Life on the Rio

After 9 months, 3300 nautical miles, 4 countries and lots of fun offshore we arrived in Guatemala for our hurricane season stay. We chose to go west in the Caribbean instead of east (as many people do) for several reasons that many people don't consider. First, we've never been to most of the places we will be visiting going this way and cruising is about finding new places. Second, going east from the time you leave the Bahamas until well down the island chain you're going upwind (more on this later). Third, we needed a place where we could be on the boat for most of hurricane season and not just put the boat on the hard for 5 months.

Coming up the Rio in really deep water and about 1 kt of current.

The trip up the Rio Dulce had some very spectacular scenery and one of the really nice things was the water in the river is really deep. Especially since the electronic charts stop after a few miles. At that point we used the paper charts in the cruising guides that enabled us the rest of the way up the river.

After a week here we have started to get into the sense of things and it really is pretty nice.

Stopped for lunch our first day out on the town with our friend Bob Heuther on Moondance who had been here before and was showing us around.

There is a large ex-pat community here so plenty of English speaking folks and because they are here lots of the locals have some understanding of English which makes doing business easier. Also, many of the businesses are owned by ex-pats or folks that spent time in the US and can speak English fairly. Just like in other countries there is a steep currency conversion. There are about 7.3 Quetzales, the Guatemalan currency per US $ making the Q worth about $.13. Counting in Spanish is easy so asking a vendor Cuantos? their answer makes buying easy. It's the currency translation that becomes challenging when you pay 8Q for a pineapple and realize that's just over $1. Also when dealing with street vendors bargaining is required. Almost everything is negotiable.

Brunos Hotel, Restaurant, Bar and Marina aka our dinghy dock.

Just next to our dinghy dock.

Our marina, RAM Marina is as good as any marina in the US except a lot cheaper. The marina is owned by a California entrepreneur who has made it first rate. It has small water frontage with few actual transient slips but has covered land and in-water storage; a paint building where they can put a sailboat with the mast up; support staff capable of doing most services; and a West Marine store that has a wide selection of everything although I'm not sure if it is as good as Durae's in Kingston (it doesn't have a bar). The marina is located on the south bank of the river in an area known as Shell Bay so we take the dinghy across when we want to go into town.

The town of Fronteras is an interesting little eclectic village with an interesting story. It is named Fronteras, or Frontier in English, because before the bridge was built it was where civilization stopped. There were lanchas (launches) to take people across the river to the other side but there was really nothing much. United Fruit Company was headquartered just outside Porto Barrios on the south coast of the Gulf of Honduras where they shipped out millions of bananas hauled over dirt roads or down the river in lanchas. Guatemala was the "Banana Republic" because United Fruit controlled the government.  

Looking up and down the main street in Fronteras.

There is so much history here with Mayans still a large percentage of the population in this region. Livingston down the river has lots of Garifuna people and Mayans. Garifuna is a race that developed from African slaves intermarrying Carib or Arawak Indians in the 17th century who live in isolated coastal villages in Central America.

The streets of Fronteras are a scene of high activity with lots of native Mayans, Spanish and occasionally a gringo tourist. The main street is paved over so many times that it is much higher than the shoulder and sometimes treacherous to walk. Main Street is Hwy CA-13 (Central America Route 13) and carries the Pan American highway from Mexico across the Rio Dulce to Guatemala City where it becomes CA-1 and runs through Panama to a gap before continuing into South America. It is also one of the few paved north-south roads in Guatemala so the traffic is heavy including tractor and trailer trucks, buses, and cars moving through.

CA-13 bridge over the Rio Dulce.

Looking across the river from our marina.

Along the side are all sorts of colorful tiendas (stores), produce stands, bars, vendadors and hotels. The main street of Fronteras is actually several blocks long and has at some point almost anything you would want to buy. One afternoon we stopped at one of the local cruiser bar for a cold beer before dinghing back across the river and a Mayan girl came by carrying a huge basket of homemade pastries to sell. We bought 2 pastries that were sort of like small pies with mango filling that were excellent.

