Between the Americas ~ Panama Pt One

We left Golfito the end of May, headed for Panama City non-stop. Fifty-one hours later we dropped anchor at La Playita, the bay in front of Isla Flamenco where the Flamenco Signal Station is located. ALL vessels approaching from the south or west must check in with the Signal Station to let them know they are coming into the Panama Canal Zone. Dozens of commercial ships lay on anchor west and east of the lighted buoys which lead a constant parade of vessels to the beginning of the Pacific canal entrance at the Miraflores Locks, past the Bridge of the Americas, shown above. For the next ten days we watched the comings and goings of freighters, tankers, cruise ships, and the occasional pleasure craft, dwarfed by the huge vessels! Years ago we really wanted to traverse the canal, but at this point we are happy just to observe.

We had been told that the port authority would contact us regarding checking in, but after two days of listening to the radio Bill took off in our dinghy, determined to get the skinny on what we were supposed to do. We were supposed to take our documents and go into the city to get checked in! Okay, we can do that, so after friends on a sailboat recommended an Engish speaking cabbie we called him and did the paperwork Cha Cha, as it is called... five stops later we were checked in!

There is a marina not far from our anchorage, so we were able to take the dinghy ashore and walk to where there were marine stores, restaurants, and an ATM. By Wednesday, May 6, we had checked it all out in preparation for meeting up with our daughter Margaret's in-laws, Rob and Mary Robinson. They were arriving on the Coral Princess cruise ship for the day! What a small world~ we scurried over to the terminal that morning and contacted an officer who confirmed they were still onboard. We visited and ate lunch. We pointed out Grey Wolf on anchor but did not have time to take them out as they had a city tour to take. Alice wound up going with them on the city tour, which was very enjoyable and went places most tourists would never go, even into the heart of the slums! Although Alice had purchased several molas earlier, she found some real steals on this trip and now she has a LOT to play with... these colorful fabric and thread pictures were originally made for clothing by the San Blas Indians but today are used to decorate many items. See above photo.

We are now anchored near an island in Islas Las Perlas, 30 miles south of the canal. We will spend about a week here before returning to Costa Rica for a month. Stay tuned for more from Panama in the summertime!

Golfito, Costa Rica~ Part Two

Bill had moved the boat to Golfito the week Alice flew home in March. Finally, on April 7, she returned via a rental car and three flights! Needless to say, she was dog-tired and slept a LOT the first few days. Needless to say, Bill was just happy to have her home! The area here truly is rainforest and there has been enough rain to prove it~ it is still the dry season, they say... We have met many nice people, mostly landlubbers and mostly Americans. Our friends Paddy and Ray have lived here since 1994, so they know a LOT of people. We have been to a party on the Isla de Golfito across from their home, and to several homes on the mainland where we have seen everything from toucans to crocodiles to orchids and waterfalls. We had hoped to meet a troop of 50 monkeys one afternoon, but they stood us up! The fruit is ripe in the forest, so they don't need the human handouts right now... We have been shopping more than once and Alice's feet are tired from the cobblestone sidewalks. A new pair of sandals is in order. We will make a short day trip to the Panama border this week and then will decide when we pull out for Panama on Grey Wolf. The above photos show our afternoon on the island at Larry's lovely palapa home!

Alice's Busyness!

While home, Alice took advantage of the opportunity to have Kaeli over each week while her mom and dad were at work. Grandma Rowland usually watches her, but she and Grandma Johnson had fun and she became very comfortable being there. The above photo shows Kaeli helping Grandma wash dishes. Her little blue apron from Costa Rica is barely visible. She became so used to wearing it that she reminded Alice one day that she did NOT have hers on!

Since the long arm quilting machine was just sitting there, waiting for use, Margaret called to ask her mom if she would be able to finish a quilt top and two pillow shams that she had just finished in Ohio. No promises were made, but when the box arrived and Alice saw the size of the quilt top, she despaired of ever getting done with it! The machine did not cooperate, the batting did not cooperate, but after an entire week of struggling with it, the project was done... not perfectly, mind you, but done nonetheless. Alice does not want to ever do a top that big again- 100 inches square! Not a great photo of Kaeli, but the Pioneer Braid pattern shows up well.

Little Miss Kaeli grows UP

Alice has had several opportunities to watch Kaeli while her parents had to work or run errands. At 28 months, she is very talkative and very mature. She is not at all shy and will strike up a conversation with a stranger, not unlike her Aunt Melinda. She does an amazing job of entertaining herself, playing with dolls or toys for extended periods of time. She and Grandma Johnson had fun in the kitchen, too! We colored and crafted and read and cooked and played and napped- whew! She made her first big car trip, going to Clovis for two of her cousins' birthdays. Dad Eric went along, too, and enjoyed seeing sister Alison and her family. He and Arlene will have to run FAST to catch up with this kid!! Family photo above.

