.....December 19, 2005, packed up my meager little possessions and headed to Rio Dulce.........really excited to be getting back on the water and around my old crusin' buddies.....moved into my new quarters that I'd mentioned before..........absolutely beautiful little Palapa (thatched roof house) right on the water overlooking the Rio Dulce..........The Town here is Fronteras, Guat. and sits on the river where the bridge crosses , this being the only hwy in Eastern Guat that connects North and South Guat. no other roads in the area, travel here is strictly by water, everything is located on the river.  I'm about (2) miles from town in a tiny little village, my next door neighbor is also my landlady. A wonderful Guat. single mother with three great kids, I've adopted all three, Eddie , the oldest at 17 presently in college, Roberto 13 also away in school and home only on weekends.  The little escula here only goes thru the 4th or 5th grade, then Kimberly, the youngest 9 still home with Mom.........My palapa is the kind I only dreamed about before...built right on the edge of the river in front and the rear carved out of the huge Guat. rainforest....complete with all the sights and sounds of the jungle, including a colony of howler monkeys nearby, they are aptly named, their roar sounds like they weigh about a 1000 lbs......they roar all night and sleep all day....at night I lay in bed and listen to all the bird and animal sounds....fascinating ! !  it's liking living in a "Tarzan movie".......fishing off my pier is like a piece of cake.......quite a bit of traffic all day along the river....the most common (and only) means of transportation is the cayuco , an indian dugout canoe, still being used the same as their anscestors did hundreds of years ago, you see the entire family going by in their cayuco to town, church or where ever......the canoes range in length from the 8 footers the small kids use to the 40 footers used as ferries and hauling what ever goods needed on the river..the only change you see from the past hundred or so years is the rear of the canoe has been chopped off on the more effluent cayucos and a YAMAHA outboard added.....but many still use the paddle.....all of them carved out of a solid tree trunk, just like hundreds of years ago.....................................................

      I have been thoroughly enjoying my life "on the river"....making a lot of new friends and really getting into the way of life down here...........Thurs Jan. 5, 2006, my old friend and drinking buddy from Natchitoches, La, showed up on my doorstep for a (3) week visit........I was having a ball showing Bobby around the river....the high light of his stay was the Launcia trip down the River to Livingston on the Caribbean, about (20)miles of the most breathtaking ride you've ever seen, the Grande Canyon of Guatemala, with foilage covered limestone cliffs soaring over 300 feet in the air on each side of the winding river, eagles, ospreys and birds of all shapes sizes and colors......wonderful experience........

    After Bobby had been here about a week something happened that is going to make ANOTHER big change in my life.  I had just about made up my mind that it just wasn't in the cards for me to continue my cruisin' lifestyle...I spotted a "friendship sloop" anchored in the River and it was Love at first sight........I enquired of my landlady about it and found it to be "forsale"......I was shocked at the asking price, in my range with lotz of TLC required, I bought it and have been working my butt off ever since to get her back in sea-worthy condition.....................