The sailboat I am sailing on to Belize

After a week in the jungle of Rio Dulce, I am off in just a couple of hours for a 6 day sailing trip to Belize. Belize is just above Guatemala and apparently at one time was all one country.

No computer, no internet and heavens knows what else I am in for. It should be interesting and I am very much looking forward to the trip. You can check out more at www.sailing-diving-guatemala.com

The weather this week has been overcast and cool - a dramatic change from the usual “steambath” that I had heard about Rio Dulce. Like everywhere in the world, the climate is changing. I am hoping and praying for blue skies in Belize.

This trip was a great lesson in checking out what I wanted to do before making judgments about whether or not it was in the budget. Probably you have said more times than not, “I can´t afford to do that!” I bet you´ve said that before you even knew what anything was going to cost! You had just decided in your mind you couldn´t afford it.

It´s why I have learned to check things out because more often than not, I´m surprised by the price….to the good! For example, 6 nights on this sailboat, all food included …click here to read more

Popularity: 10% [?]

This little girl´s mother died giving birth to her

One night while having dinner in San Marcos, I noticed an older Caucasian woman with a young Guatemalan child. Nosy me was trying to figure out the relationship, as there didn´t seem to be a mother present and this woman was either babysitting or a guardian. Finally, I just asked and wow – what a story.

While this little girl´s mother was giving birth to her, the mother died. The father, unable to take care of the new baby or the older brother, relinquished guardianship of the brother to a grandmother and gave this Caucasian woman who happened to be in the room for the birth, legal guardianship of the new baby.

Talk about an instant change in one´s plans. Unfortunately, because of the woman´s age, the Guatemalan government won´t let her officially the little girl …click here to read more

Popularity: 10% [?]

The little house I am currently staying in on the Rio Dulce

It seems like a lifetime ago that I was sitting in my place on Lake Atitlan making arrangements for Brenda and Adrian´s trip to Guatemala in February. Now they´re gone and I´m wrapping up the last couple of weeks in Central America.

One of the places I reserved was on the Rio Dulce (literally Sweet River) at a place called Hotel Tortugal. With thatched roofs and a real jungle feeling, we decided it was a bargain at $50 a night for an adorable little house in a romantic setting for Brenda and Adrian and reasonable for a bungalow at $40 a night for me.

However, when we arrived last Friday, the romantic little house was very cute but my bungalow was dark, small and wasn´t at all conducive to getting any work done this week. So off I went to speak with the owner about what we could do. Thankfully, she understood completely, especially when she heard I was working on my next book and would be spending lots of time in my place writing.

Once I made it clear to her what was important to me (light, space, privacy and a place to work), she took me to this little house behind where Brenda and Adrian were staying. Very private, located at the top of the hill overlooking the river with jungle all around, Brenda and I were pretty impressed by the size and amenities the little house had. Lovely livingroom furniture, a wrap-around balcony with tables, chairs and plenty of places to work, a full kitchen and a large bedroom all added up to a nice house.

I was thinking, “yikes, if the little bungalow is $40, Brenda and Adrian´s is $50, …click here to read more

Popularity: 9% [?]

The hot waterfalls at Finca Paraiso

Life in the Rio Dulce is another world. It´s hard to believe that it´s the same country as Lake Atitlan and Antigua. It reminds me alot of when I lived on the coast in Ecuador. It´s probably all the bugs that has me reminiscing the most. On Saturday Brenda, Adrian and I had a fabulous day, hiring a private boat and a captain to take us to Livingston. Livingston is unique for 2 reasons - you can only get to it by boat and it has a large population of Garfuna people. We got off the boat and thought we were in Jamaica!

Yup, they speak English, they are black like the Jamacians and it felt like another world. It was a total culture shock! After a few hours wandering through the town, eating and drinking, talking to some very interesting folks, we headed back to Rio Dulce. The river, although not the largest by any means in Central America is considered one of the most beautiful and our captain took us through narrow tributaries …click here to read more

Popularity: 10% [?]