April 2006
 

The highlight of this month is our visit to Antigua, several dates down below, one of the great experiences of our cruise.




15-54.479N
087-37.897

Anchored
Puerto Escondido
Honduras

Wednesday, April 25.

Now 55.6 nautical miles from Cabo Tres Puntas, what should have been a simple 56 minutes of change of longitude, nevertheless held for us a few moments of concern, when, next to John's otherwise sleeping tranquil ear, on the cockpit settee, comes forth an ugly piercing noise, the engine alarm.  Spastic after wake up, John struggles to find the cause, looking through a redness so shallow that it was difficult to read the message:  HOT WATER.  And off goes the motor.

We have been fortunate that the mighty hand of difficulty seems to strike us on calm seas, away from danger.  Though with little wind, we put out The Genoa, hoping to see a little self control over the boat, and we headed below.  We opened the engine hatches, felt the heat, and found the crumbs of a broken belt, a most unattractive scene, to say the least.  There is no choice but to work, and smile about our advanced preparations, which included two extra belts, proper wrenches to loosen the alternator, and even a crow bar to lever the alternator back in position following installation.  It took about an hour.

We left Cabo Tres Pentas at 5 a.m. in squalls, motored almost 8 hours against 7-10 knots 15 degrees north of our course, and began believing we would take Roatan in one swoop.  Neptune said no.  He put up 15 knots about 1300, and we begged off, tired from the short night and recovering from the broken belt.  This bay was made for such as us.  It is no larger than The Lagoon in Central Park, and is surrounded by a beach, howler Monkeys, and a stairway up to the hills of this Honduran National Park.  Today is for rest and reorganization, tomorrow for exploration.  We forced several thousand little bugs to walk the plank, they having been damaging some of our food.  We also reconnected the main furling line that came out of its drum.  Pancakes tasted great after all that.

Our two best friends aboard are Richard North Pattern and Herman Mellville. (In re-reading some of the above language, John wonders whether a bit of Melville is showing.)

By the way, last night The First Mate complimented her captain, saying affectionately, "John, after all these years, you can fix things."


15-55.767N
088-36.299W
Anchored
Near Cabo Tres Puntas
Guatemala

Saturday, April 22

Waiting for favorable winds to travel to Roatan.

Today is our  38th wedding anniversary.  Last Friday, Travis asked Laura to marry him.  We are proud and happy.

After clearing out at Livingston Wednesday, we anchored here.  About 7 p.m., we left to go east along the Honduran coast, but, on rounding the bend, 8 foot waves were too much for us, in our tired condition, with little sailing experience for more than six months.  We came back, and we wait.

On returning, John noticed that the alternator was delivering more than 15 volts to our batteries, enough to burn them up.  On replacing the ARS4 voltage regulator with a new MKC612, we got no charge at all.  After many satellite phone calls to Balmar, we found the problem was a loose field wire at the new regulator.  Our charging is fine now, but the situation was very tough.  John does not handle these crises well.  His stomach gets tight, he cannot think of anything else, and we suffer as he cannot help but contemplate all the negatives of having no charging capability, the worst being potential loss of all our refrigerated and frozen food.  When you think of it, a relatively minor problem.  Chichi handles these situations better than John.  She gets uptight, but not massively so, and always turns positive, helping ol' John handle himself and the situation.



Moored, so to speak
Hotel Posada de Dona Clara
Antigua, Guatemala

Wednesday,  April 12

On arrival in this magnificent city, during this profound week of La Semana Santa, we see emptiness in the lives of our fellow cruisers who lock themselves in their boats or congregate with our fellow North American and European cruisers while the nation around them is displaying religious and cultural traditions extending back almost 500 years.  What is the point?  Why take off in a cruising yacht only to isolate oneself and to limit contact to people like us and the few locals who do business with us?  Dozens of reasons are given:  "We don't like crowds."  "We are afraid of pick pockets."  "Traffic is too slow and intense."  "Our budgets are too limited."  "We do not speak the language."  And on and on and on.  These folks could understand more of life and be more comfortable and have less problems by staying at home, watching movies, and going to cocktail parties.

