Omoa and Puerto Escondido Honduras

Here are some pics we took on our way from the Rio Dulce to Roatan. Omoa is a small town on the N. coast of Honduras. Puerto Escondido is a beautiful little bay in a national park. It is also situated on Honduras N. coast.

We are now in Roatan which is about 175 miles from our starting point in the Rio Dulce.

More later.

Guatemala and Honduras January 14-22

We arrived back in the Rio Dulce on January 6th and spent a week straightening out the boat. This consists of Orin tearing things apart looking for the items that he "stowed" last season and then Mary picking up and organizing after she shows him where he left said items.

Our friends from the old marina in Biloxi came to visit...Joyce and Frank and Judy and David. Unfortunately, it rained the entire time they were in the Rio, but we showed them the sights and we had a good time despite being wet.

Above is a picture of Edgar, the great white egret that hangs around our slip at Mario's Marina.The beautiful little girl in the dugout canoe, or cayuca, we encountered on our trip through the Rio Dulce gorge on the way to Livingston which is a small town lying at the mouth of the river. The gorge is beautiful, with sheer walls of lush vegetation rising hundreds of feet above the river. The original Tarzan movie with Johnny Weismuller was shot here on location.

The next day we traveled to Copan, Honduras. Copan is a magnificent Mayan ruin site and is the only such site in Honduras. It is close to the Guatemalan border and is a 4.5 hour van ride from Rio Dulce. The 6 of us were joined by our friends Kathleen and George, from s/v Deja Vu. The small town of Copan Ruinas is quite nice, with several good restaurants and is only a short walk from the ruins.

While in Copan we visited Macaw Mountain , a beautful area devoted to housing and caring for tropical birds , all of which were at one time pets, and have been donated to the preserve for ongoing care.

After two days in Copan, we went on to Antigua, another 5 hour van ride. The weather in Antigua was beautiful, with sunny warm days and cool nights. Mary and I were here for a week last year "learning " Spanish. ( See that blog) There are many things to do here and the town is a lovely colonial city with many shops and good restaurants. The coffee grown in this area is some of the best in the world and we had a chance to visit a coffee finca, Finca Filadelphia. Some 90% of their production from 900 acres goes to Starbucks. The remainder is sold under the family name "R. Dalton" and is available in the US.

We left our Biloxi friends in Antigua and returned to the boat. They were to travel on to Lake Atitlan for a couple of days before returning to the states. Our plan is to await a favorable tide for crossing the bar at Livingston and then on to the Bay Islands of Honduras......more later.

Placencia, Belize

We left the Rio Dulce on Valentines Day, crossing the bar at Livingston without difficulty. We had left Mario's Marina a couple of days before and spent two enjoyable days at Texan Bay, a small anchorage just a few miles upriver from Livingston.
After crossing the bar we went to Bahia La Graciosa in company with our friends John and Beth Talley on UPJINX. We had originally planned to sail with them to the Bay Islands of Honduras but they developed problems with their electronics and had to return to the Rio Dulce.
Since the winds were not right to sail to the Bay Islands and wouldn't be for several days we decided to sail up to Placencia Belize, about 40 miles north and a good all-weather anchorage. Yes, although we are in "paradise" we are very much slaves to the weather as sailors. Most of the time the weather is quite nice and mild, but this time of year those cold fronts that produce bad weather in the states sweep down and produce strong winds from the north( hence the term "northers"). This frequently is manifested by a sudden change in wind direction and speed with winds as high as 30 or 35 knots from the north or northwest, sometimes lasting several days and accompanied by clouds and rain... such sudden changes can cause one's anchor to dislodge, typically it seems at 2:00 AM. That is not fun folks...its not always sunshine, beaches and drinks with little umbrellas!
Placencia is a nice little village in southern Belize and is a favorite stop for cruisers on their way north or south. A couple of days after we arrived we participated in a "dinghy drift". Everyone ties their dinghys together and we drift through the anchorage. Of course everyone brings an hors d'ouvre and beverage. After this broke up we were treated to a total eclipse of the moon....quite a show and the whole thing was visible from the cockpit of our boat.
Mary is going home for a few days to get her grandkids "fix" and I will remain aboard to
repel boarders.
We miss all our friends and family.
More later....

