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  Monterrico, Guatemala
Saturday, October 21, 2006

From Antigua, we took two chicken buses, one ¨cotton candy¨ bus, and a motor boat to get to Monterrico. The second we stepped on the boat and crossed a mangrove reserve to town, we knew this place would have a very different feel than the rest of Guatemala, as it is the country´s one and only worthwhile beach destination. In the heat of the day, we began an hour-long futile search for a hotel that would let us camp and use its facilities. Giving up, we settled in to a nice one that was still a great deal since it was set a short distance from the beach. We headed out to the beach at sunset and caught the tag end of sea turtle hatchling release run by the local ¨tortugario¨. We ate dinner at a nameless restaurant with sand floors that Matt was convinced ¨Ït isn´t really a restaurant.¨ The menu was given verbally to us: chicken or fish, that simple. In the mode of early to bed, early to rise, we did just that. Waking up at 4:45 am for a sunrise tour of the mangrove reserve was totally worth it

01 The cotton candy man

. We were in a small wooden boat with just two other tourists and our guide Eliazar. It was very peaceful and beautiful. We saw some cool birds and learned the basics of the local ecology. A bit to Matt´s distress, we ate a desayuno tipico at the same non-restaurant as the night before, then hit the beautiful black sand beach for a long day of baking in the sun. We couldn´t do much in the way of swimming. Every time we would wade in up to our waists, we would get a good pounding from the strong waves and stronger undertow. We treated ourselves to tropical smoothies (or in my case a respectable piña colada) in the afternoon and then visited the turtle hatchery facility, which also breeds other endangered species like the caiman, green iguana, and armored fish. The interpretive displays left much to be desired, but it was neat to see the animals. Despite being ready for bed from our early start to the day, I was greatly anticipating the night walk on the beach with Eliazar to look for nesting sea turtles. As it turns out, it was a huge reality check as to what is actually going on (or not going on) to protect them. We set out at a brisk pace, Eliazar scanning with his flashlight for tracks leading up the beach, and we soon crossed the distinct pattern of a sea turtle come to shore. Following them, we saw a man counting the eggs he had just collected from underneath the turtle. I innocently inquired what he was going to do with them, only to find out that he would sell them for 18 quetzales per dozen (about $2.50) and donate one dozen (less than 10% of the batch!) to the tortugario

02 Presunrise in the mangrove reserve

. Our guide explained that the tortugario sometimes buys eggs at market price from what I call the egg-snatchers, but at the moment they don´t have any money to do so, so the eggs are going to whoever it is that wants to eat them so badly. A little disheartened, we continued on down the beach, passing by egg-snatcher upon egg-snatcher waiting for a turtle to come to shore. The situation came fully into focus: the chances were next to none for us finding a nesting turtle, collecting her eggs, and depositing ALL of them at the tortugario the next morning as was described to us pre-tour. What actually happens is the guides make their money taking tourists to see a nesting turtle, albeit that turtle has already been claimed by a patiently waiting egg-snatcher. In fact, our guide didn´t even bring a container to collect eggs in, well knowing that all nesting turtles would be staked out before we got there. On the return journey, we watched another turtle nesting and I was saddened that my first experience with nesting turtles (something I have dreamed about for years) was under these circumstances. I pelted our guide with polite but pointed questions, in an attempt to engage him in meaningful discussion about conservation, but he had an easy answer for everything. Does he really think that 12 eggs donated of every batch lost is enough to keep the population going? Yes, yes, it is enough...and so on. After paying up and returning to the hotel room, I was overwhelmed, but also grateful, to have witnessed the harsh reality of it all

03 Sunrise

. I was thoroughly unimpressed with the tortugario´s system of conservation and Matt and I discussed how it could be better, and why it was how it was, until we drifted off to deep sleep and actually slept in! After a leisurely late morning breakfast at a new choice of cafe that served monster-sized fruit smoothies, we got a late start to the beach. A three day weekend (Revolution Day on Friday) had transformed Monterrico from nearly abandoned to swarmed with privileged class folks from Guatemala City, but we still found a spot on the beach to call our own. After just a couple of hours, we got rained off the beach and transitioned to playing cards while enjoying our second round of the monster-size smoothies at the new choice cafe. Dinner was pasta and tomato sauce cooked on the campstove inside our hotel room as it continued to rain on dogs and pigs outside. Delicious, and what could be better than dinner for less than a dollar? We packed our bags up to prepare for an early start to a long travel day the next morning back up to the mountains, but still looking forward to our next trip to the beach in Belize.

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04 Lilly pad flower and tour boat	05 Our guide Eliazar in the mangrove	06 A white boy on a black beach--Monterrico	07 Casey gets a good wave thrashing
08 Releasing baby turtles	09 Our guide and the egg snatcher	10 Momma turtle	10 The port in Monterico

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