Sweet life in the Rio Dulce

23 FEB 2016

Texan Bay, Guatemala

 

“And the goodbyes make the journey harder still. Will you carry the words of love with you?”

We are leaving the Rio today. It is a place full of like-minded ex-pat folk making their lives what they will in a third-world country. We are very fond of most of them, extremely fond of a few of them. We know many of the Guatemalans too and have found a deep respect for most of them. It is hard to say goodbye. The best part is knowing that we will be back, eventually, perhaps as early as next fall to get some major fiberglass work done by Arny, a local fiberglass wizard. Even his prices are at the top of our budget, can't imagine what it would cost to get it done in the States. So we leave looking back and thinking very fondly of this wonderful backwater place.

“ooh baby baby its a wild world.”

We got word a few days ago that a wonderful couple running an ecolodge in Roatan have been let-go by the owner. They had just renewed their Honduran residency the week before. They are the kind of folk who do the Right Thing because it's the right thing. They transformed the lodge from a mess to a joy, everything was really well repaired and well run, great food and wine, fun dive operation, and the dogs were more insteresting than most people we know. We don't know the back-story, and there's always a back-story, but it is a shame to know that they are Out. Their replacements, said to be much lower-paid than our friends, are not the kind of people we seek out, so it puts this ecolodge and the bay it is in into question for when we return. But we are glad to have known them and been able to experience the lodge in great conditions with great people and great fun.

“I will always remember you like a child, girl”

Life in the Rio is slow and long. One place we frequent, The Kangaroo Hotel, run by Gary and Graciela, is up a mangrove canal nearly to Lago Izabal. It is a three-generation family place with a new 2-year-old grandson already playing in the water and absorbing the way of running the inn. Graciela is Mexican and the source of their astoundingly good Mexican food. And the wizard behind their margaritas which are the best margaritas we have ever had, really, eeryone else says so too, and there's a story going around that a guy in Mnahattan is hot to get her recipe but she won't give it out. It is an example of the innocence of the Rio. We can feel the Outside World pressing on it, but the nature of the place is to just live life as you choose, with the people you care about around you. Many of those people get pulled away by the Outside World, but those who are right for the Rio seem to come back. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it might be better if they forged on out and made a bigger life. Yes, there's internet and cell phones and plastic stuff. But there's no sense here of the kind of the materialistic emptiness that is so pervasive in the First-World. People here aren't obviously trying to find meaning in their life, they just live. They certainly don't define their self-worth by how big their house is. But that's changing even here, and probably everywhere these kinds of economic-backwaters exist.

“Blackbird has spoken, like the first morning”

We are off to Belize and north towards the States. I am tempted to say “north towards home” but that isn't quite right. But it does feel like it's a new beginning again, another voyage driven by being called to go somewhere. The sun is rising in a totally clear sky. The birds are calling and clucking and zipping around. The mist is rising over the mangroves. It feels like time to go.