Paco the Perico
Just in case you don’t think our Captain is experienced, check out his parrot, Arturo “Paco” Adelito.
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August 31, 2006
August 30, 2006
Las Conchas
Again we are grounded (can you say this about a boat?). We took the day to ride a pickup out to a waterfall called Las Conchas.
Here we are in the back.
Jack in the back.
The waterfall was dangerous, like everything in this country. If you let go of the rope, the strong current would sweep you off the falls for sure. Ah fun.
One face had to be blurred out because the person is wanted, another normal abnormality in Guatemala.
Travis and I suspended ourselves over the churning jaws.
August 29, 2006
Raised the Main, Ripped the Main
Went sailing and ripped the main sail. Yay.
Now we must find someone named Lobo (the wolf) - the one person everyone warned us against. He is the only sailmaker around, and he knows if you need him you have reached your last resort – quite a bargaining angle.
August 28, 2006
Regal Neighbors
Our neighbor took his boat out today. We were happy because he makes us look bad. It's equiped with spring-loaded plasma screens, wireless internet, and Miss Teen Norway. But, as a new boat owner, I am most impressed with engine room in which you could eat scrambled eggs off the floor. Well, that and Miss Teen Norway. He also has something called “air conditioning.” I think I once knew what this was. It requires an accessory for this called a “blanket” so he does not freeze to death. It sounds dangerous; I’m glad we don’t have to worry about these dangers on the Saltwater Cowboy.
August 26, 2006
Too Much Chapin
An apropros article hit the Houston Chronicle yesterday. I think they might have written it due to our recent research. Read it here
Today we clean the sails. We need to get out of Guatemala. Chavez “Daddy Yankee” Thomas is growing a little too Chapin (Guate slang for Guatemalan) for comfort.
The good news is that the cameras are working, and while we wait for G-Man and Primo to scrub the sail, and another guy (I swear we have employed the entire jungle) to make sail covers, we are going to roll camera. We have seven more shots in mind, though I can’t give away the details of course, so you will all buy tickets to the movie. That way Jack, Travis, and I can have money again one day.
Some people have complained that there are not many pictures of me on here. Obviously because I am the one taking the photos. I just took one of myself and thought I would post it but it doesn’t look that good. Sorry.
August 25, 2006
We Are Blue
Quite a day today. Our engine is still not working. But that didn’t matter today because we PAINTED!
Check it.
After inhaling all the paint fumes, we discussed the hurricane situation. We are approaching the middle of the season, and though it has been a calm one so far, it is still fairly risky to book it to the next island while hurricanes might pop up. You can do it if you know what you are doing, which is why we studied hurricanes today.
Here Captain Chavez is giving a lesson.
And Jack reads up (though by the smirk on his face he might be actually looking at those National Geographic pictures of African native women.)
Jack gets tired of reading about the terrors of the world so he decides to play with Luna, one of its joys.
August 24, 2006
Stubborn Cowgirls
We got the engine to the Cowboy started again, however now the Cowgirl is acting up. The Cowgirl is the name for our dinghy.
Jack took it out and tried to fix it.
But the Cowgirl gave him no love and he had to paddle back home.
It rained for the rest of the day so we did nothing.
August 23, 2006
Perkins 4108 - that's our motor
Our diesel mechanic, Karl, worked all day on the motor and it looks like we might be up for sailing again soon. He found the oil leak, took the whole thing apart, put it back together, but tighter this time.
One bolt came right out of the engine – it was too small. The previous owners did not care very much about the Saltwater Cowboy.
Perhaps we will sail tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who is reading this blog. Please send it to whomever you think would be interested.
August 22, 2006
Land Fever
Something blew up in the motor. You don’t want to see what it looks like. A bizarre red liquid splattered all over the place and I had to throw all the hatches open because of the smoke.
When we checked the oil in the engine THERE WAS NONE!
Jack slumped down and said, “we are never going anywhere.”
Overall today’s mood is depressed and short tempered. Can you get cabin fever on land?
