Riding the Rio Dulce

          A week ago we checked into Guatemala at Livingston, and headed up the river for Texan Bay.  Going through the Gorge, as it is called was amazing.  The gorge lasts for the first 6 miles or so upriver.  We were destined to make Texan Bay for the night, which is 7 miles upriver, or something like that.  It was getting late and we had nearly 3 knots of current flowing out the gorge, so we motored at full throttle up the river in order to get there by nightfall. Meg and the dogs stood on the bows the whole 6 miles taking pictures and basking in the excitement of entering a new country.   Raul, our check-in agent advised not staying the night in Livingston, as you were almost guaranteed to get fucked with.  Not that the Guatemalans were interested in hurting anyone, but he made it sound like they were gonna scope your boat for anything that wasn't locked down while you slept in your bed.

          We got to Texan Bay right at nightfall and as it is a small little bay, we tied up with Salty Dog in voltran formation - one anchor, two boats.  We woke up early the next morning and cruised through El Golfete up to Fronteras, were the area is patrolled by the Guatemalan navy.  I guess they recognize the value of having the cruisers feel safe here and stay and spend their dough.  In this area there are a handful of marinas to choose from, or you can just anchor in front of them, and it is considered pretty safe.  We and Salty Dog grabbed a mooring ball at Tortugal Marina, which is a short dinghy ride from town but up river, which makes it clean enough for swimming in.  At 5 bucks a night, we considered this well worth it for use of the large facilities, bathroom, etc.  Some people scoff at us for swimming in the river, because the Guatemalans bath in it, wash their clothes in it, probably shit in it, etc.  But this is a big river, the water is moderately clear, and has good flow, and we are up river of the major towns.  For us, it is just too nice not to swim in.  Besides, I would put this river up to bacterial testing against any that people swim in back home, the indian river lagoon, hell even the Mississippi.  Those probably handle way more agricultural farming shit and runoff than this river.  And the dogs love it.
          Prices here are pretty cheap:  beer is 120 Quetzales for a case, which is about 16 dollars.  Not great but not that bad.  You can get a pork chop, a pile of seasoned rice, a giant 20 inch diameter flour tortilla, and a side of vegetables for 25Q, or 3 bucks. Last night we ate at the marina restaurant, and had bacon wrapped fillet mignon with side salad, twice baked potato, bread, and apple cobbler with homeade whipped cream for 60Q, or 8 dollars.  The jungle around the river is very cool, cashew trees, monkeys, cotton trees, and crazy birds.  We haven't really done much exploring yet, except for the town, as we are trying to clean the boats up and get some overdue projects completed.  It is hot and muggy here, but where we are we can jump in the water any time we want.  So life is good.
        Although there has been some bad stories in the past no one has really fucked with us at all.  The vegetable vendors try and test your math when you are buying stuff but thats about it.  We do see the navy patrol boat every night, which is a camouflaged panga that has a guy in fatigues with a shotgun and an assault rifle.  One guy drives him around while a third guy shines the spot light.  This is just a small force and the patrol area is pretty large, but nobody seemed to be fucking around,... until last night.    I woke up at exactly midnight to Penny barking.  She does this every so often and I have to go out there and see what she is barking at, usually another boat passing by too close for her comfort, or someone shining a light onshore, or sometimes I can't tell what the hell she is barking at. Very often it is the Navy Patrol boat.  She has been doing this since we left Florida.  So I'm used to it, and I guess I appreciate it, but every time I have to calm her down and tell her to stop barking so we can sleep.  But last night she was on the sugar scoop barking at the water.  So I walk down there and I'll be damned if there aren't a flood of bubbles coming up between the boat and where the canoe is tied off (actually it is locked to the big boat.)  So it takes me a minute to shake off the grogginess and I'm thinking "what the fuck is...no, can't be, is it?.....a fucking scuba diver?" no fucking way.  So I grab the spot light and start shining around the bubbles to see if I can see this son of a bitch.  He responds by swimming to the middle of the boat and I guess holding onto one of the keels or something, maybe hoping I won't see him and go back to bed.   But he's such a dumb shit that he doesn't realize his bubbles are still coming up and making alot of noise.  I'm still not positive this is going on, you know your mind tries to rationalize what is happening in the most non threating way possible, like could a manatee give off that many bubbles, or could this be some kind of geological disturbance under the river.  How could a guatemalan even get a scuba tank, let alone get one filled?  As I wrestle with this I turn the light off and sit down to think, then the bubbles start coming back to the scoop.  Now I'm sure this is what I think it is, and the first words out of my mouth are "Get Him, Penny".  She obeys and starts flipping out on the scoop, so ferocious that even I get a little scared that she is gonna jump in.  I turn the light back on and start looking around the water, like where did this guy swim from, and sure as shit about 200 yards behind the boat is a panga anchored.  I wake Meghan up and tell her to call the coast guard, which she does repeatedly, with no answer.  Then I start shining the light around hoping that by some chance the patrol boat is near and I can flash him with the light, but of course, he's not.  By now the bubbles are starting to head back toward the panga, I don't know what else to do except keep the light shining on him.  About halfway between me and the Panga the shithead surfaces and shines a light at the panga.  Then a guy I hadn't seen before in the boat shines a light back, pulls the anchor and comes over and picks him up.  The whole time I just keep the light on them both, and they start cussing at me, and shining their light at me, so now were are trading light bullets back and forth.  I stand my ground though and tell them to fuck off, I've called the coast guard and they are on their way.  They just slowly motor back up the river, cussing at me in spanish the whole time, like i've offended them by botching their plan.  Never did hear from the Coast Guard.  We did get the name of the panga though, Balzar, or something like that.  I guess we'll try and report it today.
         Funny thing about this is that same day I was telling Meg how Penny has really been getting on my nerves lately.  She is always following me around the boat panting her ass off, breathing hot breath on me while  I'm trying to get shit done.  And god forbid you try to take the canoe out without her.  She throws a fit and barks these screeachy paranoid barks for about 5 minutes until she can't see you anymore.  When she is in the canoe and you don't let her sit right in the very front, she jumps from side to side in the middle of the canoe, rocking it back and forth.  If you get too close to shore she jumps out of the canoe, runs up the bank, and then takes a shit on some guatemalan's yard, that you now have to get out and go pick up and carry around with you till you find a garbage somewhere.  Or if you are canoeing way up a tributary where the water is shallow and muddy and filled with pond scum, she has to get in and swim through the mud, then jump her disgusting body back in the canoe and fill it with foul smelling water.  When you try to take her on a jungle walk or something, she pulls on her damn leash the whole time, which is aggravating, and once we get far enough away from the marina and take her off the leash she walks about 100 yards in front of you, and pretends like she can't hear you when you call her to come back.  And if a guatemalan wanders out of the jungle, no matter if he has a stick or machete or a bag of groceries, she confronts him so ferociously that even I'm not sure that she won't bite him. (she has never bitten anyone by the way)  It's embarrassing.   I just want to choke her sometimes.
          So I was just telling Meg I was starting to regret bringing her, when she goes and alerts me to a fucking scuba diver trying to steal my dinghy.  Go figure.  She definitely earned herself another 6 months on the boat.  Good job bitch.
C

Gualby from the Livingston wharf

Livingston waterfront

voltran formation

Penny gets shaved

exploring some tributaries