Understanding a culture takes time and work, a concerted effort.  It requires patience, and a willingness to communicate, even through a language barrier.  We empathize with those who do not speak the language but we believe that anyone can find their way in The Americas.  Many locals speak English, and those who do not enjoy the challenging process of using hand motions and printed words to relate.  This is fun.

Every nation displays its character and history during annual celebrations.  North Americans do it on The Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Guatemalans do it on independence day, and during Easter Week.  During the next three days, Antigua will host almost a dozen processions of between six and twelve hours.  Many persons in those processions will walk with candles.  Others will carry dramatic Christian Images.  In one procession, 48 men will carry an image of Jesus on a 15 meter platform that appears to weigh several tons.  The 48 men change every block, for 60 blocks.  Do the math.  That is almost 3,000 persons tightly organized into assignments.  If one is late, the others take the weight for that block.  One local person estimates the weight at 100 pounds per carrier, but who knows for sure.  We are aware of only one celebration similar to this:  Seville, Spain.

An alfombra is a rug.  These rugs are made from colored saw dust.  They are huge.  They cover the central aisles of churches and roads.  One is laid over a one kilometer section of road. Thousands work to create these alfombras, working during the night, with stencils and bowls of colored saw dust.  On completion, they look like fine works of art, with flowers, messages, artistic patterns and religious symbols. You think that this is done for tourism? Forget it.  Nothing other than the power of tradition and religious feeling could make this happen.  It is the same up our way.  The 500 Festival and The Rose Parade could not exist without thousands of volunteers working dozens of hours each, and all night the night before, to place thousands of flowers in a Rose Parade float or to set up a 500 Festival Float.  Those events evolved during this century.  La Semana Santa traditions evolved here for almost 500 years, probably more in places like Seville, Spain. To the very nostalgic, the softy, like John, tears come rapidly to the eyes on seeing the majesty, the feeling, the devotion, the beauty.  For a Roman Catholic like Chichi, these traditions enhance the meaning of her beliefs and feelings.  

We will have more to report as the week progresses.

                              The following written next morning about events of yesterday
(Thursday)

PROFOUND

MONTAGE

Two o'clock; priest blesses the process; 48 young boys pick up the "anda" carrying the image of Jesus Christ and begin up the center isle, out the main door, to the streets, changing carriers every block, incense everywhere.  On departure of the boys, the girls pick up the anda carrying the image of The Virgin Mary, and follow out the door.  The andas travel though out Antigua, changing carriers every block, 60 blocks, with music and incense.  This the procession infantile, for kids, to be repeated six or seven times by adults, today, tomorrow, Saturday and Easter Sunday.  Chichi cries in the church.  John can't talk, while trying to narrate into the video camera..  Boys in purple.  Girls in white.  Minimum height is 83 centimeters. Maximum height 1 meter plus 17 centimeters.  If you are not within these limits, you do not carry. You only carry with others of the same height.  One boy we met, too short, by 6 cm, and sad.  Some kids look like 7 years old, others like 14.  This from La Merced, where the tradition started more than 400 years ago.  Alfombras in front of three images, one to be used later today for washing of the feet and moving of The Body of Christ.  Eight p.m.  Procession enters the park.  Everyone holding candles.  Incense.  Music. Children.  Each image now lighted, with generator following at 50 feet.  

Eight to ten churches have images to be carried throughout the city.  Each image with a history.  The shortest to 1960.  The longest to the early 19th century, perhaps before.  Town alive.  After passage around the plaza, we walk back to La Merced, to see the return, about 9:30 p.m.  We are exhausted, but we cannot sleep.  

