Back in Guatemala

Back in the Rio Dulce

How can 10 weeks pass so quickly? Probably because we had something to do just about every day and had a truly wonderful time, only marred by one avoidable incident towards the end of our stay.

Special thanks go out to Graham and Sheila, Lynne's parents, who could not have done more for us and we are very much looking forward to seeing them again in New Zealand, where we hope to be belatedly celebrating significant birthdays.

It would be almost impossible to thank everyone by name for making our stay so special, but you know who you are and we are beyond grateful for the kindness and hospitality shown.

One thing that did suffer was our waistlines! Catching up with friends and family seemed to involve a great deal of eating, but returning to 35C and 75% humidity will mean we will probably perspire a few pounds off.

The return journey was something of an epic 3 day adventure. The 13 hour layover at Madrid airport possibly would have been a little more bearable, had anything been open, but all the shops and restaurants were shut, with the exception of a Coffee place. The B&B in Guatemala City was excellent and perhaps a better choice than the hotel we used on the way out. The rooms were clean, the staff very friendly and the breakfast was especially good. 

The following day, we had hoped to be back in the Rio in daylight, but an accident on the main road turned a 6 hour journey into a 10 hour one. Thankfully the coach was air conditioned and had a good selection of up to date movies on the personal screens built into the headrests.

Oscar, the Dock Manager at Tijax Marina, had done an amazing job of cleaning Azzy and Jose the carpenter had done his part also by sorting the snagging issues on the new deck and the work to the companion way sides. Just as a reminder, here is the before and after.

Before

After

Jose has also quoted to refurbish the saloon table as Steve managed to superglue some of the table cloth to the top when attempting the repair of the old autopilot motor... don't ask!

Lynne's brother Phill returned with us for a vacation keeping his unbroken record of visiting us every year since we have been sailing.

During his stay we managed to fit a fair amount in. A boat trip to Livingston through the gorge, a visit to the beautiful lakeside town of Flores. An excursion to see the temples at Tikal and a few nights in the old capital of Antigua Guatemala, which happened to coincide with Independence Day celebrations.

Boat Trip to Livingston

Lynne and Phill took a fast boat trip to Livingston, the town at the entrance to the river. We especially wanted Phill to see the stunning gorge, but the boat was moving way too fast to get any usable pictures.

The boat also went past Fronteras on the way back up and went by the Castillo de San Felipe.

Flores

We took the Fuente del Norte coach from Fronteras to the island of Flores, which took about 4.5 hours. Flores was just an overnight stop and a staging post to move on to Tikal the day after.

Tikal

We had a very early start the following morning, with a pick up at 4.30am so that we could be at Tikal for 6am when it opened. We were joined by a guide called Antonio who was humourous and very knowledgeable. Arriving early meant we were lucky to see a lot of wildlife, including Toucans, Spider Monkeys and Coati Mundi. 

Out and About in Antigua

It was lovely to return to the pretty town of Antigua Guatemala. Dating back to the 1500's it has lots of history and the roads are made of cobblestones. Pretty to look at but hard on the feet! We made the short hike up to Cerro de la Cruz, where we got some great views of the city and the surrounding Volcanoes. Volcan del Fuego, or Fire Volcano, is still active and had its last major erruption in June 2018. Sadly, it caused a lot of damage and many people died trying to escape. Volcan del Agua, or Water Volcano, is dormant, which is just as well, as it is very close to the city.

We had some good meals out in Antigua. We all especially enjoyed eating at Red Koi Chinese and Taiwanese Restaurant. The Char Sui Pork and Mongolian Chicken were particularly good. On the recommendation of some friends, we also ate out at Puerta Once to experience their burgers.

Hotel

We stayed in a small hotel called Cristal. Rated at 2.5 stars it was OK. The rooms were comfortable despite not being air conditioned. The staff could not have been nicer and the breakfast, which was included, was first rate. What let it down was the shower facilities. Small and cramped, but worst of all the electric shower head had been wired in such a way as we Brits refer to as 'Heath Robinson'. Black electrical tape covered the wire junctions and when you turned the shower head on you could clearly see a spark where part of it had come away! Not what you want when standing in a pool of water.

We forgot to take a picture of the shower head, but you can see a photo of our hotel room below and a similar shower head courtesy of friends Tracie and Steve on Saga Sea who had the same set up in a different hotel.

Independence Day Celebrations in Antigua

Our visit to the beautiful old City of Antigua happened to coincide with Independence Day celebrations, and we really enjoyed standing on the street corners and watching all the festivities.

We did purchase a few souvenirs in Antigua. Three hand made cushion covers and a table runner in the typical Mayan colours, and Steve had a Jade 'Man Bracelet' made for him using three different colours of Jade - Green, Lavender and Black.

When we returned to the river we contacted a local contractor to re-stitch the spray hood. The thread had finally succumbed to the UV degradation, and we may swap the acrylic windows out for new ones, depending on the price. The same contractor is also stitching in the skin fittings we brought back from the UK for our dual rain catchers into the sun shades above the helm wheels.

The bow thruster batteries had leaked in our absence, and as they are at least 5 years old we decided to replace them. We checked with the manufacturer and found two new ones to meet the required specification. We can't recall the last time we used the thruster other than to check it was working!
We took a multimeter to the shop just to check the voltage, even though the manufacture date was just a couple of months ago.

Our main fridge has also started making an unusual noise, so we have contacted a local refrigeration expert to come and take a look.

Other than that, the 'To Do List' is not too bad, and soon the main focus will shift to the haul out at Ram Marina in October. We will strip the old anti fouling off completely as we cant easily get the same brand, and apply one more coat of epoxy primer before applying International Micron.

Instead of returning to the marina, we will move out to anchor as we would like to have a few shake downs before finally leaving the river.

In the next update, we will focus on the haulout and should be in a position to update our 2019 cruising plans in a little more detail.

Now we are back in circulation we will once again start to post more regularly on the FaceBook page, The Voyages of Aztec Dream. We would love to have you on board so please Like and Share if you feel so inclined.

Thank you for visiting our blog.