We made our way from Tikal to Rio Dulce, where our friends Breena and Spencer from Straight Six Straight South were parked at the Nanajuana Marina.  We had travelled with their old travelling amigos, The Suiss (Martin and Trix), and Wilson and Sarah.  Looks like we’ve got a little Toyota crew coming together!

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“Hey, I’ve got you on my Instagram!”  Umm, what??  Bradley rolled up in an Econoline van, pulled the parking brake, and ran over.  He’s been following our journey and just happened to be in Rio Dulce for a couple weeks helping his parents fix up their sailboat.  We chatted for awhile about our truck, his matching red Toyota pickup, and then he showed us the picture of our truck (and Ashley :/) as the wallpaper on his phone.  It’s a crazy small world we live in.

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Rio Dulce flows from Lake Izabal to the Caribbean and is a popular cruising destination for sailboats and powerboats.   It just happens to be a popular place to buy and sell boats as well… people tend to store their boats here for long periods of time intending to come back, but when plans change they end up selling them.  This is great news for the buyer, because how many people are willing to travel all the way to Guatemala to purchase a boat?  Well, we know of two.

A few boats parked in front of the Nanajuana Marina Resort. 140330_DeskToGlory_RioDulce-1-2And of course they had a pool with a view!140330_DeskToGlory_RioDulce-2

We initially met Breena and Spencer online (not on Match.com or anything like that), and were fortunate enough to meet them in person in Chetumal, Mexico before they crossed the border into Belize.  We were super excited to be reunited with them once again, and hear all about the latest exciting developments of their trip.

They initially left Alaska planning to drive the Pan American Highway to Argentina in their Toyota FJ40 and rooftop tent.  Along the way they realized that the trip wasn’t right for them.  So they bought a sailboat in Rio Dulce and are going to sail to Florida and set up camp there for the forseeable future.  We can’t believe how awesome this is and we are looking forward to hearing all about their adventures at sea.  It takes guts to realize your initial plan isn’t working for you, and to change your plans accordingly.  After all, this trip is about the journey and not the destination.

This reminds of Mike and Tiffany from Who Let the Dogs Out You Me and the Dogs.  They had planned on going as far south as Panama before turning around and heading home.  Then something happened on their way through Belize.  They made it to Hopkins and decided to buy property.

And then there’s us.  Our original plan was to drive to Panama and back to Vancouver in eight months.  Very early on it the trip (somewhere in Baja) we knew we’d want to continue farther south than Panama… problem is we didn’t budget for it.  And what’s our plan??? We will be parking our truck in Costa Rica for at least eight months while we fly home, recharge the savings account, and then continue on the trip.  We’re looking forward to seeing friends and family, living in the same place for more than a week, and being able to drink the tap water.  Until then, we have to remember that we have 6 weeks to go before needing to be in Costa Rica and to continue to live in the moment…