We are told that tonight, the night of Jueves Santo, and through tomorrow morning, alfombras will be laid out on many streets, each to be destroyed by the feet of a procession.  At 3 a.m. Friday morning, Pontius Pilot and colleagues, some on horses, to go through the town, asking whether Jesus should be crucified.  At 6 a.m., procession to leave La Merced.  Others to leave other churches as the day goes on.  We will be up at 2:30 a.m. to see these events.

GOOD FRIDAY

3 a.m.  Fifteen mounted Guatemalan military officers tour the city, accompanied by 50 walking soldiers, all dressed like Romans, with metal chest guards, helmets, and capes.  The capes of the mounted soldiers extend over their shoulders, around the rumps of the horses, almost to the ground.  They stop every few blocks, and read the Roman proclamation of Pontius Pilot, warning citizens what happens when they do wrong.

Alfombras (rugs) developing everywhere.  Two types.  One is laid over pine needles, using vegetables and flowers.  The other is laid over sand  or saw dust.  On top of the plain material stencils are laid, with dyed saw dust passed through, to make some of the most beautiful works of art we have seen:  religious symbols and messages, flowers, biblical references, on the road, all completed by 6 a.m., by hundreds of people, neighbors, visitors, working under temporary light, everything set and done before the processions.  The alfombra in front of La Merced destroyed in ten minutes, as the procession passed over it.

5:45 a.m.  inside La Merced.  Blessing, fanfare, lifting of the 15 meter anda by more than 70 cucuruchos (carriers), and the image of Christ leaves the church.  Another fanfare, and female cucuruchos lift the andar carrying The Virgin Mother in tears, who follows, throughout the city, until 2 p.m.  We weep.  We never have observed such devotion, such dedication, such beauty.  If these religious images had come from Europe, they would be considered some of the world's greatest works of art, because they are.  

9 a.m.  We crash

2 p.m., in front of The Cathedral, on the park, thousands present.  The Christ image is carried from the church, and mounted on The Cross.  After songs by a Costa Rican couple, The Procession of La Merced passes slowly in front.  Music, incense, we choke up.  3 p.m., The Image of Christ is taken from the cross, laid in a casket, taken inside the church, then removed from the church for another procession through the city, maybe four hours.  John again crashes.
Chichi crashes an hour later.  

This city of 250,000 now has 500,000.  People everywhere.  El Parque (central plaza) is full, rows 15 deep from the street.  In the narrow streets, rows are three deep, block after block, for dozens of blocks, many still showing alfombras.  The La Merced procession must have 500 people, or more, carrying the two andas, plus small images of other biblical personages, plus band, plus incense carriers, plus escorts many ready to take over the burden of the anda, changing every block.  

8 p.m.,. the park, arrival of another processions, anda fully lighted, artistically lighted.  Lights in the park turn off.  Candles everywhere.  Sing along of religious music.  Park jammed.  We cannot move. This is Georgetowns road before and after The 500.  Jammed.  Electric.  Wonderful.

Saturday:  laden with feeling, we return to Rio Dulce.

Someone else's point of view


The following was written by cruisers Goerge and Mecca Manz about their Easter Week experience in a mountain town near Lake Atitlan, about two hours from where we were in Antigua:


We spent a wonderful 10 days visiting friends in Santiago de Atilan for “Semana Santa”  (the week before Easter). Santiago is a magical place, but Semana Santa is an especially magical time . . . the town bustles with holy processions, ceremonies and activities all week long. On Good Friday, the stone streets are cleared and everyone participates in “laying” beautiful carpets for the main procession that starts at 4:00 p.m. and ends at 8:00 a.m. the next morning.
 
The carpets, called “alfumbras”, are absolutely beautiful. They are made of ground cornhusks, sawdust, sand, gravel, flowers and seeds. These materials are dyed in bright, beautiful colors. The streets are marked off in sections. Each section is “hosted” by a church or business or family, etc. Chalk is used to draw the design on the street. Then the drawing is “filled in” with the colored materials using teaspoons!  It takes all day to lay the carpets and in fact, some of the carpets get finished only shortly before the procession walks over them, destroying their designs.
 