So far our days have been a mix of boat chores, shopping, working on an estimate of work we want the yard to do, socializing with other cruisers and learning how to tolerate the heat of the day. During the day the temps have been in the mid-upper 90's and at night cool down to the mid 70's but the humidity is very high. It rains everyday here. So far we haven't had any days of all rain but that's coming with the advent of the rainy season soon. The trick is to get work done early, stay inside (although we've been going shopping) in midday and then collect things before the storms start in the evenings.

Getting ready for movie night on Friday. Saw Will Smith in Concussion.

There are so many places to go here and things to do. To help folks there is a Cruiser Net on the VHF every morning to let everyone know about everything going on in the area and help find needed services. There is something going on somewhere almost every night and most places have lunch specials to attract lots of interest.

The Park surrounding the Fort.

The four of us in front of the Fort.

The dedication stone of the Fort.

The entry with the drawbridge over the moat.

The battery outside the Fort.

Saturday we did a tourist diversion and along with our friends Bob and Nina on Moondance we dinghied upriver to the Castillo de San Felipe de Lara which is a fort built by the Spanish in the 17th century to protect the mines and the settlements upriver. Apparently it didn't work too well because it got ransacked by pirates several times and the villages got raided from shore by hostile tribes from Honduras. On the way back we stopped at a very nice local place where not many cruisers go.

View from the top observation point.

Part of the inscription on the cannons. These were cast in 1736.

Rosita's set in the jungle along the river and the food was excellent. Lanchas kept coming in while we were there bringing vacationing Guatemalans. Little pricier, but the food was excellent.

Nina's dish of conch carpazio.

But key among our chores is to develop a list of stores that we need to purchase either here or back in the US to get shipped here for us to do our cruising next year. As we journeyed down the east coast we stocked up with lots of supplies but we won't be able to do that this year. So we find a local source of supply here at whatever cost or consider the cost of buying and shipping from the US. We tend to keep a plant-based diet so as long as we have access to local farmers we can do well. But, it's the other things that get difficult. We still have beer, rum and some wine we brought with us but we've been able to augment our US brews with beer in the Bahamas, Jamaica and even here isn't so bad. We are now in the land of good rum. Zacapa and Botran rums are made here in Guatemala. For the next several years we will have no shortage of good rum. Wine, however, is a different story. I have the number of a wine dealer who has a boat here and I need to discuss with him so we can buy several cases to restock while we are here.

Relaxing in an embrasure.

Above I listed the reasons we came this way and besides the fact they are new places, they are also inexpensive. Compared to the eastern Caribbean where things are Bahama-priced or worse. In Jamaica and here food and staples are inexpensive. So for a place to subsist and restock, cheaper is better. I also mentioned that we didn't want to fight the flow. There is an entire science dedicated to figuring out how to go from the US east coast to the eastern Caribbean. Coming the way we did, it's all down-wind. When we head further south it will be reaching. Then we will have some short slogs across Colombia and when the winds and waves subside in late spring we will make the short passage to the ABC's. Unlike the folks going east, our upwind passages will be short and far-between instead of one long constant upwind battle from the Bahamas to Antigua, almost 1,000 nm.

People that go east have to haul there boats and tie them down for hurricane season, unless they choose to stay in the water and gamble. Even if the boat is tied down somewhere in the box it can still get damaged in a hurricane. Here, the terrain will protect the area from severe winds. A storm may dump lots of rain but it will just wash down the river. Being in the shelter of Shell Bay or on the hard we will be protected from issues with flooding. Where we are on the river is fairly far above sea-level so there is no tidal surge and no backing up of flood waters. This is a great hurricane hole.

So, we are staying on the boat until we fly back to the US and when we come back we will have work done and then have the boat back in the water hopefully very soon. Once back in the water we might even do some sailing up on the lake. This is really a great place for hurricane season with so much to do and so much available. Plus, we already have friends here and more are coming this week. I just hope we can get done all the things we need to before it's time to leave. Well, maybe we'll stay longer or come back. Life is sweet on the Rio Dulce.