Welcome to World Kids Foundation

 FEBRUARY 2007 California USA

February 2007 found me in San Diego, California.  The next step; run around and try to acquire the necessary capital to head back to Central America and finish off the field research. My initial plan was to drive all the way to Nicaragua with my Ford Bronco II.  Cost prohibitive, I quickly back burnered that plan.

February was also a month of reuniting and sharing time with an ole high school buddy from years back. Mark and Marcy had me over at their ranch as a guest prior to my return to Central America.

In this month, my son Robin would turn 6 years old.

 MARCH 2007 El Salvador

Visited my snow bird folks in Yuma, AZ in the first week of March. On the drive back to San Diego, my cell phone rings with news of the death of my very dear friend and mentor, Dick Ribble.

My flight to San Salvador, El Salvador was already booked.

I would be flying to El Salvador to launch a 27'ft Albin Vega sloop named SV VESPER, thanks to my pal Trevor in Florida. Feeling rather empty over news of Dick's passing, I decided to stay the course, as he would have appreciated it. I boarded my flight to El Salvador to begin the next chapter.

 APRIL 2007 El Salvador and Nicaragua

Spend most of April working on SV VESPER in the confines of a hot humid jungle estuary in El Salvador. Amazingly enough, it didn't take more than 3 weeks to get VESPER back in the water, cleaned up and ready to set out to sea.

During my 20 year tenor of blue water sailing, most of it has been aboard Chickadee. SV VESPER is equipped with a mature VOLVO PENTA.

In late April, with the boat in good form, VESPER and I headed out to sea on a south-bound run down the coast of Central America.

In this month, my daughter Kaerolik would turn 10 years old.

 MAY 2007 Nicaragua

Researched many new ports of call and updated the rest for the guide book. Though quite small compared to Chickadee's solid 30 ft of steel, VESPER performed well on the open ocean. She is better rigged than Chickadee, and much easier to sail. VESPER has roller furling, jack lines, diesel auxiliary and lines lead aft. Once I became comfortable with the boat and her systems, I navigated down the coast dropping anchor in various remote places. Among them, I spend close to a week in Astillero, Nicaragua waiting out nasty papagayo winds to taper off.

Whilst in Astillero, the village tugged at my heart strings. Poverty is rife along the coast of Central America, as it is inland. A few years ago, when I first arrived in Astillero with Chickadee, I carried a cargo of school supplies and toys. But this time, with VEPSER, I carried no such gifts. The children in the village made it very clear that should I return by sea, I must bring them toys and school supplies. One little gal with much ado and brevity spoke on behalf of her mates. "We need barbie dolls, toy cars, coloring books and crayons" she said.  Should I return one day, I promised I would do my best to fill their order.

After the week in Astillero and much pleasant time spent in the village, I set sail for San Juan Del Sur. Waiting for me will be my own children; Kaerolik, Robin and baby Erika.
May 2007 marked the first tropical storm of the season out of the south west.

 JUNE 2007 Nicaragua

Arrived in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua back in the arms of my babies. My heart full and overflowing with love for them. However I am forever concerned for Rosio and the kids beyond the scope of this report. I have faith the challenges that besiege, will abate. At a minimum, I have learnt to except and understand how easy it is for local poor Nicaraguans to get involved in the Pentacostal-Evangelical movement burning like wild brush through Latin America. Its not neccessary a bad thing, since it does provide the locals with hope and a purpose... I guess? Having this acceptance gives me peace and a better ability to deal with the fact. All this aside, I spent most of June with Rosio and the kids. Plenty of beach time and ice cream. Taught Robin to fish and swim.

 JULY 2007 Nicaragua

SV VESPER and the diesel engine it came with had been running so well I thought it would make sense to give it a good P.M. (preventive maintenance). ie: Oil and fuel filter change, tune-up, grease job and general  going over. This would be done before I would depart Nicaragua for Costa Rica to survey those waters.

"If it isn't broken...don't fix it." As it turns out, many bugs in the ole motor needed fumigating and I had engine problems all the way to Bahia Salinas, Costa Rica. Low on funds and without a reliable motor to do the job right, I tacked close haul back to San Juan Del Sur to hang up the hat. I can honestly say I tried my best to include Costa Rica into this edition of CRUISING CENTRAL AMERICA.

 AUGUST 2007 Nicaragua

With hurricane season on the horizon and a boat with engine problems at anchor, I decided the next move would be to haul VESPER out of the water and stowe her on dry dock. This took the better part of two months. At first there was no room in the shipyard, followed by a broken down crane waiting for parts to be sent from Russia.

Whilst waiting for the shipyard to pull me out of the water, I spent quality time with the kids. Rosio and the children are living in the rat shack; a mind bending heart ache beyond description.

August 2007 marked the month I would be out of a laptop computer for the first time in 12 years. A major blow to my projects. The circuit board in the 3 year old HP 4500ze melted from plenty of use and power surges. Fortunately, all my files were recovered.

 SEPTEMBER 2007 Nicaragua

Hurricane Felix plastered the east coast of Nicaragua leaving behind death and destruction. Those of us on the West Coast of Nicaragua were spared of its wrath.

Vesper remained at anchor through out this wet month as I continued to push to get it hauled out.

Things were not looking good. The shipyard still did not have the crane repaired. My op funds had run out and I was getting antsy about leaving Nicaragua while still possible.

In this month, my youngest daughter Erika, would turn 5 years old.

 OCTOBER 2007 California USA

Got a sort of lucky break and managed to get VESPER put on a trailer in the new section of the shipyard, and finally out of the water. Now with the boat locked up and stowed, the next indicate step was arranging a flight out of the country.

I shoe stringed it onto a flight to LAX. Spend a few days visiting Mark and Marcy in San Diego, got my ole truck running again and hit the interstate north bound.

 NOVEMBER 2007 California USA

Pit stopped in Sausalito California to help a friend install a teak hardwood floor in his house. What we thought would take 2 weeks, ended up taking over a month. Good times however getting reconnected with ole pals and new friends. Went out sailing on San Francisco Bay a few times, took in a movie here and there, dinner on the town and overall fine times.

 DECEMBER 2007

Gassed up my old Ford Bronco II and headed north towards Canada. However, engine trouble put the kabash on that plan. Electrical problems continuosly caused the motor to die without warning.

The straw that sprained this camels back was a stall on the Gold Gate Bridge.

With a little help from friends, I left the truck behind and returned to Canada by air. Landed in Vancouver under rainy skies, with worn out tools but in good spirits. The skies are cloudy but the future is bright.

 World Kids Foundation 2007

Whilst back in Nicaragua for most of the year:

- Local teachers gave me a tour of Escuela Mundo de Los Ninos in Cangrejo, Escuela Veracruz near Rivas and Escuela Ostinal in hopes World Kids Foundation can help them with repairs to their schools.

-Found out that our house keeper Nancy from a few years ago, (a single mother)was prostituting on weekends in exchange for milk and food for her babies. High unemployment and hunger leads to drastic measures.

-Two other single moms I know, got themselves tangled up with a narco traffic ring which landed them in jail. Maria and Modestra. Lets hope the new year brings brighter prospects for single mothers struggling to feed their kids.

Take Care everyone.

FELIZ NAVIDAD Y PROSPERO ANO NUEVO
Capt Eric "Chickadee" B.
Chilliwack BC
December 24, 2007