We have greatly enjoyed meeting other cruisers and making new friends. On the Rio Dulce, we were especially delighted to meet Hal and Marsha Haltom who have spent a year sailing (and climbing)with their three children, Travis 13, Haley 13, and Cameron 13. Yep, they're triplets! They cruise aboard "Cayuse" a Tayana 52. We were equally lucky to meet the Borthwicks aboard "Jireh," a 67' trawler. Brent and Sharon are are doing humanitarian/missionary work along with their children, Samantha 13, Justin 11, and Jessica 9. The group of us enjoyed parasailing,waterskiing, wakeboarding, and visiting a waterpark.
Going parasailing was one of the highlights for William and Henry. They launched off a dock at Mar Marine, and zipped up nearly 200' behind a Boston Whaler with a 115 hp outboard. Dangling from their harness they were able to see all the marinas and some of the small Maya settlements in the area. They flew for about 15 minutes and then landed in the water. I think they're ready to go again
Cruising kids at Rosita's restaurant on the Rio.
More cruising kids at Valle Dorado water park.
Pauli, enjoying a wet ride down a slide.
Lora particularly enjoyed visiting an ancient Maya ruin called Quirigua which was established more than 1,500 years ago. Although not as famous as Tikal or Coban, the Stelae here, carved from single blocks of stone, are among the best and largest anywhere. The tallest of them are around 35 feet high and weigh as much as 120,000 pounds.
While on the Rio we have been attending church at Morales, a town about 20 miles away.
Lora and I met a wonderful British couple, Christine and Bryan King who invited us to swim as their guests at the Catamaran Hotel. They have lived in Guatemala for around ten years. They have a historic 45' wooden boat "Mustang" which is more than 75 years old. It is beautifully maintained/restored.
Later they took to a Mayan village where they built a much needed clinic some years ago.
It took them and other volunteers over nine months to finish it. It is quite a place and impressively well-stocked with medicine and supplies.
At the village of Las Brisas, Christine is known as "Christina Vitamina" because of the nutrition program that she launched. She is also loved for the bags of treats that she brings with her to pass out to the children.
The village children were a little shy at first, but perhaps because we brought five boys of our own, or perhaps because of the candy, the kids were soon following us around and talking to us in Spanish and Q'eqchi. They showed us two litters of puppies.
This is fairly typical rain forest wear. Guys carry machetes everywhere, on bikes, on buses, in town. While we were in Las Brisas one man was brought in on a wheel barrow after accidentally cutting his foot with his machete.
This lovely woman was very shy and did not speak any Spanish. I believe that she had a single tooth. A major hazard for the Maya is that they cook inside their huts, and continually breathing the smoke from the fire is the equivalent of smoking 20 packs of cigarettes a day! Most of the floors were made of dirt.
Hilario is known for making sturdy dug-out cayucas from the San Juan tree. He offered to make one for me for about $300. He makes them by hand with just a small adze. Many of the Maya fish for a living because in some place the clay soil is not suitable for farming.
After visiting the village of Las Brisas, we took a tour at Casa Guatemala, a sad little orphanage.
Here Pauli poses is in the boys' dormitory. We were impressed with how neat this room was. At the orphanage there are currently about 180 children from 4 years old to 18. There are several volunteers that work and teach there. Our tour guide was Fawn Gibson from Salt Lake City, Utah.
The orphanage raises pigs to sell, and they are sometimes butchered on the property. They also raise and sell chickens and eggs. The children eat a lot of beans and rice, and they usually get one piece of fruit (often banana) and a bowl of mush for a snack.
In the past volunteers built tanks for hydroponics so that the orphanage could raise more of its food. Another group of volunteers built a system that makes electricity from pig dung, but the system is not currently in use. 
One Saturday afternoon we decided to take a bumpy bus ride to Boqueron, a tiny town, where a river has carved a spectacular gorge about 400' deep and sometimes only about 40' wide. 
We hired Hugo Chub to take us up the canyon in his dug-out canoe. Because this is the rainy season we had to paddle against a strong current. There are several caves along the way, and we saw some big bats.
We had to negotiate small rapids, logs, and boulders. At one point, he and and I both had to jump into thigh-deep water to push the 15' cayuca past a difficult spot.
The howler monkeys usually make a racket overhead. Moss hangs down from the trees which often span the gap between the cliffs. We would love to return.
