Dreaming about a bigger bed room.

Sun rise over Lago Isabal

More wild life on the Rio oscuro

The bromeliads are budding out and soon this will be a dark red,huge flower

Some of the wildlife on the Rio Oscuro.

We are sailing across Lago Izabal in route to an anchorage at Ensenada Balandra. The first stop in our bid to see the wildlife on Rio Oscuro. We are in hopes of seeing the Houler Monkeys known to live there.

Early in the morning we leave our anchorage on the remote southwest corner of Lago Izabal and head up the Rio Oscuro in hopes of seeing the howler monkeys. The clouds were heavy like most mornings in the Sierra de los Minas behind us.

From the Rio Oscuro we turned south down a small tributary called the Rio Zarquito.This is a picture taken on the Rio Zarquito. JD calls this the tunnel of love. The birds, butterflies and other wildlife were phenomenal. The howler monkeys were very close and you could hear their eerie growl coming from the jungle. As soon as we turned onto this river you could feel a change in the air. It was very cool and you could hear the water moving down from the mountains. The sweet fragrance of the tropical flowers and beautiful blooms were everywhere.

Well we went out for Dorado but caught Barracuda. Maybe Miguel and Thomas taught me too well in the Barracuda tournament. All in all we had a great time. We saw big starfish in clear water under the boat and big rays jumping out of the water. Another trip to remember.

We took a short sail trip out to Bahia de Graciosa. This is a boat that anchored close to us a few days later. This was right at sunset. The anchorage was beautiful and we had a very calm day that we motored out to the Gulf of Honduras. We found a very shallow area about 10-12 feet. The sun was high over head and the water was like glass. We could see the bottom and the star fish and rays and crabs and small fish were jumping all around us. We saw lots of starfish and rays as long as our dinghy jumping all the way out of the water as if they were about to take flight.

We are having trouble posting pictures right now--but we have been out to the Gulf of Honduras anchoring out in the Bahia Graciosa and saw some wonderful sights

This is another market very nice and spread out around two city blocks. There are also aisles through out the building inside. You can find almost anything you desire to eat here and it is not nearly as crowded as the the market we took Mom and Ben to in Antigua.

Well Mom and Ben have completed their trip to Guatemala. We saw many wonderful sights, ate a lot of good food and enjoyed each others company. Ben even started speaking a little Spanish. This is our goodbye Photo at the hotel in Guatemala city. I am sure Ben and Mom have a lot of photos and stories to share with their friends back home.

One night we had dinner at Hotel Don Rodrigo with Ben and Mom the food was great and there was a traditional dance (the Mayans against the Spaniards) the dance lasted for over 30 minutes. fun was had by all.

Ben and I stopped by to eat some hot wings and have a beer. Ben made the comment that in Guatemala Hooters has a better staff of hooters. Don't worry Martha she only got this close once for the photo and all the others kept their distance as well.

While in one of the villages near Antigua mom was modeling some traditional Mayan attire.

This is how we get somethings here on the Rio. This is a delivery for the restaurant but twice a week a boat comes with several ice chests full of groceries, pork chops, bacon, cheeses and yogurts. The grocery boat is from Casa Guatemala which is an orphanage here on the Rio and they will sell to the boaters too. I like to patronize them because it benefits the orphanage. Plus their boat pulls up in the spot right next to ours. Also on Saturday morning a fellow comes by with a boat load of shrimp and while his shrimp is a little more expensive than the fish market in town, it is really convenient to step off the boat and buy it right on the dock. Of course any of the fisherman will sell you fish off of their boats you just have to call out to them as they paddle by.

Of course for most things it is a trip into town in the dinghy and lugging it back to the boat in the backpack. So it is when you live on the river with no road access.

While we were in Antigua we toured a Jade factory they made every thing from small reasonably priced jewelry to large reproductions of pieces found in the Mayan ruins. they can also make pieces to your request. it was here that we learned that Jade is not always green it comes in many different colors green is just most common. the most expensive color is lavender.

Guess where this is. first hint it is not in Guatemala. OK Peggy took it at Miro lake near Mount Baker Washington state and sent it to us. It is such a good photo I decided to share it with the rest of my friends and family.

Most of the old buildings in Antigua have been damaged by earth quakes some have been restored others have not. A lot of the buildings that have been restored have become hotels or restaurant's. this one is waiting its turn.

This is what Linda would have looked like if she had been raised up in this village. Of course all the clothes in the shop are for sale to the local women and tourist alike.

This young lady amazed me as she worked with a hand loom. I took severial video clips of her working. every time I walked by I was compelled to stop and watch.

This is a picture of the 3 volcanos at Lake Attitlan taken from the public swimming area a short distance from the hotel where we stayed in Pananjachel. We could see them from our room as well. On a trip to the villages across the lake close to the shore we saw floating rocks something we had never seen before. We believe they are pumice stone but are not sure so we took a couple back to the boat for souvenirs.

This tiny lady latched onto JD and I when we were at Chichicastenango on market day. No she is not standing in a hole and JD is not standing on a box. She is less than 4 ft and carries her baby on her back and a big bundle of goods she is selling. She followed us around all day and I guess she finally wore us down because when we saw her in the market the next day at Panajchel we bought a jagaur mask. Here she is finalizing the deal with JD.

Note the other lady with the bundle of wares on her head, she also carries a large basket which she sat down to show JD her textiles which were woven in her village.

This is a church close to the downtwon area. It is one of many churches in Antigua. This one is particularly beautiful and we attended services there on Sunday morning. It was hard to decide which church to go to for Sunday as many are beautiful and some are really relics.

