Departamento de Izabal

Been a little MIA on here as we settled into Rio Dulce after sailing our butts off for a couple months.

The ride through the Rio Dulce gorge was something neither of us have ever seen before. Absolutely break taking. Huge mountainous cliffs and walls surrounds us on either side. It reminded me of when I went rafting in the Grand Canyons but instead of Canyons is what all jungle. You could hear exotic birds whistling from the tree tops, monkeys hollering and the vegetation looked like live wall art. The Guatemalans past us on their pangas with the most welcoming waves and smiles. The fisherman were throwing huge cast nets into the gorge and hand lining for fish. The houses on the river were all tiki hut cabana's with not much to them but they were so unique and beautiful. It was humbling seeing how these people lived but that didn't stop them from giving us the warmest welcome smiles as we cruised by. The people here are the happiest and most hard-working people we have seen yet.

As we approached the Rio Dulce town you could see the hundreds of sailboats surrounding the shorelines. Most are tied up at these bungalow looking marinas since its so affordable. We have been anchored up the entire time since we constructed our boat to be self-sufficient.

This town was created for sailors. Locals come to our boat every week trying to sell us local produce, cheese, jumbo shrimp, snook, lobster and more. The town is hectic and takes some getting used to. There is a 1 lane road that runs through the main town with huge truckers that plow through with no sidewalks so you have to be extremely careful to not get ran over. There are vendors everywhere alongside. Little dollar store looking shops, hardware stores, agricultural stores, plenty of produce shacks and local street food everywhere. Everywhere you look there are women making fresh tortillas on the side of the road & everything is SO cheap compared to the states! You can go out to eat for drinks and food for $15-20 US for two people and labor is $4/hour US!!

So now getting to the not-so-great part. After being here for a week, we learned quickly we were in a third world country. We both caught the case of what the sailors call the Rio runs... basically what felt like a week long stomach flu. We didn't know that you are supposed to soak your produce in a vinegar solution prior to eating it since they don't spray their produce with pesticides here so that is what got us sick. In the magoes and cauliflower we could see little worksm crawling around! We were afraid we had parasites but fortunately testing came back negative for that. It must have been a bacterial thing. We both had to get on antibiotics to fight it off. Within the same time frame, Kendra bit into a frozen banana breaking one of her front teeth off so that has been a fun process trying to get that fixed in a country that doesn't have the best dental practices but thankfully there is nice place in town that could help put together a temporary fix until we go back home.

All of that craziness set aside, we have been enjoying our time here. We have been able to settle down and focus on our work. One of our Gautemalan friends let us borrow his motorcyle one Sunday to go see the hot spring waterfall about 15 minutes outside of Rio Dulce. The waterfall poured scolding hot water down into a pool of cool water. The cruise on the motorcycle was beautiful. We got to see all the little towns in surrounding valleys and mountains. We have done a couple amazing hikes during our stay as well.

As much as we are happy we have been able to experience Rio Dulce, we are anxious to set sail in October for the Bay Islands of Honduras to see crystal clear waters and reef life again. Thats where our love and passion lys and why we set sail in the first place. From there we will travel to Belize, Mexico and then do the big crossing over to the Florida Keys, up the east coast for Florida and cross over to the Abacos, Bahamas for another long season in the Bahamas and make our way down to the BVI's. Going to be a fun year ahead!Read more