Alice Takes Care of Busyness at Home!

Alice has been VERY busy this past month. She flew home from Costa Rica on March 4 and will return on April 7. Between doing taxes, seeing doctors, family and friends, as well as opening a zillion pieces of mail and processing the important ones, she is closing in on being ready to catch up with Capt. Bill in Golfito, C.R., were he took the boat shortly after she left. We have friends there and it will be nice to get together with them, as well as take in some more of the land before we head on to Panama in May.

Above you will see a couple of interesting family photos. Margaret and Jeff flew from Ohio to Fresno for her birthday. Alice drove up and brought Jeff's parents, too. We all met at Alison and Rod's home. We had a whirlwind weekend, but a fun one as well. Son-in-law Rod had just had double knee surgery, so he was NOT having fun. The above picture shows Jeff, Margaret, Rob and Mary. The other unusual photo is at the Shoot-out in Indio Hills! Melinda and Owen (center) came to the desert one weekend with friends of theirs. It worked out for them to go shooting with both of Alice's sons, Justin and Eric, on left. They were surprised that Alice went along, doing most of her shooting with her camera, but they insisted she take a turn with the guns, too. She shot a round with a pistol and one shot with the SKS! Why not??? That is her mantra these days~

Tourist Heaven~ Costa Rica Part One

After a week in Nicaragua and making all the needed repairs, we headed for Costa Rica. Two sailboats we knew had taken off the day before, so we were not surprised to find them on anchor in Bahia Santa Elena when we pulled in from a 24 hour overnighter. The weather looked pretty good the next morning so we took off ahead of them to travel to Playa del Coco- our point of entry for Costa Rica. We did encounter our share of wind and waves, but nothing compared to what we have been in. We arrived mid-afternoon and anchored in the large bay where at least fifty other boats were anchored, some sailboats, some power boats, many fishing boats and ONE gigantic commercial sailboat, complete with shore tenders and four huge sails- See above. She is a unique version of a cruise ship!

The next day found us ashore and working to get all the needed paperwork filled out with the port captain, immigration and customs. It took most of the day, since customs is NOT located in Coco, but rather at the airport in Liberia, some 20 miles inland. Bill made the trip there while Alice kept an eye on our dinghy, ate lunch, and did some gawking and shopping. This town is VERY touristy, with more tourists on the streets than locals! Most prices in stores were in U.S. dollars, not colones.

We then headed south around the Nicoyan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Nicoya. There were good anchorages on both the east and west coasts, and we decided to head to the eastern anchorage of Bahia Herredura where Los Suenos Marina is located. We knew from reading that it was pricey, but nearly fell over when we called to see how much it would be to take our dinghy to the dock there: $40 U.S. dollars per day!!! The next day we pulled anchor and left.

Traveling north to Puntarenas, we experienced the shallow water that surrounds this peninsula. The "Backside" is where the marina is and our guide book indicated very shallow water there at low tide. By the time we were into 13 feet of water and still quite a distance from shore Bill thought better of it and hung a U and headed south again, skirting the numerous islands in this gulf. See above photo Alice took when she flew to the capital.

We wound up anchoring in Bahia Ballena, on the west coast, for a week, going ashore numerous times and locating a place to buy a puddlejumper ticket so Alice could travel to San Jose and on home on March 4. We met an expat New Yorker who runs a small restaurant. He was very helpful and even took us to the airstrip (no airport) when March 4 rolled around. While in Bahia Ballena we had the pleasure of visiting with people on three sailboats we had met earlier. We also got to know a couple from Vancouver, B.C. who have been circum- navigating the world for the past six years. They expect to be home again in 2010! Amazing~ After Alice left, Bill got word that our friends Ray and Paddy were home from the U.S., so he did an overnighter, arriving in Golfito on March 7. He reports it is beautiful there~ Alice will return April 7.

