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Monterrico, Guatemala
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Turtles, Monterrico
Having taken some advanced Salsa classes and continuing to practice my Spanish as well as after doing a trip back to Lake Atitlán, where we kitesurfed between the volcanoes a few months back, I decided to close the Antigua chapter and hit the beach in Guatemala. I thought some time apart between Mariela and I would be healthy for the relationship since we have been traveling together for many months already. Monterrico was amazing and quite a different place from Antigua. A black sand tropical beach, lined with palm trees, warm water with huge and powerful waves, hot weather, and cheap food and accommodation. While I was sitting at the beach the first night I had someone from the hotel approach me telling me that a turtle had just arrived at the beach and was about to lay her eggs. After giving the turtle some time to find its nesting location we got closer and I was able to witness one of the most incredible things happening in nature. The turtle was a good 1.5m x 1m big and must have laid more than 40 or so eggs. Incredible! The eggs came out like white ping-pong balls, somewhat shiny and a bit soft. I've never seen anything like this before. While laying its eggs the turtle put itself into a trance state until she is done, then covers the hole with its eggs with sand, practically jumps on top of the sand to harden it and then walks off, sometimes with a lost sense of direction due to the exhausting activity, back into the water. I wish I could describe it better; it's just something you should try to get a chance to see sometime.
If you have looked at the pictures already you are probably wondering what's up with the bag and the eggs and the guy reaching into the sand behind the turtle. Well, take a look. Sadly, turtle eggs are somewhat valuable to the locals and they like to collect them to drink them raw (yes, raw!) with orange juice or V8. Part of the eggs end up at the market or in restaurants while others go back to a turtle hatchery. I talked to some turtle activists about the difficulty of saving the turtles here in the area and the struggle they have sometimes with the locals who claim a turtle and it's eggs incredibly fast when they are trying to make their way up the beach. Slowly they are beginning to understand that if they continue to eat and sell the turtle eggs without leaving some to actually hatch (naturally or in a hatchery), eventually there won't be any turtles at all anymore. There's hope out there, but it surely is a difficult situation.
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