Settling Into Our New Home, Post 26-22
- sondrawinter
- May 31
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 6
Our first week in Guatemala has been a great experience with new sights, new cultures, meeting people from all over the world and opportunities for practicing Spanish as we settle into our home for the remainder of the year.
Thursday, May 21 – Thursday May 28, 2026
Cayo Quemado
Wed. May 20 – Sun. May 24
After checking into Guatemala in Livingston and cruising the first 9 nm of the Rio Dulce, Utopia set anchor in the middle bay of the Cayo Quemado community.
Cayo Quemado is a community of about 150 people and a few businesses outlining a group of bays at the eastern end of El Golfete with nearly every single building that we have seen built over the water. Apparently, they have their own school and football (soccer) field. The community council is working to get a health center and a community center established. They have one water well that has the ability to supply water to about a third of the community, but it is not reliable. The council wants to improve and expand the water system, but needs assistance and funding. For now residents are relying on cisterns that collect rainwater to supply water needs to the households and businesses.
Cayo Quemado
While here, we met a few cruisers and talked to several locals. English was the common language with the cruisers from Spain, Scotland and the USA. We attempt to greet everyone with a “Buenos Dias”, or “Buenas Tardes” and wait to see which language they respond with. Our first attempt at a tienda in Cayo Quemado we failed miserably with our attempt at Spanish, and I was starting to feel that I would never be able to communicate with anyone here. But with more interactions, I am now feeling a little more hopeful that I will be able to manage the language.
We have been able to practice our Spanish with the people who come up to Utopia each day to sell us food or souvenirs. Then at the Burnt Key Marina tiki hut, I had a lovely conversation dropping back and forth between Spanish and English with two women. Regina is one of the owners of the marina and is a Canadian citizen who once lived in Uzbekistan. Alexandra is from Argentia who arrived in Guatemala as a crew member on an American’s sailboat departing from Mexico. She is trying to learn English, so she was very patient with my Spanish, as I was with her English, which I thought was very good.
Regina and her Dutch husband, Maurits are making a lot of upgrades to their marina, which includes a restaurant open during the winter season and nature lodge. Side note, I had a lot of fun jumping off the dock at the encouragement of their young sons.
We ate out for dinner at two restaurants: Mike’s and Paréntesis. Mini Mike arrived in Cayo Quemado thirty years ago from Texas and married a local woman. The whole family participates in operating the restaurant. Jimmy had chicken-fried steak, while I had a tex-mex enchilada; both meals were delicious and we were the only customers.
The following evening, we dined with cruisers at Paréntesis, also known as Sunnya’s family restaurant. Eating here is a treat as the restaurant is Sonia’s home (who is a schoolteacher and member of the community council) and the delicious, local-cuisine meals prepared by Sonia’s mother. Other family members came and went throughout the evening.
There is also a sail loft here, run by Chloé who is from Grenoble, France a place I have visited several times. Chloé has an outstanding reputation, and we elected to drop off our genoa and staysail with her to address a few issues with the sails. She will deliver them (by boat) to our marina within a few weeks.
First Visit to the Town of Río Dulce
Sun. May 24
Today we traded our quiet anchorage for one 12 nm inland in the very busy area of the Marina District of the Río Dulce. We decided to anchor in the area for a couple of nights before heading to our marina. It took about two hours of motoring up the river, and we arrived in time to dinghy to shore for lunch and to see the town.
It was a bit of sensitivity or sensory shock after spending so weeks in quiet conditions. We walked down a road full of little stores, no sidewalks and lots of traffic, including big tractor trailers passing within 12 inches of us. It was neat to experience. I am sure that it will eventually become normal to us.
At the Mexican restaurant we managed to speak only Spanish to our server, Flor, and she was so kind and patient with us. In addition to the good service, we thoroughly enjoyed our brewed-on-site Inda Pale Ale and delicious tacos. Afterwards, we stopped off at a grocery store to pick up a few items. It was fun going to the grocery store and seeing new products and seeing the Spanish words for familiar ones.
Beer menu in Spanish | Ladies washing laundry in the Rio | Dinghy dock | Grocery shopping
We returned to Utopia, where we thought our Spanish for the day would be over. However, we had a friendly interaction with a man in a boat asking if we would like to have the hull of Utopia cleaned. I believe that I was friendly and respectful in declining his services, and I think he understood most of what I was trying to say. With each of these Spanish conversations, I feel a slight bolstering of my courage to speak Spanish, whether it is improving, I have no idea.
Hacienda Tijax
Mon. May 25 - Thur. May 28
At 8 a.m. we took the dinghy over to the Hacienda Tijax marina to discuss our slip assignment with the dockmaster Oscar, who has been at this marina for over ten years. He gave us two options, and we discussed the plan of attack for getting Utopia backed into the slip.
When we returned with Utopia and hour later, Oscar’s team had removed all of the lines across the fairway, and placed people on the bows of boats that stuck out into the fairway. Just seeing people there to fend us off in case it was needed was a big stress reducer. We inched Utopia down the fairway as far as possible, then began a back and fill into the slip. Once close enough, Oscar grabbed the stern line and began to pull us into the slip. It still took a fair amount of effort between Jimmy and Oscar’s team of dock hands along with my giving the throttle little thrusts here and there. Although difficult, the docking overall was rather drama free.
Now Utopia lies in the middle of a giant spiderweb, making trips out of the marina a bit challenging.
Marina amenities include a restaurant with a bar, a beautiful pool, wash and fold laundry service, several bathhouses, walking trails, resident crocodiles, excursion opportunities, like horseback riding and kayaking, and they have a launcha service to docks and marinas along the town’s waterside.
The Cruising Community
It’s pretty cool that we already knew three of the cruising boats in the marina, all from the States that we meet in Belize. We have also met owners from two other boats since arriving. One of the owners is a Dutch man who married a Guatemalan woman and has lived further inland from here for 25 years, keeping his boat at Tijax. The other boater is another regular to this marina, also from the States. The remainder of the boats at the marina are in summer storage mode, while the owners travel back to their home countries. We’ve met people from other marinas as well and it seems that other marinas appear to have the same demographics.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet other cruisers at a couple of off-site events, and I am learning quickly that although the number of sail boats here is big, community network is small, meaning everybody knows everyone. Even Julien (an English man married to an American and lives 4-hours inland from here) who picked up our Hope Fleet items knew both Chloe the sailmaker and Damien the rigger from Cayo Quemado. In addition, Julien knew a sailor Johnathan we had had met one night out at dinner in town with other Tijax cruisers.
While at a lady’s luncheon, I met sailors from Hungary and South Africa, and another from the States who moved here 20 years ago after her and her husband passed through the Rio while cruising a few years before.
Our first launcha ride | Julien picking up our Hope Fleet delivery | Lunch with a bunch of sailing ladys
Our next month will be spent getting Utopia prepared to be left behind for two months for our travels back to the States. I also hope to get a lot of hiking in as training for my 16-day backpacking trip in New Hampshire and Maine this summer. So, our blog posts will probably be a little different for the next six months, focusing on boating projects, the Appalachian Trail backpacking trip and our inland Guatemalan excursions.
Post 26-22
Comments