Pacaya Erupts and Agatha Pays a Visit

Soot and ash on the streets of Guatemala City.  This is in front of the Biltmore Hotel.

Guatemala is certainly getting their fair share of bad weather events.  First Pacaya erupts.   This causes the International Airport to close.  We are not sure when it will open again.  They are talking about next week.  There is 2 inches of soot and ash on the runway.  Reports are the volunteer street sweepers are literally hand sweeping the runways.  That could take some time.  Even when they get it swept up where do they put the stuff?

Now TS Agatha has made landfall on the west coast and has brought life-threatening floods to the country.  Morales a small town close to us is flooding.  The river is higher there than it was during Hurricane Mitch!

We have been asked to have our water tanks on the boat full and to ration water.  The Rio Dulce is on the rise.  Not sure how long we will have electricity or if we will have to move off the dock.  We will see what happens.

There are reports that bridges are collapsing between the Rio Dulce and Guatemala City.   This could cause even more problems for people that need to get to the city to fly out.

Even with all of this we are safe.  No boulders are falling on the boat.  The boat floats and is self- contained.

There are hundreds of Guatemalans that have been evacuated from their homes and have lost everything.  Currently there are 14 Guatemalans that have lost their lives.  We are simply inconvenienced.

The Rainy Season is Here

The rainy season is now upon us.  The down side is that the boat gets a little green and you definitely want to carry an umbrella with you.  Trips to town are timed between showers and if you are lucky you can get back dry.

The good news is that it will hopefully end the terrible drought that Guatemala has been suffering from,  this last year.  The down side is that there is a Pacific Low that will cross the mountains and there will be flooding rains.  The concern is that there will be mudslides in the mountains and entire villages may once again go down the mountain.  It has happened before.  Entire villages were covered and declared cemetaries. 

The good news if that everything is flowering and every morning the sidewalks in the marina are covered with flower petals.  As you walk down for a free cup of coffee you feel like royalty.  The down side...it is raining.

More good news.  There were fresh flowers for sale by the post office in Morales.  Only Q25 ($3) for a dozen fresh long stem roses.  Makes the boat pretty and it smells great!

The good news...hot showers, bar on the premises, a restaurant on the premises, a pool, laundry and last but not least...Good FRIENDS!

I forgot...why am I here???

This has been the non-cruising season. This is the first time that I have said, "I am not having fun!"


First of all we are dealing with Michael's first cancer scare, skin cancer. It was cancerous, but now that is behind us. That was quickly followed by the news that he has prostate cancer. Early stages and easily taken care of, but a shock no less. He will be flying to the States on June 9th and getting treatment.

So off we set for Belize and salt water and a little fish face time. It was not to be. We got out and headed north. Then I got on heck of an ear infection. Finally on the back side of that. However, it means I should not get in the water. So no fish face time.

In short it has had some good moments, but nothing like usual. So we are looking at heading back ASAP. We want air conditioning, cold beer, medium rare steak, clean sheets and hot showers. Not necessarily in that order. You get the idea.

We are heading Home to Comfort! See you on the dock!