One of our favotite restaurants in Antiqua Los Palmas. They serve a really good steak here and the wine is super. We will publish a photo of Momma Lola's later. It is a unique experience with typical Guatemalan/Mayan food.

We were surprised to learn that JD was born on Guatemala's Independence Day. So the Guatelmalans celebrate JD's birthday much like they celebrate our anniversary in the states. Parades,fireworks, lots of music, children running thru the streets blowing whistles and carrying torches and of course lots of food to eat. The town square was alive with people, cooking, selling cotton candy and all sorts of food and toys. We ate at the food court until we were sorry we were too full to eat another bite because the food was so tasty. All kinds of foods we were not familiar with. The sights, sounds and smells were delightful. The parades started at 9am and we thought they were over about 1130 but they started again about 3p and lasted till dusk. Laurie told us the food was great in Antigua but we had no idea how great until we got here.

The independence parade in Antigua included dancing in the street.

OK one more and then we are off to Antigua. This is new construction near San Felipe. Notice the scaffolding they make it on sight from poles they cut from near by trees and wired together. I dont know how they make them stand up much less to be sturdy enough to suport the workers. OSHA would have a field day here. Any way the Jungle Medic is only 1/2 mile up the road and there is a hospital only 2 hours away I guess they will be OK. I hope so.

AHH a well needed break after a long walk to San felipe. We had lunch and Refreshcos before starting our journey back to Tortugal.

We liked this hotel so we checked the price of the rooms here. It is 300Q a night $37.50 US for two. Not bad when you consider the nice pool, restaurant, view of lake Isabel, Small Zoo and the grounds look like a botanical garden.

Note: Mary's hat on the door.

After walking to San felipe we decided to have lunch at a local hotel this is the walk way to the restaurant and pool area.

The ring and small rope in his nose combined with a 2 strand barbed wire fence did not deter our desire to quickly move on down the road. The picture doesn't show it but he had an attitude!!

On our walk to san felipe we saw this large animal much larger than any bull we have ever seen.

JD wanted to wait for a special time to open the bottle of Port that was given to us by Frank Guardner at the bon voyage party --we have met a nice Australian couple who own Hotel Kangaroo and Restaurant locted not far from our boat. This is JD and Gary toasting with a glass of port as they enjoy the hot tub

This is Hot water falls at Finca Paraiso. A nice place to swim.

For anyone having trouble leaving comments for JD and Linda, make sure you sign into your account that you set up through Google or any of the others. When it asks for profile type pick the carrier that your account is through. You shouldn't have any trouble after that.

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J.D. and Linda

The floor of the jungle gets very little sun light so the plants have different ways to cope with this. The love tree grows tall and thin to reach the sunlight above. It wraps its limbs around another tree for support. As it gets larger it will kill the other tree. love it to death I guess.

Ok I am going back in time to when we were in Isla Mujeres in some of the best waters I have fished. I Talked with my friend Thomas Boylan today and he told me he was fixing up a beautiful off shore fishing boat. Next time I go fishing with him it may be in style. Any of you sailors going near Isla Mujeres stop in at Marina Paraiso and have a beer with Thomas a better host would be hard to find.

I may be a brave sailor but indiana Jones I am not. No way am I going through that door it is very dark in there.

We all know that the ivory billed woodpecker is extinct, or is it. We saw several woodpeckers in the jungle of Guatemala that would fit the description. I am sure it is not the Ivory billed but it is a dapper looking bird. If you know the name of this bird please post it on the blog under comments.

Although there have been no comments on the blog several people told us they liked the photos of the rouins so here is another.

Linda got a good head start gowing down from temple four. I am about half way down myself. When you stand at the bottom you cannot see the top for all the foliage on the trees. Temple four is the tallest but not the steepest there are some of the ladders that I would not climb. There are others so steep they want let any tourist climb.

This animal is in the same family as the racoon but it is not nocturnal. They are usely seen in groups of four to eight. This one was moving slow enough that I could get this video. we have seen a lot of Monkeys but they move through the trees so fast I canot keep them in focus. Try to take a video of a cat squirrel and you will see what I mean.

There is a lot of wildlife in the Jungle it is not hard to see but it is hard to take photos as they dont sit still for long.

You probably saw this photo on the cover of national geographic but I had to take my on shot. On the 2nd day at Tikal after a good nights rest from the day before we climbed up to near the top of temple two and took this photo of temple one. I also took about thirty other shots from this location as from here you can see ruins in all directions. This area is known as the grand plaza.

The first afternoon at Tikal we went to the back of the park and climbed the steps to near the top of temple four, the tallest temple in the park. What a view from there temple 1,2 and 3 rising up through the canopy of the jungle. At this point linda and I both have legs that are burning from overuse and sit on the steps for a much needed break.

This is the bottom of a Ceiba tree the national tree of guatemala it is illegal to cut any Ceiba tree down if caught doing so you would be put in prison. Even if it were on your own property.

This is the national tree of guatemala the maya believe this tree is the axle of the earth. it grows to 70 meters tall with a diameter of over three meters.

This is a view from near the top of temple 4 the first temple we climbed in the park. by the time we got to the top our legs were like jello. but the view was well worth the pain.

Through a hole in the canopy of the jungle in Tikal we saw this site. The photo was good thought you might like to see. The trees in the foreground are over 100 feet tall.

This is a tug boat that someone has converted in to a tour boat on the Rio about 1-1/2 miles up river from Livingston. We didn't see any Pirates on this day I think they all hid when they heard we were coming. Scared I guess. or maybe they drank too much rum last night.

JD has been trying to teach me to drive the dinghy and here I am and Bob you would be proud to know I can go and not just in circles anymore.