Pop’s condition has deteriorated to the point of no return. He’s contracted two more staph infections as the result of treatment. My sister has decided that enough is enough, and has told the doctors to stop any further treatment of any kind. They’ve started the process of letting him go on his own. He’s on a morphine drip now, and they expect to work him off the respirator tomorrow. The doctors do not think he will last long off the respirator. I knew that this was coming, no doubt, but it is just now feeling “real”.
So things have been tragically bittersweet for me. Over the past few days since leaving Cay Caulker, Raf and I have experienced the best sailing on Andiamo since setting off on this thing. Watching her blast over 10 knots upwind in 20+ knots of true is really something. The first night out of Cay Caulker onward to Lighthouse reef, we cruised along on a killer night sail reaching in 20-25 knot winds on just the genoa! And we still averaged 8 knots! After the exhilaration of that kind of sailing simmers down, then I get hit with the reality of what is happening back in LA. To put it mildly, it sorta kills the buzz.
While part of me feels horrendously guilty about not being next to Pop right now, at his bedside holding his hand, the other part of me says that he would probably want me out there having the best sailing I’ve had in years. That helps a little I guess.
In other news, there has been a huge tax revolt/upheaval among the general populace of Belize. Government workers as well as non-government works have all walked off their jobs on a mob strike. There was even talk of major rioting brewing up in Belize City and Belmopan (Belize’s capital). This has made getting anything done in Placencia rather difficult. We had some trouble clearing out with customs today, so we’re going to probably have to wait until Monday before we can get out of here and onward to Guatemala. Placencia, however, is not a bad place to be stuck for a couple of days.
We had another guest on board during our last days in Cay Caulker. Lisa, an attorney from Ohio who has been on an extended vacation through Belize and Guatemala. We met on the water taxi from Belize City to Cay Caulker while I was returning from my stateside trip to deal with Pop. She was sorta winging that part of her trip, and didn’t have any plans for Cay Caulker.
I invited her onboard for some sunset cocktails along with Raf, and before we knew it she was a guest aboard for the next 5 or so days. Definitely a spunky, fun, free-spirited person, a joy to have around. She took the boat well, and even the cats seemed to like her. She’s headed off the Guatemala a few days before we left Cay Caulker to meet up with another friend from Ohio. We may meet up in Antigua for a couple of days when we head out there after getting the boat in Rio Dulce. Raf also has an ex-girlfriend flying in from Belgium next week, so that should be interesting to observe.
More to come from Rio Dulce.