed to seek out the nearest hospital, and that meant the not so glamorous Garifuna town of Dangriga, Belize. She spent a total of 5 days in the hospital there with a mix of great care and comedic circumstances. Because she was in a female ward I was not allowed to stay overnight at the hospital which meant finding my way across town to the hostel every night, an adventure in and of itself. By the end of it all she had been treated quite well, was given antibiotics for the road, and the bill was only $16!
In the meantime George and Rhea had been sailing the boat south to Placencia where Rhea would fly home and we would eventually clear out of Belize.
Last week we sailed overnight from Belize down to Guatemala and were unexpectedly met by a lighting storm. Although the most frightening weather conditions for a boat; there was only sheet lighting up high between the clouds and no frightening forks coming down to the water.
Coming up through the river gorge was magnificent; it is so much grander than we had anticipated. We met up with our RVYC friends on Appleseeds and made the journey together. We photographed each other as we motored up the winding river, we will have to exchange glam shots over email at some point.
Fronteras/Rio Dulce Town is a busy little junction as it lies on the primary highway between GTML city and northern Guatemala. There is much to see and do in this area and I am glad that I’ll be back here next season. Mel and I went horseback riding through a rubber tree plantation and yesterday for George’s birthday we went to an incredible hot spring waterfall. The water was too hot to stand under but it met the cool river water rushing over the rocks.
Boat jobs are almost finished and we will be leaving here within the next couple of days. George flies home in one week but Mel and I are going to spend a couple of extra weeks seeing south west Guatemala and then heading north through Tikal and eventually flying home from Cancun in late May.
Jamie
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