Alex and Rachel have now left the schooner to go on their own adventure. They worked hard on the schooner and we couldn’t have gotten away before winter without them. Now our little family is left to survive where the natives tell us only one boat with a mast has been here before. There are many hardships and dangers here but we still think it is a beautiful place and the right place for us as we work hard to repair the boat. Soanya has relatives that live just down the road along the coast of the Essequibo river and I, more than her, marvel that this is her roots.
The Essequibo river is by far the largest river in Guyana. The shallow mouth of the river is wide and hundreds of islands dip their jungle trees into the muddy waters. The smaller Supanam river that we are on has much darker and more clear water. The locals drink this water, but we stick strictly to the rain water that we fill our tanks with. The bamboo leans way over the water and whispers to us but the leaves don’t touch us. So how do the frogs, tarantulas and other creepy crawlies get onboard?
Darshen loves it here and is on a very busy schedule. I row him ashore and ride him on a borrowed bike to school. We dodge cars and goats as we say good morning many times. DArshen comes home at noon for lunch and quiet time. Then he is off to play with the neighbor’s children and other kids around the village.
On the schooner, Soanya and I work with young men to get the boat in shape. For the last weeks, the Anne has been leaning over to port so we could make fiberglass repairs along the waterline on the starboard side. We have hardly begun grinding the bow where layers of paint and fiberglass were worn down by the years of waves we cut through. We are busy getting rid of rust everywhere while we also sand our woodwork for varnishing and begin to bring the schooner to brighter more dressed up times.
The tropical hardwoods are calling me more intensely and I see praying gods and goddesses starting to emerge.
It will take a brave and well planned leap to escape back to the open seas and are open to communicating with anyone who wants to come with us on the adventure of a lifetime. We still need lots of financial help to repair the schooner and look forward to communicating with everyone who will help us. We hope to post our updates more regularly but reception here in the jungle has proven to be intermittent.
In the photos, Soanya stands in a green halo while Darshen explores the jungle with his Daddy carefully guarding him.
