We’ve been invaded! We have a 5-1/2 foot alligator in our pond. All yesterday while my sister and I planted flowers “our friend” kept getting closer and closer until he was 5 feet from our shore! I don’t trust that little bastard. After traveling to so many sketchy places, I don’t need to get eaten by a an alligator in my own back yard. I keep yelling at him to get on his own side, but he doesn’t seem to care!
…..back to Guatemala.
We took a morning boat ride on Izabal Lake near Rio Dolce. It was impressive because of all the birds we saw nesting on an island and all the pelicans.
As an aside, my mouth was funny in this pic, because I was chewing Pepto-Bismol tablets at this moment. I wasn’t quite 100% yet!
I think this a little morbid. ….but you know religion.
Laundromat. Catholicism penetrates even the washers.
We took boats to get to our next hotel on an island. I got the only room directly on the water with a front porch and Adirondack chairs. But I deserve them since I sit outside every morning with my coffee and my notes.
That evening we found the bar and a gentleman who heard us butchering the Guatemalan language and came to our rescue. Red wine in Guatemala is not vino roho. It’s bino tinte’.
He was quite the character. His given name is Tutty. His mother and three single sisters were all pregnant at the same time and he was the only male. A comment was made that he would be like King Tut and his harem. Thus, the name. He and his wife left Toronto on their boat, took 12 years to arrive in Guatemala and they decided to stay. They still live on their boat and have been there for 4 years.
There’s a little group of ex-pats that hang at the bar in the evenings and the hotel restaurant for breakfast.
This was our dining room and the map was so helpful.
We took another boat ride to see the ancient fortress protecting their land from the marauders that may have come from the Caribbean/Atlantic Ocean.
The bottom photo deserves some sort of prize. (As I break my arm patting myself on the back.)
Note the birds in the trees, the nests and the guano (bird poop) below them turning the green leaves white.
I love lily pads, especially with flowers!! But you never know what alligator lurks beneath!
The mangroves were wonderful. Look how they drop a vine into the water and start growing.
Because they live where land and sea connect, one of their most important ecosystem functions is to protect the former and serve as a frontline defense for people and property along the coasts. There are many species of mangrove. The roots grow in a “tangle” that actually helps the trees withstand the daily rise and fall of tides. These structures also “cause sediments to settle out of the water,” falling at or near the roots. The roots “build up the muddy bottom” near the base of the trees, which actually stabilizes the coastline by reducing erosion from storm surges, currents, waves and tides. Go mangroves!!
Egrets? Ibis? I should know.
Poverty.
I hope the kid can swim.
We got out of the boat for a comfort stop. A disheveled guy was demanding 5 Quetzals (75 cents) to use the dirty, paperless toilet. I gave him 10 quetzals and got 5 back. Tour Guide, Oscar, comes up and tells him to give all the money back. He was just scamming. The old guy tried to give me coins — to which I am almost allergic. They are too heavy and worth nothing. Then he tried to give me one US dollar. I told him give me back the 10 quetzal and I’ll give back his 5. He claimed he didn’t have a 10, which of course is ridiculous because I handed it to him 10 seconds earlier. I got my 10, and gave him his 5. I feel bad for fighting a poor old man for 75 cents. I guess it was the principle of the thing.
Very cool sink. And bathrooms usually have one faucet — cold.
Our married friends, Marvin and Chad, from St. Cloud, Minnesota. They were a good time!! They were very helpful in that we followed them whenever we could to overcome our poor directional abilities.
Birds in tree and orange iguana in tree. (Oh how I wish my binoculars had a camera.)
Pelicans galore. Look at the poop that’s painting that old tug. Yuck!
Competition for Lowes and Ace Hardware.
This was Livingston, I presume. (It never gets old.) It’s a city with a street on the river, Rio Dolce, and another street on the Caribbean. It’s no Naples, Florida, but beautiful just the same.
We were told this was not an unsafe neighborhood and the owners of this house were from the U.S. who live in the U.S., and they just didn’t know it was safe; so they put up the razor wire. Not sure I buy that story.
The Living Fit Gym looks suspiciously like the Gold’s Gym Logo!!
Just a beautiful and joyous day on the water with mountains (an island?) in the background.
A final blog is coming.
Happy Trails!
Linda Jeanne