A Boat Ride on the Passion River

I had told Cruz before we ever left our house to travel to Sayaxche that we would be taking a little boat ride down the river while we were there. I knew he would love it and I was eager to take him. He was pretty excited about it. We ended up making two stops on the way there that were both near water (Rio Dulce and Flores). That confused him a little because he didn't understand why we were not riding the boat at each of those stops. Then we got to Sayaxche on Tuesday and by Thursday we still had not gone in the boat.  Cruz was patient, but it was wearing thin.  So, on Thursday morning he and I decided to just take one of the taxi boats across the river and back that the locals use.  It was a short trip, but he had fun.

Cruz and I crossing the Passion River in Sayaxche

here he is hanging over the side watching the other boats cross

Later that afternoon when the retreat had ended several of the team joined us and we all set out on a little ride together.  We told the driver just to take us about 30 minutes up the river and then turn around and bring us back.  We didn't really want to go anywhere, we just wanted to ride.  It had rained that afternoon and that delayed us about an hour leaving, but the weather was much cooler afterwards and the cloudy skies made it more pleasant. 

walking down to the river to catch a boat

Aren't these some sweet smiles!  Mr. Wendall and Mrs. Jane Parker

Ms. Shirley and Ben

a back view of our group

Mr. Wendall, Mrs. Jane, Carol, and Bro. David

 Ms. Shirley, me, and Cruz

Cruz kept everyone entertained

here he is being silly with Bro. David

Ben was a little entertaining too, but not in a good way.  He was sleepy and as you can see by his face he was not a very happy camper.  When he is tired he wants to be laid down in his bed.  That was not possible on the boat so it took him several LONG minutes of screaming and crying to finally give it up and fall asleep in our arms.  I know it was very unpleasant for the group, and we felt bad about it.  But, after he was asleep the rest of the ride was good.

our group on the Passion River

We returned to our rooms in time to play a few hands of Phase 10 with the Parker's before supper time.  The team went out to eat and our family stayed back to do a picnic in the room and start packing up our things to leave the next morning.   I would have loved to have gone with the group to eat, but with small kids sometimes it's just easier to say no and stay home.  The boys loved us sitting on the floor and having a picnic together anyway.  Cruz thought it was cool.

The boys enjoying our family picnic (one of several we did that week) in our hotel room in Sayaxche.  They also enjoyed getting to watch cartoons while we ate.  That is something they never get to do at home so it was a treat.

The boat ride was a fun way to end our time there together with friends.  We left early on Friday morning heading back home in time to get Cruz to his school's graduation program.  I'll post about that next.