The entire route of the procession is marked by vertical poles supporting horizontal poles – all covered in freshly cut cedar branches. On the horizontal poles fresh fruits and flowers are hung over the alfumbras. Incense burns day and night. The smells of food, flowers and incense are sensational. The town is filled with excitement. Everyone wears their best traditional clothing.
 
The procession starts in the Catholic Church in the main square. A wooden statue of Jesus on the cross is raised high in the church, then taken down. Jesus is taken off the cross and laid in a wooden and glass coffin. The coffin weighs about 1500 pounds and is highly decorated with flowers and lights – yes, they actually have a man trailing an extension cord behind the coffin so that the lights stay on for the duration of the procession.
 
Forty young men, dressed in ceremonial pants and shirts lift the coffin and begin their 16 hour procession out of the church, around the town (over all the alfumbras) and back into the church. A band of brass horns and drums plays a droning march (for the entire procession). The men carrying the coffin take two steps forward and one step backward. (So, you can see why it takes 16 hours to complete the procession.) The process is grueling. The men have spotters who quickly hand them a strong rum and coke when they get weak, but many of them collapse from exhaustion and are replaced by a rejuvenated soul. It is a sight to see.
 
Paseo Mysterioso (Mysterious Pass) . . . While in Santiago, we got a group of friends together to go “scientifically evaluate” an area of the highway where you can stop at the bottom of a valley; turn your car off; place it in neutral and actually roll up the hill. We  took a digital level, a GPS, cameras, a ball, and water to try all sorts of experiments. Sure enough, our Dodge Caravan rolled up the hill and water flowed up the hill.. After much to do, we determined that the phenomenon is actually an optical illusion. Don’t ask us how it is an optical illusion, we have only figured out that “up hill” is really “down hill”.



15-39.513N
088-59.592W

Docked
Monkey Bay Marina
Town of Rio Dulce (Fronteras)
Guatemala

Friday, April 7

This one we must note:

On the return trip from a resort and hot spring, our launcha ran out of gas, opening the real possibility of spending an evening, 8 people, on the hard chairs of a 20 foot launcha.  Ugg.  But, it worked out.  Two fellows from a cayuco came to our rescue, and with shoulder power many times ours, paddled us, against the wind, to their nearby town, where, barely, a cell phone signal allowed us to phone for help.  We made it back to the marina a few minutes before dark.

Wednesday, April 5

The primary objective of our two-year sailing plan is to arrive in The Mediterranean Sea by August, 2007.  Unfortunately, we are not staged properly to achieve that goal.  We find no easy option.

Prior to speaking with  Chris Parker, our weather advisor, our plan had been to sail from here to Bocas del Toro, Panama, and to leave Pachamama there for the worst parts of the hurricane season.  This sail is by way of The Bay Islands of Honduras and two islands pertaining to Colombia, Providencia and San Andres.  The trip involves two sections over night, and one section of three nights.  We can do it.  However, once the boat is in Panama, it is not positioned for anything easy or attractive.  The attractive points are to the east: the San Blas Islands and Cartegena.  Easterly winds and westerly currents impede this trip.  A bigger problem, however, is getting Pachamama in a position to stage to Europe, probably from Puerto Rico.  From Colombia and Central America, no good route is available to Puerto Rico.  Every route, sooner or later, involves sailing smack into the winds.

In May of this year, another option is to sail directly to Cartegena from The Bay Islands, perhaps 600 miles.  Again, not ideal:  The prevailing trade winds are easterly, or 090 degrees, and the course is 120 degrees, darn close to the wind.  We might not be able to aim the boat to Cartegena, and, even if we can, a 1 knot current will push us to the west.  

We have a couple of weeks to figure this out.  This coming week, we will make a land trip to Antigua to view its annual La Semana Santa celebration.