So we decided to take the day off and go to a party. I still have a cold, what they call the grippe here, but wouldn’t miss the chance to pick some guitar with Dead Don. He wrote a song about Rio Dulce and it sounds really nice. I think we’ll put it in the movie – if we can record it before he goes and dies on us again.
August 21, 2006
Sailing!
Finally! We went sailing. The motor worked. The anchor worked. The dinghy worked for a while until the pull cord for the outboard was yanked out. But that’s an easy fix. Just about everything worked.
Here we go. Captain Chavez raises the sail.
Here is what she looks like in the air. A little dirty, but it works.
We were able to raise two out of our four sails. We will go back out tomorrow, hopefully, and raise the other two.
Here is a nice shot of Chavez and Jack looking like true explorers.
And all three of us, finally sailing…
August 20, 2006
No Sailing Today
Blah.
August 19, 2006
Problems Again
No sailing today. Unfortunately. We have to wrap the exhaust pipe with insulation to prevent an engine fire.
So sailing tomorrow!
We cannot go far without a life raft, which has been a month long search to find out how to get one down to the Guatemalan jungles. We finally just ordered one from the states and it is inbound on a cargo freighter. The life raft will show up in Honduras, so we will have to figure out how to get it from there.
Until then, we wait, watch the weather and the news, and try to survive the Guatemalan jungle. The good news is that the footage we have from down here is spectacular, as the Panasonic cameras do their job well. Best wishes to all those in the States, and keep looking forward to the documentary and more posts.
-Ed
August 18, 2006
Finally Ready to Sail
It looks like everything is a go for our first sail. There is a lake not too far from here which we will take the Cowboy to and unfurl the sails. It will be tomorrow, not manana, because as Dead Don (a local character who has apparently died a few times) says, “manana doesn’t necessarily mean tomorrow, it just means as sure as shit not today!”
So until then!
August 16, 2006
Things Looking Up
Captain Chavez scales the mast, so we can put in better line to raise a flag.
Things are finally looking up. To celebrate, Jack raises the Guatemalan flag.
August 14, 2006
More Fixing
August 14th, 2006
Today we had to fix another very important part of the boat.
August 13, 2006
Electricity
Jack, our electrical wizard, decided the panel for the breaker switches needed better access so he jigsawed up a new one:
Here he demonstrates his handiwork.
August 12, 2006
Music
August 12th, 2006
Work is always easier with music, and we needed our own to counter the Daddy Yankee, so we bought a car stereo system and built speaker boxes. As you can see, the Captain decided to shave off his super cool goatee thingy. Not sure why. Maybe he got bilge juice in it.
Ta Da!
August 11, 2006
No More Daddy Yankee Please
If I hear any more Daddy Yankee I’m going to go insane. Rompe rompe rompe rompe…gasolina gasolina…rompe rompe…all day long.
This is the soundtrack to our lives.
August 10, 2006
Bilge Photos
At first we thought the Saltwater Cowboy had struck oil, but then it turned out that it was just our extremely dirty bilges. Captain Chavez and Captain Benito cleaned them for almost a week.
You don’t want to know what comes out of these things, just realize that the goop is too toxic for the ocean and they haven’t been cleaned in many years.
August 1, 2006
Bad News August
August 1st, 2006
August greets us with bad news.
It is so hot and humid that we wear a 24 hour layer of sweat. I count 18 mosquito bites on just my ankles. The boat looks unrepairable, the camera equipment is offline, and everyone is sick.
We opened up the engine compartment and it did not look very good.
I won’t bore you with the continuing scavenger hunt for engine parts and all the broken screws and times we cursed the sun and thought all hope was gone. But we finally have the engine working thanks to our diesel mechanic, Karl.
Most of the time we are searching for parts, and searching for people. Everyone down here claims they are a specialist at something, but most of them are just specialists in beer drinking and bullshitting. Karl, however, is a certified ship mechanic and works on large freighters so he seems to know what he is doing.