Working on Projects

Yes, we are still alive 'lounging' in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala.

The internet is still out at the marina, so we haven't been on the internet much... it takes a dinghy ride to town to get our internet fix. I HAVE been gradually uploading the photos from our time in Belize. I'm still not quite done yet, but I added several albums several days ago.

Dave is working on constructing a new watermaker. He brought (almost) all the pieces parts from Florida. There have been a few items he needed and so far has been able to find in the local hardware stores. We will have pics and a discussion on the project posted on the website once he has it working. He chose to fabricate the system from scratch so he understood the inner workings of it and could maintain it himself no matter where in the world we are.

I am working on learning Spanish and on canvas projects. I spend 3-4 hours a day working in workbooks and listening to my 'Mastering Spanish' tapes. There is a Spanish Class for cruisers offered twice a week but I am already beyond the beginner Spanish--I thought it better use of my time to work on my own in a cram course. We are going walkabout in a few weeks and I want to be up on my Spanish. But this brain only accepts so much new info at a time. Fortunately Dave also has passable Spanish,
so between the two of us (and a dictionary/phrase book) we can usually make ourselves understood.

This morning we were trying to explain to the marina worker how to use Snobol to clean the waterline of our boat. The guy who does the boat cleaning as a job thought the Snobol was a miracle product. Hope we can find more here! It is often comical (and frustrating) to try to communicate well with someone who doesn't understand any English.

My first canvas project is to adapt the enclosing windows from the previous dodger for the new dodger. The zippers are different and the size is not the same. So I have to change out zippers and add a little fabric here and there. I am trying hard not to make the end result look too patchworky, since Canvas Connections did such a great job on the dodger.

Well, I'd better get back to work... Hasta luego mis amigas y amigos.