Cruising Tres Americas

CRUISING TRES AMERICAS
A Skalliwag Update 2005

Some of you who have followed the adventures of Skalliwag know that we love Mexico and because of hurricane Marty in September 2003 we lived on the Baja in 2004, repairing our seriously damaged boat, renting a house in a Mexican neighborhood, and learning to speak Spanish. Even though we were land-based, our cruising dream continued to give us the itch, and after much deliberation we decided to move on (rather than spend the 2005 season in the beautiful Sea of Cortez).
In early 2005 we traveled the entire west coast of Mexico, Central America (skipping Panama which is so far east we were closer to Tampa than San Diego!), and are presently anchored in Ecuador, South America, and south of the Equator at latitude 00.41 south. En seis meses viajamos por tres Americas! In six months we traveled through three Americas! 2832 nautical miles!
We have talked a lot about the differences in the countries we have visited and are learning the subtle differences of not only the Spanish language but the Latino history, culture, and lifestyle. The geography has been dramatically different as has the weather. We had realized, even before hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast, that we, in our tiny sailboat on a big ocean, are totally controlled by weather, and more generally, Mother Nature.
We thought an interesting essay would be on the noticeable differences and similarities we found in the countries we have visited……

THE BOAT Our Pacific Seacraft 37’, a stout blue water boat built to last, left LaPaz in beautiful condition, better than before. We added a few features like a hard dodger, extra solar panels and off-loaded things we had not used in 2 years! We had very few problems with any boat systems while underway (which is a blessing) and only encountered a battery problem en route to El Salvador. Scott quickly resolved it with 4 new golf cart batteries purchased in San Salvador. Our well-insulated boat had so little mildew from the wet tropics of Central America that we wondered what all the cruiser complaints were about!!
From LaPaz to Ecuador we used every sail combination Skalliwag is rigged for (except the storm sail!) including our unusual double headsail rig. Using it was a thrill of a downwind sail, especially when we passed our buddy boat of greater size and speed!!! No, it wasn’t a race, but ya gotta love a boat that can perform like that!

PASSAGES, WINDS & WEATHER Normally we sail short-handed, just the two of us. This year we added crew, each young, energetic and strong!!!! Cassandra Colman, a Kiwi and wilderness education specialist (sailing and caving) joined us in Acapulco. Her goal was to learn how to be a cruiser as her job was teaching sailing in open 22’ boats in the Sea of Cortez, (more survival and wilderness experience than cruising!) We thought it would be great to have her as a third hand aboard when we crossed the Gulf of Tehuantepec (about 250 nautical miles across) in southern Mexico, notorious for gales and stiff breezes.
We enjoyed her company and from her coaching learned how to make our sailboat really sail. When we arrived in El Salvador she departed for another cruising experience with a single-hander going to Costa Rica. Doug, Scott’s youngest son, joined us in Barillas, El Salvador and played with us in northern Costa Rica. He helped us make the nine day passage to Ecuador, 832 nautical miles. That was a good thing….
The T-pec, that huge gulf at the southern tip of Mexico, presented no weather problems for us, and gave us the pleasure of a 6 day passage, past Guatemala and Nicaragua to El Salvador. It was light air sailing, with seas so calm that Cassandra swam across to our buddy boat, had a glass of tea and swam back! Not many cruisers can say that they swam in the Gulf of Tehuantepec!!!!

The passage was almost flawless except for that night off the Guatemala coast when we got our first squalls with lightening all around us, and small fishing boats using flashlights as beacons. We thought we were so smart being able to dodge the big black dots on radar (a squall), but when we got really close they (the dots) connected into one big black blob…..And when we got the first rain, it was hail!!!!! It was a wild, wet ride that night, and the morning sunrise was a welcome sight!
That squall line was the first of many we experienced on the Central American coast. No, thank you…they were the reason we headed straight to Ecuador, getting out of the rainy season in this part of the world (Ecuador has no hurricanes, no storms, and no lightening).
The passage to Ecuador in late July (a little late in the cruising season to head south due to prevailing SW swell and winds) proved to be a challenge. We kept our boat speed up as we sailed close hauled for days, but that also meant we were living on an angle! With the boat heeled over and short wind waves slapping her windward side, the ride became bumpy and uncomfortable. The Skalliwag Café was closed for all but sandwiches many times. Again, we used many sail combinations to get to Ecuador, and found that our staysail with a double reefed main kept the boat flat. It also meant the galley was open for business!!! By the way, Scott is soooo happy with our Hydrovane wind vane, which sailed the boat almost the entire 800+ miles!