Nicaragua ~ A Hidden Paradise

We are usually anxious to relax after a trip on the water, but this time there was no rest. On top of the water in bilges, two of the three pumps were not working, so that required bailing and hand pumping LOTS of water. Bill also discovered a drain hole that was clogged... and later the cause of the pump failures- burned out wires! Electricity and water REALLY do not go together. After two days of hard, hard work on Bill's part and Alice doing wet bedding and clothes from a porthole leak and helping Bill as she could, we finally began to have time to relax and enjoy our beautfiul surroundings! The marina is adjacent to a lovely hotel (above) and has a spectacular view of Volcan Viejo, still active (top). We visited some with the boaters we had followed in and wound up making a day trip together to Chinandega, the nearest city 20 miles away, half on dirt road that is full of detours as the road will soon be paved. The marina has a once a week van trip, not free, to help boaters get provisions. Of course, Bill was looking for repair items for his list of problems! Although the countryside seems a bit greener and the animals a bit fatter, some of the homes are the poorest we have seen, including a cardboard 'city' just off the main road. We are told some workers only earn a dollar or two a day.
Alice had envisioned us being able to go on an inland road trip, but the repair situation and upcoming windy weather shelved that idea for this time. February is one of the windiest months, so we will have to plan our transit to Costa Rica around the upcoming weather window.

Tough Transit: El Salvador to Nicaragua

We left Bahia del Sol with high hopes for a safe trip to Puesta del Sol, Nicaragua. Our friends Bill and Jean crossed the bar just ahead of us (above) and then headed north toward Mexico. We turned southeast, planning to anchor in Golfo de Fonseca the first night out. The early part of the day was nice, but then the seas picked up. It was 4 PM when Bill noticed that the engine had overheated... it took seven gallons of water to fill up the heat exchanger! At that point we could not travel on to the islands in the gulf, so headed straight for shore. The sun set shortly before we reached the shallow water we were seeking, but we could sure see the surf on the beach as we finally anchored in 30 ft. of water. The night passed uneventfully even though we were in open roadstead (no protection). The next morning Bill was up early to patch the heat exchanger hole with epoxy and good old duct tape! The wind was really blowing, so we headed on to Isla Meanguera where we anchored in Guerrero Cove and found three sailboats and an El Salvadoran Navy boat already there! We wound up staying three nights, meeting the other boaters, and even taking a hike on the island. (You can just see Grey Wolf in the center of the top photo) Once the winds had calmed down we all decided to beat it to Nicaragua. The sailboats left before we did but we figured we would catch up with them... wrong. When Bill went to pull the anchor he found that the bridle had gotten wrapped around our bow thruster and nearly pulled it off. He had to dive into the water to secure lines around the broken thruster and then we took off, listening to the thing bang the front of the boat incessantly. We almost caught up with the sailboats, as they were hanging out waiting for the pilot to guide them in. About that time Bill noticed the engine overheating AGAIN, so we added eight gallons of water and then found that the entire bilge was awash in water that had poured in through the bolt holes of the thruster... later we were able to move into the estuary and finally reach Marina Puesta del Sol!!! We are so grateful for Heavenly Father's watchful care over us~

El Salvador ~ The Savior !

As we continued east along the Central American coast, we were accompanied by the ever-present Ring of Fire. The twin peaks of San Vicente are shown in the photo above, as viewed from our dock in Bahia del Sol. We traveled overnight from Guatemala, arriving early afternoon and just in time to WAIT four hours for the tide to turn so we could enter the estuary! Rogelio from the marina and our friend Bill from sailboat Mita Kuuluu came out to guide us in and take photos, too! (top photo) After checking into the country and paying our dues, we decided to stay in a slip instead of on the hook so we could more freely run our A/C. The humidity is relatively low this time of year but still high for us desert rats...

The whole atmosphere of El Salvador seems friendly and welcoming. Prices are reasonable and the money is the U.S. dollar! It is funny to walk through an open air market and hear the hawkers calling "Diez por 2 quarters~" One of Alice's first ventures for shopping was to Zacatecaluca by local bus with friend Jean. By the time we got there on two different buses, walked through the huge marketplace, ate lunch and returned to the marina it took six hours- a good day's work...

Bill and Jean needed to go to the capital for dental appointments, so the four of us rode the bus to the city and got rooms at Myer's House B & B. Between appointments we were able to make a day trip to two smaller communities with Jorge, who runs a tourism service and has become Bill and Jean's friend. First we drove east through the huge city where half of the country's population lives. We stopped in Ilopango to visit a factory where clay figurines and plaques are manufactured. Dozens of shops lined the street as we drove into town, displaying a variety of souvenirs, many made from the local clay. Alice got a little carried away, but by buying only the miniature figurines she hopes to get them all home safely in March.

The next town was Suchitoto, a community of classic colonial architecture and one of the first areas where the war took its toll, with some buildings still showing bullet holes. We ate lunch at a lovely French restaurant and looked around the beautiful hacienda-style hotel adjacent to it. Then we did a bit of shopping, ending on the plaza where La Iglesia de Santa Lucia is under renovation. Jorge is a walking encyclopedia and gave us many insights into the history and culture of El Salvador. One of the causes of the war in the 80's-90's was injustice to the indigenous people. Many moved away and those who stayed do not wear native dress or practice native customs, as they have tried to blend into the modern culture. In fact, he called Salvadorans imitators of other cultures. Western dress, food, and music is very apparent.

