We are back on SeaTryst, after a summering in Mystic Ct. Passionate about the election, we stayed around long enough to vote for Barack Obama! (There is hope for America although his task is a daunting one!)
While in the US, Maggie took several trips to Cincinnati to spend time with Peter, catching up on work. It's always fun for her there.
We spent time at home in Mystic, making improvements in our yard, and hanging out with family and friends.
We also went to Seattle to visit with Bob's son and daughter-in-law, Greg and Beth. What a week they had planned: Seattle Seahawks football game, complete with tailgating with friends; winetasting at local vineyards; sampling various restaurants; trip to the mountains for OctoberFest, and much more. Then Bob and Maggie gave them a rest from us and went to Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast. What a beautiful place; we could have stayed there a few more days.
After Seattle, we had just a couple more weeks in Mystic to get ready for our return trip to Guatemala, and say goodbye to family and friends. Anne and John are off to Panama, where they will be cruising this year. Larry and Pat are helping keeping the economy going by working back in Mystic. Bob's son Matt took a job in San Francisco and left Boston shortly after we left for Guatemala. Seems like almost everyone is on the move!
We struggled to get our luggage weight to within the allowed limits on our flights. We packed, weighed, unpacked, weighed again ... and over and over until each bag was 50 lb or less. We ended up lugging 270 lbs into the country - 10 of that was Rosie. We brought back 25 yards of Sunbrella, 27 lbs of high-grade plastic sheets for our new dodger, plus lines, lights, canned cat food, and a variety of other necessities (Maggie had to have those 5 pairs of shoes and five pounds of honey!).
Before leaving, we had arranged for a B&B in Guat City, and for a private van to drive us to the River the next day. Posada Belen is a pet-friendly place, with gracious hosts to greet us and feed us.
After stopping at the Central America WalMart to do some last-minute provisioning (what did we leave on the boat, what do we need? - it was a mad dash through the store). We were back on the Rio Dulce by 4:30p Thursday, Nov 6, began the long task of cleaning and fixing SeaTryst to be ready for habitation. Mold, mold, mold everywhere - every dish, pan, utensil, cupboard needed to be washed. Maggie spent days cleaning, while Bob fixed half a dozen broken items. He had ordered new batteries, which were delivered on Saturday. Fortunately, he had found someone to take the old ones and part of the deal was to bring the new ones (165 lbs each) onboard. And did they struggle! Bob's back is still in one piece, but we are not so sure about theirs.
When we got here, Jon and Heather had returned to Evergreen but were at Spanish school in Antigua, and Ray and Sally (above) were getting Seaquester ready to head out - they're going north to Florida and then cutting through the Bahamas to the Eastern Caribbean. Bob and Bonnie on Spray stopped for a visit - coming 16 miles up the river from Texan Bay in their new 18' launcha.
Cindy and John on Tashmoo returned on Tuesday, and we all took a break from our hard work to have lunch together at Rosita's.
Rosie is beginning to settle into life on the boat again, and has found her toys, and catnip.
Shopping here includes Casa Guatemala coming twice a week to the dock with meats, cheeses, and yogurt to sell to boaters. We like to buy from them to support the orphanage. We went to town for the rest of the groceries, particularly fruits and vegetables. Fronteras has not changed, it is still the sprawling hodge-podge of a village, set along a major bridge thoroughfare. The noise, smells and colors take a little getting used to. It certainly isn't the like anything in the US! The food is plentiful and inexpensive. We just have to make sure our produce is washed in iodine before eating. Montazuma's revenge is very common.
The sun has been shining almost every day, with temps in the upper 80 by day and upper 60 by night. Life is good!
We'll be at the dock until we have our new dodger and bimini, and will then leave for Belize and Honduras. Russ and Janet, our marina managers, have a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner planned. More and more boaters are returning; it will be a fun time.