THE GEOGRAPHY
The Baja of western Mexico is a desert, red, dry, and hot in the summer. The plateaus are small mountains, laced with layers of red, gray and beige sandstone. The Sea of Cortez is the bluest of blue, clear and clean. The sight of a white sand beach in a quiet blue water cove appears at first glance to be like the Caribbean until you notice the reddish brown desert hills and the huge cacti! In the winter months the winds blows fast and furious from the northern Sea of Cortez (southern California and Arizona). These winds bring much cooler temps and gorgeous sunsets (it is said the dust in the air acts like prisms for the sun’s rays.)
Mainland Mexico is greener, with palm trees and bougainvillea blooming year round. The coast is lined with white wind-washed cliffs, and near the large resort destinations, hotel and condo developments. The dry red plateaus of the Baja disappear south of the Sea of Cortez and the lowlands and agricultural valleys predominate. The mountains of the Sierra Madres are visible even from the ocean and many of the entrances to the bays are lines with rocky outcroppings. The water is cooler than the Sea of Cortez, and the prevailing swell can make many anchorages rolly.
South of Acapulco (looks just like any photos you have seen) the landscape flattens except for an occasional cone shaped mountain. For the next 600 miles, all the way to Costa Rica, we saw isolated volcanoes dot the skyscape to our east. Central America is seismically active. We got used to feeling tremors almost daily in El Salvador, and have felt a couple in Ecuador. The dry tropical jungle, in its predominant winter color of gray and leafless trees with huge seed pods attracted more species of birds than we ever saw in south Louisiana. The jungle becomes lush and green during the rainy season.
Central America was green, flowering and beautifully mountainous. The coastline was more craggy and rocky with surf crashing right at the base of cliffs and rocky outcroppings. Again, we sought quiet and well protected bays, away from the prevailing swell. We loved the palm lined grassy bays of northern Costa Rica with its warm water (FINALLY, we could dive off the boat to swim and cool off.) and snorkeling spots. If only the dark sand and mud beaches had been white!
Leaving Costa Rica for Ecuador took us way out to sea, over 350 miles from any coast. Land Ho, 8 days later, was a large rocky point in northern Ecuador! While waiting for high tide so we could enter the river bar into the Bahia de Caraquez, we noticed the huge beige cliffs and rock stacks (like the Canon Beach Oregon coastline) in the surf. The city of Bahia, from 8 miles out at sea, looked like Miami backed against mountains. The Miami look was actually high-rise condos lining the ocean beach front, condos owned by rich Ecuadorians who live in Quito (the inland capitol) and visit only once a year. The water in the Rio Chone is silty and warm and tides are huge, during full moons giving us 3 and 4 knot currents twice a day!!

Coastal Ecuador is hilly and green, but not the lush green of tropical Central America. This part of the world is called the dry tropics. Although each day begins cloudy and gray, and looks like it is going to rain, we have not had one drop in two months. As this dry season becomes the wet season (November to April), we expect to see sunny days and occasional rain showers. We are told the green becomes greener and more flowers bloom. The air temps are in the 60s to 80s now, and we are told will increase to 90s at the peak of the wet (summer) season. Although we are right on the Equator it is not hot and humid. The Humboldt ocean current which flows from Antarctica keeps the Ecuadorian coast cool even though we are right on the equator.
The beachcombing in Ecuador has been great. One of our most interesting finds in Ecuador was a prehistoric shark’s tooth about the size of Scott’s hand. It was petrified, and the tooth is intact with razor sharp serrated edges. We learned it is five million years old. Additionally, Sheryl found the foot of a piece of pre-Columbian pottery on her first beachcombing walk. We have since learned that finding these types of artifacts is common. The cliffs we saw from the ocean are full of old burial grounds and the wave, wind and erosive action of rain are washing the earth (and burial grounds) into the ocean and the river. We have so much to learn about the Inca influence in this part of the world, but we know our pottery shards are just the tip of the iceberg. We plan to do some archeological digs before we leave this country!
You have to look at a world map to get the idea but right now Skalliwag is almost due south of Miami and is still in the Pacific. We are on Eastern Standard Time at longitude 81.4 degrees west!