Chichicastenango and Lake Atitlan

From Antigua we drove through the mountains to Chichicastenango, a town known for its huge Sunday market where anything and everything is on sale. It is a good place to buy hand-woven textiles, pottery and artwork. Bargains abound and it is expected that the price will be negotiated. The Maya hereabouts are famous for their adherence to pre-christian beliefs and their religion is an odd mix of Catholicism and shamanistic ceremonies derived from the ancient Mayans.
After our shopping fix, we moved on to Lake Atitlan. This is a beautiful volcanic lake nestled among three volcanoes. It was formed 85,000 year ago by the Los Chocoyos eruption which blew ash as far as present-day Florida.The amount of magma expelled was such that the surface terrain collapsed leaving a roughly circular 8x18 km circular hole which filled with water.
We stayed at La Casa del Mundo Hotel which is built into a hillside. There are breath-taking views of the volcanoes from each of its 18 rooms.The lake shore is dotted with small villages most of which are only accessible by boat. Most of the villagers are of Mayan descent and there are two distinct dialects spoken here ....I was told that there are even noticeable accents from one village to the next within a dialect which is remarkable since these places are only a few kilometers apart.
We enjoyed our stay here although Mary experienced a day of GI upset.
We will return to the boat to prepare to leave the river this week and then on to Roatan.

Antigua Guatemala

We left the boat last Sunday and traveled to Antigua which is about 25 miles southwest of Guatemala City. It was the original capital of Guatemala from 1543 until it was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1773. In 1776 the capital was moved to its present site in Guatemala City. Antigua is a beautiful colonial city situated amongst 3 volcanoes; Agua which is visible in this photo and Fuego and Acatenango. Fuego is still active as evidenced by frequent puffs of steam from its crater throughout the day.

Although the city was abandoned as the capital, many peopled stayed and today it is a tourist center with many fine hotels, museums and some of the best restaurants in the country.

We stayed at La Escuela del San Jose El Viejo which offers instruction in spanish and which is located next to an old convent. We took classes in the mornings and had the afternoons free. Instruction is one on one and the classrooms are in a beautiful garden setting.

We had a field trip to a village nearby with a large Mayan population and while there we learned about the Mayan culture including traditionnal weddings. Mary and I served as models for some traditional Mayan wedding attire.

Throughout Antigua are many examples of colonial architecture, some of which are in ruins but many others are in varying states of restoration. One of the highlights of our visit was the walking tour of the city conducted by Elizabeth Bell who has lived in Antigua for 35 years and who has been intimately involved in the preservation of some of the city's most important architectural sites.

The climate here is ideal mainly due to the town's elevation with nightime temps dipping into the low 50's and daytime temperatures in the mid-70's.

There are many fine restaurants and we sampled several of them. Our favorite was Meson Panza Verde. It is situated in the hotel of the same name and was quite close to the school. The food was wonderful and there was live entertainment by a Cuban jazz band.

We will definitely come back here, perhaps not to study, but to hang out and enjoy the great sights, culture and atmosphere.

Tomorrow we leave here to travel to Lake Atitlan.....more to come.

Life goes on......

We returned to Guatemala last Wednesday and spent the next day doing a little sightseeing around Guatemala City. We visited two museums: Museo Ixchel and Museo Popol Vuh. Ixchel is dedicated to the indigenous textiles of Guatemala and contains many beautiful examples of the richly colorful garments worn by the Mayan people. These are especially prevalent in the highlands and hopefully I can post some pictures of these when we visit Antigua and Lago Atitlan next week. The other museum contains many Mayan artifacts dating back more than 2000 years.

Last Friday we returned to the marina where will will stay until Sunday when we travel to Antigua for a week's stay at spanish school. Antigua is reported to be lovely and we are looking forward to our stay there. Then to the highland village of Chichicastenango for the Sunday market and then on to Lake Atitlan.

More to follow next week.

Thanks Mom

My mother died this past Saturday night. She was 89 years old. The end, mercifully, was quick and peaceful. As I write this, Mary and I are on a plane from Guatemala to Memphis to arrange her funeral.

I last saw Mom two weeks ago-just a few days before Christmas. There was no sign that she knew who I was but I told her how much I loved her and how much she meant to me and all her extended family....and I told her goodbye. I had a feeling that I would not see her again in this life. As I left that day she blew me a kiss.

She was a strong, independent woman who lived by herself for as long as she could after my Dad died 23 years ago and before her mind was slowly stolen from her. As a mother she was never critical, she was always encouraging and she was never intrusive. If she had a fault it was that she was blind to my faults.

Years ago she told me that I should follow my dream, go sailing with Mary, and enjoy our time together...time that she and Dad were robbed of. We did. We will.

Thanks Mom.