We've been cut off from news etc, by thieves. In the middle of a rainy night(like most thefts here) the cable from town disappeared. It has taken the victimized company about 2 weeks to get us back up to speed.
More soon.
ron
Today we saw something unusual in our small riverfront town of Fronteras. It seems a family gave a try at as street musicians. They held a crowd that reacted casually to them, maybe not knowing what to do or how to react. We listened for awhile, enamored by the lovely sounds and connection between the musicians. When Dorothy photographed them she stood out, cameras are not always OK here, and are kind of rare in the local population....a luxury item. When she walked in and put $ in the musicians basket the crowds' eyes were upon her. Who Knows; I hope it's a connection to the future, with more of the populace grasping opportunity. Rules of human behavior have been changing here as elsewhere that seem to be working for the majority. Slow it is, but progress in the right direction deserves a salute.
The music was just wonderful!
GOOD FRIDAY
Easter celebrations on the river, cover the gamut of possibilities. My first visit here in 1989 as crew on a friends sailboat has been quiet and almost serene. I actually do not remember seeing an outboard engine on the river in those days, but now? It's like any holiday on any river or lake in the USA but a bit more dangerous and the sights are more unusual.
We heard of a religious procession of boats, carrying a statue of Jesus and Mary, followed by many boats filled with the faithful, the night before. Dorothy awaited them with camera ready. I did not know what to expect, but thought it would be less than what it turned out to be. Apparently they start in town, get onto boats and proceed down one side of the river for a ways, then come back on the other side, stopping frequently and blessing any small gathering they see.
The priest in all his vestments, read from a prayer list held for him by a gentle looking follower. The boat was decorated as would a float in a parade. A longer Dug Out Canoe (yup, made from one log), was the platform for Mary....and about 30/mostly Mayan worshipers.
Remember: You can click on any photo on this site to ENLARGE it.
Other long boats, short boats, fat boats, slow boats and fast boats, maneuvered around in a pack from one stop to the next. Some were tired, sunburned and probably thirsty, while others stood with hands outstretched, eyes closed and praying loudly in unison with the priest.
The carvings were excellent and it is usual for these statues to be paraded in religious parades often throughout the year.
The number of Mayans in some of the Long Cayugas might have been close to 50, but I never saw a life preserver. Guessing of course, but I also guess most of them do not swim.
God protects.
It was quiet during the procession, which took several hours, I'm sure, but afterwards and all week long, the river was alive with activity. Sorry to say, the mechanical 8' mosquito, the PWC has found it's way here too. Fathers with children, whole families, one or 4 at a time or 1 or 2 towing 1-4 on air inflated wings, rafts or banana shaped floats, began their madness at early breakfast(for most humans) and stopped after darkness. "AFTER!!"
Everything from sport fishes, to PWC's and from 50' long dug outs to 8' long dug outs with fishermen plying their hand lines had to share the surface. The only road coming in and out of town over the massive German built bridge, was slow...packed with cars, trucks and buses. Slow, because there is no traffic control here. They stop right on the bridge to
take photos, eat lunch or as seen this weekend....set up a Bungee Jumping concession! Oh, I did not mention the boat towing a swimmer/with life vest/but up a few hundred feet in a parachute.
Yes, it was a heck of a week. The rich and famous/even with helicopters flying guests in and out of their compounds and the middle class's exuberant shenanigans and excess toys came down to the river to party. The rest came also do their darnedest to party as well as the richest.
It was a Good Friday and now, it's a Good Monday...all is quiet again.
The day we arrived back on the river from a 3.5 month visit to the U.S., the boat next to us had a thousand or so bees gathered on the center of it's mast. They had had an infestation problem before, so knew who to call. A couple of local gents arrived in a small boat, with a coke bottle half filled with a milky white substance. Their routine, was to be hauled up the mast, wearing some long clothing; stuff a couple of pieces of cloth into holes next to sheaves and soak the rags with this chemical. Well, it worked. The bees left their boat and 2 days later, they were seen on my mast!
OK. We played the game and payed them too. They agreed to do it after dusk, when the bees would be in the nest they were forming and hopefully pass on to bee heaven-not affecting another boat nearby in our marina setting. Up they went, chemical in place. Next morning some dead ones on deck but none seen around the boat. That afternoon, they were on another 2 boats, 80 feet away.
Guatemala has plenty of bees and springtime is time for them to work endlessly harvesting pollen from the local fauna.
Later on, the couple on boat #1 was discussing a local bee keeper that had set up shop years ago to gain a supply of special honey for medicinal purposes. It never turned out to be a big business, but he still supplies some locals. Not knowing he wa
s out of town at the moment, we decided to pay him a visit and see if we could get a bit of a tour of his operation.
We set out this morning for a short ride up river as passengers in our neighbor's launcha to view the bee keeper's property. His property caretaker, always smiling Manuel, "Tough as Texas", courteously took time to walk us around the property. A lovely piece of land rising from the river up a gently sloping hill shaded by tall trees.
Our friends launcha entered a cove on the rivers north shore. We approached the thatched cottage on the shore behind a docked 75' wooden schooner from yesteryear and proceeded up hill.
Ingenuity was evident everywhere. The surface of the long walkway from the dock to the living areas up hill, was made of thick cut local timbers and varnished. Stripped and varnished smaller tree trunks served as uprights holding a complex structure of reinforced, thatched palm fronds. Much work, but it protects foot traffic from rain and sun. It was surprising to note the difference in temperature as we walked through.
