We made it out of Mexico and past "the BEAST of Tehuanatepec

We are so happy to be here, and in one piece, after

crossing one of the most hazardous areas on this coast.

The reason it is so risky is that the Gulf is

influenced by winds from the other side of Mexico,

and when the weather is bad on that side gale

force winds funnel through the mountains, and

people can be blown up to 500 miles out to sea!

We had been watching the weather very closely

because it blows almost constantly, with short

lulls. We spied a good "weather window"on the

forecast and scrambled, literally running around

dragging big jugs of fuel, water and food on board.

All sails up and engine roaring we set off to face the

beast and hooray it was napping, we sneaked by

heads stuck over the siderails, noses into the

wind like two bloodhounds sniffing the breeze to

detect a shift to the north which would mean the

beast was stirring.

We chugged along merrily for 500 miles, loving

every minute of the passage. Some of our boat

pals weren't so lucky, one boat who set off before

had 65 mile an hour winds, and had to scramble

into a commercial port at night, and take shelter

amongst the rusty shrimp boats. Another who left

a couple of days later , was hit by high winds

because his engine was broken, and he turned

into a sitting duck!

So now we are moored 9 miles up a river in

El Salvador, the closest town is Usulatan which

we visited yesterday. It was splendid! They call

El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras the

forgotten middle of Central America. It really

feels different to Mexico, the people are not as

used to tourists, so we are made very welcome.

There is great povery here, endless civil war,

hurricanes etc have pounded the place, but the

people are cheery and friendly. We are planning

to leave our boat in the river, drive or bus it to

Guatemala, and Honduras to explore inland,

just trying to work out the logistics now.