November 5th to 30th - Guatemamla City & Rio Dulce

We arrive in Guatemala City and stay at Las Torres Apartment Hotel. Basic but clean rooms in Zone 10, the newer and better part of town, near the airport. In the early morning it was 70 F, but a big fire was going in the common room as this was cold for the locals. We were in shorts and shirt, the locals wore jackets.


Back at Mario's Marina I usually got up early for coffee. Sandra never got to see the dawn mist rising off the lake and the local heading for work with his "pilot" on the bow. There are few roads so the river acts as the main street for the "Marina District".


Sandra takes a quick trip to the Bano between downpours. The boat in the picture is SV "Niki Wiki" out of San Diego. We met them in Hualtouco, Mx (on the Pacific side) in November 2008. It was good to get a chance to get to know them better.




American Thanksgiving at Mario's Marina. The marina supplied the turkey and the cruisers the rest of the food. Jim the owner kidding around. Sandra watching American Football. Happy cruisers, full of food and booze.





We visit Castillo San Filipe, built to protect the silver exported from the area via the river from"pirates" (British Privateers). I take aim at one of the personal water craft buzzing around, but unfortunately the cannon was not loaded.



We anchor at Texan Bay for two nights on our way down the Rio Dulce. Very sheltered and calm, but reported to be hot and buggy during the summer.

October 29th to November 5th, 2010 - NYC

I lost one of our cameras traveling between Victoria and Vancouver, so there is a hole in this story as it contained many pictures that had not been downloaded. The up side is now we have a new camera, that came with a more advanced editing system. So you can expect some creativity with the photos from now on.


On our way back to the boat, moored in Guatemala, we stopped off in NYC to visit son James and his fiancee Maria at there new apartment overlooking the East River.

We took in many of the sites we missed in previous visits.


St Paul's Chapel was where President Geo. Washington had his inauguration ceremony. More recently it was a rest center for the emergency workers during 911.


The fountain and a statue in front of City Hall, after I did some extreme editing.



We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge...and back.








Liberty caught on a cell phone. To me she should be pictured in B&W. The original flame is now in the museum, along with full scale models of her face and feet. She casts a BIG shadow. We share a new view of the NYC skyline.





Ellis Island was mainly built out of the fill from the dredging of NY Harbor. The original islet was part of Jersey, but the land has been in dispute as NYC claims that the fill came from them.

Sandra was able to go online and find one of her ancestors came through Ellis Island on his was to Revelstoke, BC. His sponsors in Canada turned out to be his future In-Laws as he ended up marrying their daughter.

I am pictured with the "ideal" Park Guide. Our real guide was informative, but had the demeanor of a very bored and not so civil servant.

The bronze statue is of the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island.