SOCIO-CULTURE
In all the Latin countries we have visited, the family is the center of the universe. Dress is casual, conservative and not sloppy. In Mexico we ate chile-laden food and picante dishes. By the time we were eating in Antiqua Guatemala we called it bland. We had to get to Ecuador to find jalapeños once again and food with a bit more flavor.
In Mexico we saw mothers and children everywhere together. Mexico has the youngest average age of any country in the world. Every afternoon we saw happy, smiling kids walking with book bags and dressed in uniforms return to their homes. We saw women in long pants (no matter how hot) and blouses, teen girls in tight jeans and cropped tops exposing belly buttons and cleavage, and men in conservative dark pants and shirts. We saw no tattoos, pierced body parts or multicolored strange hairdos. Houses have dirt yards, statues of Guadalupe with vigil candles and laundry hanging in the back. After work, men would be sitting in front with a cerveza or tequila and Coke, and the music would be blaring from a pick-up truck or small boom box. The aroma of tortillas and salsa filled the air in the late afternoon when the big meal of the day was eaten. We found the Mexicans generous, friendly, warm and welcoming. They live for today, and they love fiestas. They are not burdened by deadlines!! They would say Yes when it’s really a No, only because they wanted us to like them. Mexicans were approachable and emotional, and our use of their language won us many friends.
In El Salvador, we noticed that the children were not laughing as much and did not appear as happy. We sensed desperation among adults, borne out of the recent civil strife and loss of life and property. The homes are poor, less than modest, and many without electricity. Still the women maintained the midday meal and the aromas of corn tortillas and plantains frying filled the air. The street markets are dirty and congested, and the quality of the products much lower than we had seen anywhere. The rural areas looked like south Louisiana with sugar cane, rice and wetlands. We grocery shopped in a large food chain, and found many items we used but packaged differently (probably due to the incredible heat, humidity and lack of refrigeration). For example, I bought a tub of margarine that did not need refrigeration, mayo and mustard in squeeze bags, salsa, tomato sauce, and refried beans in squeeze bags, and powered soy milk. Milk products take up an entire aisle in the grocery store!
Because of the civil war and the poverty in El Salvador, most stores and our marina are staffed with armed guards. We were accompanied to town in a van with an armed guard riding shotgun. The entrance to the parking lot and the grocery store, all banks and large stores had armed guards. They were friendly and professional, and we were definitely safe, during the daytime. We were the only Anglo faces; there are no tourists in this part of the world.

