Where am I?

I got a new book,Stikky Night Skies, which cleverly explains how to navigate at night- in one hour, guaranteed. Now all I need is for the night skies to clear so that I can see the damn things!

With the Mayan calender due to end in 2012 I want to be ready when the GPS goes down...

Love it!

As seen in the Times newspaper this morning... And Bush is lecturing China about their human rights record!

Bob's is bigger than mine...

Tomato plant, that is. Yes gardening fever has broken out here at Mario's as a small core of us settle in for the hurricane season.

Along with putting up the sunshade on the boat and settling in to 'dockside' mode a new competitive pastime is vying to take over the mahjong school. Bob sowed some seeds, weeks ago, then offered them around the boats.

Now I'm not saying its cos he had first pick(much) or that he was better prepared but I had a two week repotting delay whilst we were away in Florida and I have been claiming this is the cause of 'Tommy's' slow start. I must admit that I had two plants to start with but to be honest 'Thomasina' just wasn't up to the challenge. So after a serious talk one daybreak I graciously helped her to commit euthanasia...it really was the only way to go!

I have said that I am going for size here! It stated on the packet that these seeds would produce fruits of up to 1.5lbs and thats my aim... Let me tell you guys size really does matter!

I think Bob is in danger of peaking too soon, too much green growth. Confidentially though I am scared! I have taken to stroking Tommy's leaves in the mornings before I satisfy his thirst with lovely specially fertilized blue water to make him big and strong.

I believe in you Tommy! Together we can do this. Hmm maybe I need to read him passages from motivational works, play gentle music...

I am taking tips from this site, you really can find anything on the internet!

GROW TOMMY GROW!

Books and bugs.

I have been laid low for the last few days with a nasty bug that TBH so generously shared with me..or maybe just the results of some international air travel. Who knows! But it has meant that my days, and nights, have been filled with book reading. There is always a silver lining!

I read very quickly, as a kid nobody believed that I was reading 'properly' as I just turned pages so fast. What I now realise is that I am one of those lucky people who speed read by instinct.Not seeing individual words but rather a whole page of print. I can happily read 2 books a day, which can be rather onerous on our ships library!Thank goodness for book swaps.

It is fascinating exchanging books with so many different people from around the world. I hadn't realised what a cultural bubble my reading was! I am greatly enjoying picking up literature that in the normal run of things I would never see...mind you there is a serious amount of crap out there. Some of the stuff is an insult to the reading public.

Last night I read ' Paradise in Ashes' by Beatriz Manz. She is an anthropologist who has spent 30 years studying one village in the highlands of Guatemala. Her writing is informative and lucid as it covers the period prior to, during and after the civil war. I recommend it as a base for beginning to understand the realities of what the Guatemalans have been through in the last 50 years. Depressing in many ways and yet honest and with some hope for the future.The human condition is a remarkable thing.

Hold up near Coban..

Teenage pupils held at gunpoint in Guatemala school trip robbery

A dozen teenage boys from a British grammar school have been robbed at gunpoint on a trip to Guatemala.

The boys, who are all aged 16, were travelling on a private bus in a remote mountain area when they were ambushed by a group of bandits who stole around £2,000 in money and valuables.

The pupils were on their way to Coban in Guatemala (pictured) when they were robbed at gunpoint

The teenagers, from the Skinners' School in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were two-thirds of the way into a month-long trip organised by World Challenge Expeditions, where they were carrying out volunteer work in local schools.

They are now waiting to be flown back home, their head teacher said today.

Simon Everson said: "No one was hurt but they will be coming back as soon as flights can be arranged.

"We told the boys we would support them if they wanted to stay or if they wanted to come back and they said they wanted to come back."

Mr Everson said the teenagers were accompanied by two teachers as well as an experienced expedition leader from the organisation.

He added: "It's very rare for this sort of thing to happen I'm told, but all precautions had been taken and everyone, including the boys, had received appropriate training, which they put into practice as soon as it happened."

He said the incident occurred at around 9pm local time on Friday, when they on their way to the central city of Coban.

Just read this in the British newspaper 'The Daily Mail'. What a shame that they are cutting their trip short...

It amazes me that visitors to Guatemala are so 'shocked' when faced with the reality of travelling in this young democracy. The huge numbers of backpackers, the bus loads of tourists and the cruisers who simply have no idea about the part of the world that they are travelling to. Don't they do their homework?

