monterrico on the coast

needing to warm up a bit i spent the weekend at Monterrico which is on the pacific coast.  it's less than 2 hours from Antigua on good roads so it's even possible to do it as a day trip.  

there is a cruise ship port on the pacific coast so they run a lot of day trips from there to Antigua [thus the good road].   Monterrico is just a one street strip of low range hotels but the food where i stayed was surprisingly good.

i did go to the much larger turtle 'sanctuary' here but it felt much more commercial than the smaller one i visited last year but i got to see something just as spectacular here.  i was on the beach early in the morning and there was a WHALE just offshore.  it was playing for about 30 minutes and it was amazing to watch it in it's natural environment and not in some small concrete tank in an amusement park.

the coast is on the migration path but the staff later told me it's rare to spot a whale so close to the beach.  i don't know why anyone would want to kill or eat such a beautiful animal.  there's an increasing awareness here of the problem with both dolphins and whales being caught in old fishing nets but like everywhere there is driving economic need for the fishing which will always win over the concern for animals and the health of the oceans.

las tortugas - the turtles

the turtles in Asia are a symbol of wisdom.  when diving i chase sea turtles because they are so very.  yes, very everything. 

as a teenager in Florida when we sailed to the island of Keewaden we would often find the paths that turtles made from the water to their nests.  occasionally we would dig up and count the eggs to report to the conservation group.

for a lot of reasons, mostly related to costal development and fishing methods, turtles are declining in numbers.  so i love to see a community [yes, the nationals of a developing country!] coming together to preserve a species that is endangered.

there are quite a few turtle sanctuaries in central america - each doing thier part for conservation.  it seems at odds with a country imersed in poverty yet they seem to understand the importance of these species.

everywhere i have witnessed the special bond between children and animals and it is always the same mixute of love and wonder and amazement that seems to be lost as we become adults.

the buckets of baby turtles were emptied onto the beach at sunset so they would follow the sun into the water and it was priceless to experience the exodus of the turtle hatchlings into the ocean as the waves lapped up to take them on thier journey.

i left saying, 'las tortugas, las tortugas siempre en mi corazon' [the turtles, the turtles always in my heart].  it was the best memory of my weekend on the coast of Guatemala.