Cottages, with screened in large porches, were the dominant structures, along with a few shelters for old automobiles, firewood etc., but one storage shed had actually been taken over by--you guessed it! BEES!
The bees, actually 4 types, were active everywhere. When Manuel would get close to a certain size box however, he would move very slow and cautiously. These bees were 'Africanized' bees....a hybrid of the usual honey bee of the Americas and the easily aggravated African bee. I
had a recollection or at least had
this half- assed idea that if I were calm, they would be too.
I proceeded into a cluster of boxes up at the top of the hill with him and took note of the bee action. Not far enough I thought to get into trouble, but well probably too darned close. I certainly cannot outrun a bee colony. Well, all went smooth :) no problem at all. They buzzed Manuel, who seemed concerned, but did not even come near me.
Cocoa plants were also grown under the shade of the taller mahogany and other trees on the property.
The property was beautiful with rolling hills, trimmed of underbrush years ago. Tall trees of various types, plants in bloom and the quiet of a natural set
ting was a rare pleasure for us.
Caesar summoned the Senate to meet in the Theatre of Pompey on the Ides of March. A certain seer warned Caesar to be on his guard against a great peril on the day of the month of March which the Romans call the Ides; and when the day had come and Caesar was on his way to the senate-house, he greeted the seer with a jest and said: "The Ides of March has come," and the seer said to him softly: "Yes, the Ides of March has come, but it has not passed."[3]
As the Senate convened, Caesar was attacked and stabbed to death by a group of senators who called themselves the Liberatores ("Liberators"); they justified their action on the grounds that they committed tyrannicide, not murder, and were preserving the Republic from Caesar's alleged monarchical ambitions.
not sure what is happening in this country, but my gut is not comfortable. Revolutionaries had captured many police in Livingston, the Entry Port of the Carribean side of Guatemala, and this week also in separate episodes, there have been other Indigenous Revolts. Tonight I heard a comment from Antigua, the ex capital that the country was near breakdown.
We will see...but my anchor is up and dock lines loose. I'd really love to be wrong here.
UPDATE----March 18th, 2008: The Ides of March was supposed to be March 15th for the Romans. Here in Guatemala on March 15th, 4 Belgian tourists and their guides were kidnapped from a launcha on the Rio Dulce. This is a Major change in the battle of the indigenous indians vs. the government in their dispute/ occasional confrontation over "Land Issues". Reports are the military tracked them down and shot one of the captors. This morning a warning came in to us mariners on the river over the VHF radio, by the local Jungle Medic, an American doing Great Work here for the indians, that the indians are very aggressive and had possibly set a trap for him last evening; he suggests a high level of caution for any travelers. Things appear to be escalating!
Much of what is done in this country is still done by hand and often a team effort. The Mayan population has toiled in the hills for centuries, cultivating crops on slopes so steep, I doubt many Americans could even walk up once, no less work on all day. Human labor has until very recently been the only methond to get things done with the exception of the horse brought over with the Spanish Conquistadors 500 years ago, little has changed in this underdeveloped country until the 
turn of the century when Europeans, mostly Germans, set up plantations and introduced modern methods of production and transportation.
Roads in this tall mountainous country are a serious challenge to build. At the moment, Tiawan is building many of the roads here..not sure what the arrangement is, but there seems to be a big plan, country wide.
Paths worn into hillsides show the centuries of foot traffic patterns. Roads however are relatively new or quite old and the quality of each is similarly different. I have noticed that vehicles here normally do not show high mileage and that makes sense considering they usually do not have to go far until the road becomes unbearable and you return home! The condition of cars and trucks due to the stress of conditions here are sometimes quite poor.
Horses are used by those in the country and in many ways I guess it's like the old West here. In towns, even small cities, caballeros are seen galloping down the street.
Cars are fairly new to the country, again, as road conditions are generally poor, but work vehicles are common. Trucks and buses abound as well as other smaller vehicles.
The buses now range from the so called Chicken Buses, which are actually old U.S. school buses used to transport the local population around, to the new Mercedes and other big name monsters that carry tourists and those better off financially. The chicken buses are hell to ride on but cool to look at. 
Overloaded often on the roof and inside, with people and cargo. Bicycles, sacks of potatoes, oranges, avacadoes etc. on the roof and People packed in 3 or 4 to a seat. The standing room is-well let's say tight...'real tight'.
One thing nice about those chicken buses though is their usually painted up neat and real eye catchers.
Some are on their last leg, as is the one on the left, but I bet it's still functioning many years from now. Unless it goes off a mountain road one of these days for loss of brakes!
Painted up and trimmed out in after market chrome goodies, they almost look luxurious.
Early in the season we got near misses from 2 catagory 5 hurricanes, one passing north of us and slamming into the natural jungles of Belize above our river hideaway and the other just south of us, eaten up by the rugged mountains of Honduras. All is well here, but as usual we are checking the weather for our location as well as home base in Florida.
There is a link on the right side of this plage for you to get a quick upload of Caribbean Weather.
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Recently, due to thefts of outboards on the Rio Dulce here in Guatemala, some of the mariners have been working hard to get security increased, or at least crime decreased. Overall, things have worked well and last week, the Navy patrol on the river, caught 2 thieves.