When the mountains tremble.

One of the many films that we bought back from the USA was a remastered version of the 1980's documentary about the Civil war here in Guatemala. Narrated by Rigoberta Menchu, 'When the mountains tremble', was filmed during the civil war and won many awards at festivals worldwide.

There are a couple of dramatized scenes but the majority of the footage was shot during actual events at the time of the war. It's interesting and sobering stuff. The filmmakers simply report on the events leading up to and surrounding what was happening here at that time.

...and remember this only ended in 1996. It bought home to me, once again, what a young democracy Guatemala is and what a privilege it is to be able to spend time in countries such as this as a cruiser.




Central America was never a place that either myself or TBH had thought about in terms of an extended stay. However the more we have seen the more we want to see and understand the role of this fascinating region in the politics of the current world order. It's a complicated and, often, emotional issue. One that I realise I have hardly begun to comprehend.

Trials and tribulations.

Poor TBH is most definitely under the weather. The perils of modern day air travel I suspect. He has a nasty head cold, temperature and all the associated symptoms...not at all pleasant in this tropical climate with temperatures in the mid 90's and humidity hovers around 90%. I am taking all the vitamin supplements I can find to try and avoid catching it too.

I was wondering what to write about this morning, my rate of blogging seems to have become a little erratic since we left for our cruise to Cuba. It's not so much that I am searching for a subject but rather that there have been so many ideas that my mind just seizes up when it comes to the decision making process. It was ever thus!

So I thought that maybe I could kick start the old writing muscle by just listing some of the, usually unconnected, thoughts that are spilling around my brain these days.

So I think I will start by getting some stuff off my chest...

Some months ago TBH helped a cruiser on a boat here in the marina, R-X-ta-Sea (!), do a running repair on his engine as the guy, Sterling Huff, was eager to get out sailing. TBH being the kind and thoughtful soul that he is, scrabbled around in the bowels of this guy's engine to replace the seals on his raw water pump. Getting the thing going although he did recommend that the engine looked in need of a service... Sterling then asked if we had another spare set of seals that he could borrow... TBH being the trusting and helpful sort(not at all like me) gave him another set, declining payment but asking that Mr Huff replaced them when he was next in the USA.

Well guess what,more than six months later and we are still waiting. Sterling has been back to the USA at least a couple of times in that period. God that makes me mad... It's not the cost of the parts but the principles involved. Out here, cruising, needing repairs made we all try and help one another along but when you get cretins like this guy it shakes your belief in the philosophy of mutual aid...

On a different note we were shopping in Pottery Barn, Orlando. One of my favourite home accessories stores and got in to conversation with the sales assistant as she packaged the new mattress topper we had just selected. On hearing that we were currently living in Guatemala on a boat she launched in to a tale of how some friend's of her's had adopted a Guatemalan infant 16 years ago. The lad was now furious at having been taken from what he saw as his homeland, his culture and inheritance. her friends are stunned and appalled that he is having such a reaction and have arranged for him to come here and work on a coffee plantation to see what his life would have been like if they hadn't invested all their time and money into raising him...

I didn't know what to say or how to react. Those of you who have read my previous rants will know that I have been pretty vocal in my condemnation of this kind of adoption. It was one of those moments when life becomes stranger than fiction. In truth I love them but sometimes it is difficult to react fast enough in the moment to take a god given opportunity for a valuable response. TBH and I exchanged looks above the cash register and told her to go read my blog.

But doesn't that just underline my view that this cultural dislocation has far reaching effects that are not explored deeply enough? Why should the kid feel grateful? It wasn't his decision. And who is to say that the materialistic culture of mainland USA is superior to life on the coffee farm in Guatemala. Is a fitted carpet intrinsically superior to a beaten earth floor? What price can be put on a sense of belonging?

As a side note we saw far fewer infants in the hotel in the city this visit. Just one or two as compared to the dozens last visit. I wonder if it's a seasonal thing or has the message finally got through that this is a disgusting trade in human life?

And finally we have power back at the marina. It's a relief but makes me feel that maybe I have begun to lose sight of the self-sufficiency aspect of my cruising lifestyle. I used to be proud of the savings of electricity and our ability to generate enough for our own needs. I seem to be back sliding into the consumer driven world again... It has to stop!