However, the capital city, San Salvador, inland from the coast was an entirely different experience (still armed guards). The city is rebuilding with huge investments of capital; the buildings are high-rise with full occupancy, and for the first time since living in Dallas, we shopped in large malls with Rodeo Drive-type specialty shops. What a contrast to the poverty of the countryside! The people are proud of their rebuilding and are embarking on a new course for tourism. However, they are tired, poor and scarred by a long and horrific civil war, and know it will take a couple more generations before their rebuild is complete.
Mexico has a growing middle class. In Central America the stark reality of poverty and wealth prevail. There are a few very rich families; everyone else is extremely poor.
In Guatemala, a country rich in indigenous Indian culture, we found color and culture. In El Salvador and Costa Rica, the cultural influences of the Indian populations have largely disappeared.
Guatemala is a tourist destination although it is a risky one. In this country, like most others in Central America, deprivation is profound. These conditions give rise to the abundance of petty theft, sneak theft, and in our case armed robbery. Yes, it was in the lovely city of Antiqua in broad daylight where we were robbed at gun and knifepoint. We were not touched but the threat was incredibly real. We gave up our book bags, cash, credit cards, camera and dive watch. While it took us weeks to get our credit cards replaced, the other items have diminished in importance to us. What cannot be replaced is the sense of loss of personal freedom and safety. We are more dubious, cautious, less trusting and more careful than ever. The angst with which we left Central America will lessen over time, but has left its mark on us as we plan to travel inland in South America.
Living with a very kind Guatemalan family during our Spanish language school in Antigua was a wonderful experience. Patty and Carlos and three year old Carlito, and a baby on the way live in a new concrete home, clean and organized for language school students. We ate three meals a day, had our own private room with TV (!) and paid $60 per week per person. To see how Patty made tasteful meals on that kind of budget was humbling.
Because of crime we are advising friends to avoid Antigua and Guatamala City. We loved Lake Atitlan, high in the mountains, and found its safety, friendliness and beauty a much needed elixir. We wished we had stayed in this part of the country longer, even going to Spanish language school on the Lake rather than in Antigua.
Family is also the center of the universe in Guatemala. A typical mother of indigenous Indian descent would be seen in her brightly colored huipile, long woven skirt and colorful ribbons braided or wrapped around her long black hair, with a huge woven shawl wrapped around her waist. On her back would be an infant or toddler, wrapped tightly to her and comfortably nestled. She would be followed by young children carrying grocery bags of produce or meat.
The women artisans of Guatemala produce wonderful textiles and beadwork. Markets on Saturday are the most invigorating shopping, and bargaining sprees you can imagine! Great prices but hard bargaining.
The colonial history of Guatemala is seen in its structures many from the 1500s. However, many earthquakes have created ruins where cathedrals once stood. Because of the poor economy, very little money is funneled into the rebuilding of these historic places.
Costa Rica is probably the wealthiest of all of Central America. It is a tourist and traveler haven, and an abundance of eco-tours can be found. Playa Coco is a gringo town, with the development and building of condos and house in the hillside surrounding the beach areas. We found all the groceries we needed at inflated (almost US) prices. By far, it was the most expensive country we have visited. However, it is one we want to explore more once we get back to Panama. The rain forests, wild toucans, howler monkeys and zip lines call to us!
Ecuador has the Inca influence and we plan to travel inland to Ecuador and Peru to view the Andes, the indigenous cultures and the handicrafts. What we have seen so far is again, the family-centered value.

The dress is very conservative even in the beach town of Bahia de Caraquez. The teen girls tend to wear more clothes (less exposed belly buttons than Mexico!), and we see fewer teen mothers. The wealthy Ecuadorians on their beach vacations travel like Mexicans… in large family caravans with abuelos (grandparents), and occasionally a nanny for the kids. They drive SUVs and wear sporty beach attire and have all the props it takes for a day at the beach (umbrellas, folding chairs, ice chests, etc.) Sounds like Florida!
Europeans have been touring Ecuador for years; so many times we are mistaken for Scandinavians or Scottish tourists. Cruising is also a new phenomenon in Ecuador so the Port Captain, the Immigration office and even the grocery store clerks, do not quite know what to make of us!

TRANSPORTATION Very few families in Mexico or Central America have vehicles, and if they own one, it is filled with people for a ride into town for groceries. Seldom are there traffic jams! The highways are filled with trucks of all shapes and sizes, long distance buses and a few pick up trucks or SUVs.
Peseros, van/buses that cost 25c are abundant in LaPaz Mexico and larger old school buses serve the same purpose on the mainland. Public transportation is cheap and easy to use. If we needed one, taxis were affordable and readily available. Long distance “Greyhound”-type buses with bathrooms and movies are economical and easy to use throughout Mexico.
In El Salvador there are fewer vehicles in the rural areas, and men use bicycles to commute. Many use pack horses to transport large bags of rice or bundles of cane for construction. Peoples’ feet are hardened and callused from walking with sandals or barefoot.
Guatemala and Costa Rica are full of tourist mini-vans and small buses. Clearly the roadways are used more for tourism. In the small villages or towns, we again saw school buses (very fancifully decorated inside and colorfully painted on the outside) converted to public transportation. We saw more horses used for commuting as these countries are more mountainous. Oh, and the thieves that took our stuff, they came in on a bicycle.
In Bahia there are $1.00 cabs throughout the city, but a more fun way to go is the “ecotaxi”, a three wheeled bicycle. A covered seat is built in front of the handle bars, you step up on a platform and sit…Twenty-five cents to anywhere…..We have seen the ecobikes carting liters of water, produce and supplies all over town!

RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS & FESTIVITIES
No country is as Catholic as Mexico! Of interest to us are the uses of the indigenous Indian icons woven into the Catholic rituals and practice. The Mexican Guadalupe with the sun beams radiating from behind her robe and her bronze skin represents the merger of the Indian god of the sun and a darker skinned Mexican version of the Virgin Mary. Only in Melaque Mexico did we find another patron saint, Patrick, and a huge five day fiesta celebrating March 17.
Worshipping the Virgin Mary in Costa Rica was a week long festival culminating with a boat parade in Playa Panama and daily processions carrying the Virgin on a platform into the water followed by a priest giving blessings. In Playa Coco we went to a rodeo during the Festival de La Virgen…it was a bull riding contest with the drunkest cowboys we have ever seen!
In Antigua Guatemala during the weeklong celebration of Corpus Christi, we heard “bombas” or loud fireworks going off before each Mass…and they had Masses early in the morning, in the afternoon and at night, at the many churches in the city. No matter where we were, we heard these booms for a week.
The baroque cathedrals of colonial Mexico are breathtaking as are the 16th century ruins of the basilicas in Guatemala that were destroyed by earthquakes. The churches in El Salvador and Costa Rica were not as pretty or as old. Most of the churches in these countries as well as coastal Ecuador are much simpler…less stained glass, simple wooden pews, brick or concrete floors. Wherever we have seen a cathedral or church, we have seen people praying, rosaries being said, and vigil candles. Churches are not locked, and there are always parishioners inside.

HISTORY AND ECONOMY

The Spanish came to the new world not to settle it, but to pillage it. The Spanish accomplished their mission; taking much of the mineral wealth of Central and South America and leaving behind a new race of people, the Latinos of mixed Spanish and Indian blood.
All of the countries of Latin America suffer from what we have come to call “the curse of the Spanish”. The new world governments of the Spanish were designed to extract wealth from their colonies with absolutely no regard for the welfare of the people that lived in them. In much of the region a somewhat less extreme version of this tradition still operates.
To one degree or another, all the governments of the former Spanish colonies are corrupt beyond our experience. They operate to enrich the politicians and their families and friends. However much we may think that our own government is corrupt, theirs are much worse.
Mexico, which we North Americans think of as poor, is much richer than all other Central American countries and most South American countries. Mexico has made a lot of economic progress and unlike the rest of Central America is developing a middle class. The Mexican government, while much more corrupt than our government, seems to be more accountable to the people than other Central American governments (with the exception of Costa Rica).
The current Mexican President, Vicente Fox, is the first President in over 70 years that is not from the PRI political party. Expectations among the people were high that he would end corruption and stimulate the economy. While the economy has improved some during his term, government corruption remains a big problem. He is no longer popular and the Mexicans we met consider him a henpecked wimp, and there is nothing lower in their macho Latin culture.
Mexico is the youngest country in the world. They have the lowest average age on the planet. We can only hope that our southern neighbor continues to make economic progress and creates jobs in their own country for these young people. If not, then the immigration issues of today will become much much bigger in the future. Another real concern for Mexico is that oil revenues represent a huge proportion of the Mexican government’s budget and Mexican oil reserves are in decline. If the oil begins to run out things could get dicey in that wonderful country.
Costa Rica is an exception to the rule in Central America. It is one of the oldest democracies in the world and has never had a war, civil or otherwise. It has no standing army. None. We did not spend enough time there to get to know many Ticos (nickname for Costa Rican), but we found that the ones we did meet were just as convinced that their government was corrupt as other Central Americans. We can only defer to their judgment on this.
The only other country in Central America that appears to have a government that is not run by thieves is, surprisingly, El Salvador. The current president and his predecessor are apparently honest and effective. El Salvador is an extremely poor country and was devastated by their long civil war, but if they continue to elect honest governments, given enough time, they might pull themselves out of their current situation of grim poverty.
Corruption is so innate in most of these countries that it is difficult to imagine how it will ever be rooted out. Yet, the separation between those in politics (the wealthier) and those working to survive (the less endowed) is real. We have been acquainted with many of those survivors and have loved learning about life and living from them. Simplicity. Family. Generosity. Hard Work. Love.