Yesterday was a much needed day off from police and government work. Mom and I started our day off with a long walk with a group of women (men are invited too, but they just don't get up early enough). The walk started at 7 am to beat the heat of the day, but by 7:15 it was probably in the mid 80's. The walk is organized every Sunday by a very nice French woman that is a sailor. She is 'landed' at the moment because her sailboat (a catamaran) was struck by lightening at the beginning of August and it has more than 80 holes in the hull that need to be repaired! She and her husband were aboard the boat when the lightening hit and they fortunately received no injuries.
Our walk took us out of town through rolling hills to a small village nearby where we met a lovely couple who knew Mom and Dad. They invited the entire women's walking group into their home and showed us their beautiful garden of fruit trees (banana, platano, starfruit, lime, avocado, coconut, and more). They offered us a pile of avocados to make guacamole!
Then our walk continued to a hidden marina/restaurant/hotel (Tortugal). The owner of the marina was one of the women walkers and she treated us to ice water and a delicious smoothy (orange juice, yogurt, strawberry, banana, and ice). Then she gave us a tour of her comfortable and peaceful establishment.
When we returned to the house we are staying in, an afternoon party was being organized. A boat owner in our marina and his friend went ocean fishing three days ago, and they wanted to share their 'catch.' So by mid-afternoon we were eating delicious fish and hush-puppies (my favorite) as well as assorted salads and food that other people brought. Many of the party goers were musicians, so we enjoyed hours of fantastic guitar music and singing. By the end of the evening Brian was also playing and singing, Jimmy Buffett of course! It was an enjoyable event.
Today, we are back to boat business: tarps ordered to cover the boat to protect it from sun and rain damage, setting up the dehumidifier and battery charger, and putting cleaned laundry aboard. The police/public ministry work also needs to be nudged. If we can, we will head north for a few days to stay at a jungle farm and visit Tikal, while the government does the necessary work to set up final meetings for Mom. We will probably be back in Rio Dulce by Wednesday night. Daniel and Renee's absence is strongly felt. It seems to take a team of family and friends to keep our positive energy flowing. We appreciate all the emails we are receiving and we read and reread them throughout the day. We also enjoy repeatedly looking at the wonderful photos of Dad that are on this blog.
With love, Jessica, Nancy and Brian