Our third day in the city found the two couples going separate ways- Bill and Jean on a hunt for two guitars and Bill and Alice to spend the day with a 'new' friend, the sister-in-law of friends in Indio! Elizabeth and daughter Mariel came to pick us up at the B & B and then took us on a tour of the western part of the city. We stopped at the Guzman Museo and enjoyed seeing the interesting archeological displays there. We also went to Las Galerias, one of the many huge malls in the city. This one was actually built around a lovely old home which today is divided into several shops! After picking up her son at school we went to their home for a very traditional lunch: bean and cheese pupusas and vinaigrette coleslaw~ yummy. We had planned to ride the bus home, but failing to find the terminal, Elizabeth insisted on driving us all the way to the marina ~ what a dear!

Our SKY Mexico TV has been put to good use lately, what with pro football playoff games and the presidential inauguration where our salon was full of spectators. The same will happen for Super Bowl, complete with a potluck dinner. There are numerous sailboats here, occupied by Americans. The lovely sportfishing boats in the marina are either owned by locals or sit here idly waiting for owners to fly in for the occasional fishing trip to locate dorado or sailfish (catch and release).

As our two weeks here stretch into three, we continue to enjoy the boat, our friends, the marina and beach within walking distance. This is a place we will definitely visit again.

GUATEMALA ~ Land of the Quetzal Bird

Our first impression of Guatemala was that we were getting ripped off with high prices... The marina was $425 for a week, the paperwork for entry was $165, the fellow who took us on our one day tour wanted $300 (paid $250). Most cruisers bypass Guatemala, but Alice really wanted to stop since her son-in-law Rod had service his two year mission for the LDS Church here. Also, we were HERE, so why not see the country?

We were pleasantly surprised to find that our driver, Noe Urias, had brought a friend along for our excursion who spoke excellent English. Elias had studied in Belize and had lived in the U.S. for ten years, so he was extremely helpful. We left the marina at 6 AM for a LONG day of sightseeing. The hardest part of the entire trip was the miles we spent traversing a portion of the Pan American Highway. Where it is finished it is a nice four lane road, but every so often there were portions that were either in disrepair or under construction. It took about 3 1/2 hours to drive to the furthest destination- Chichicastenango, high in the mountains to the northwest. Here we saw the most colorful native market in the country. The children hawk their wares with dogged persistence, knowing enough English to press a hard bargain! La Iglesia de Santo Tomas has stood for hundreds of years, blending Catholicism with Mayan beliefs.

Working our way over to Lake Atitlan and the town of Panajachel, we were amazed at the farming being conducted on every available piece of land- small individual plots of every color of green created a pathwork quilt effect on the countryside. As we neared the lake we stopped for a photo op. Sadly, the sky was gray and overcast. Then we worked our way down to the shore and the town which turned out to be horridly commercialized. The natives were well-prepared for all the tourist traffic, of course. It would have been neat to go out on the lake, but then, we LIVE on the water... As we looked for a place to park, a gaggle of LDS missionaries spilled out a gate and onto the street!

Noe had agreed to take us three places for our price. Then Alice got on the internet and found the Mayan ruins of Iximche only a few miles off the Pan American Highway. So she begged to go there, too, even agreeing to skip Antigua if it took too much time. Interestingly, neither Noe nor Elias had ever been there! Still on the altiplano, the highlands, the area is covered with evergreen trees and is very cool this time of year. Some of the buildings have been excavated and are in fairly good shape. We were surprised to find people climbing and walking all over them. There was also a simple museum with a few artifacts and an interesting scale model of the entire community. This settlement has been dated at 1470 AD, not long before the Spaniards arrived.

It was late afternoon when we arrived at Antigua, a beautiful city reflecting the colonial period. It was awarded the rare title of a World Heritage city by UNESCO. We walked the lovely city park and took as many photos as possible in the fading light. Most everyone looked like turistas, save the people working the shops and cafes. Curiously, the photo of the ladies in their long aprons was shot here- not the typical Antigua dress which is western.

In the early light of morning we had seen several volcanoes, one spewing smoke. Our hope was to get photos going back, but by then it was dark. We did take some shots from the roof of the boat later, which are shown above. Guatemala is an interesting mixture of old and new, traditional and modern, rich and very poor. Please view the slideshow on the side bar by right clicking on the photo. You will want to slow down the slides to 8-10 seconds depending on how fast you read! Enjoy Guatemala!