Monterrico Lifestyle

I think we are growing used to the life in Monterrico. For the first day or two, this was just a dusty little place, with nothing happening, and no life. Now though the people are appearing - it´s as if we´ve just begun to notice them. Of course it´s because we have wandered off the beaten path and are exploring the side streets where the people actually live as opposed to seeing the area where the tourists like us hang out.

Yesterday we went on our lagoon tour through the mangroves - but we cheated. We took a sunset cruise instead of a sunrise cruise. There were still lots of birds and it was so very tranquil hanging out on a boat on our little plastic chairs while we were poled along the edges of the red mangroves. The young man with whom we had booked our tour passed us over to Rubén who was quite taciturn, but gently talked while he poled us around about the life of the mangroves. His Spanish was a little beyond me sometimes, so I just nodded, but often he was able to explain the wildlife we saw.

There were lots of tall white cranes (garzas blancas) treading carefully in the water, eyeing the area for fish to swallow. We even caught one catching a fish - an exciting moment. There were gray cranes too, and some small dark herons which sit hunched in the trees with their eyes on the water too. And there were some funny little birds, all dark, black and rufous coloured feathers who surprised as they flew with their bright yellow underwings which flashed like the wings of a grasshopper as they skipped from lily pad to grass at the edges of the mangroves. Overhead were kingfishers on the electrical wires, which made me ask myself how you put up electrical poles in amongst mangroves, which are in fact floating islands of trees which make their own land by dropping their leaves amongst their trailing roots. Not too secure for walking on, that´s for sure.

We also wandered out into a wider expanse of water, lake like in its tranquility, where we had a fine view of the two volcanoes, Agua and Pacaya. Pacaya wasn´t smoking at this time, but it´s a common occurence because it´s a very active volcano along with Fuego. Both erupt all the time, with Pacaya the one where one can climb to see the lava flow by at your feet as our Australian friends did. We know we are not in shape to climb up a lava slope with the shifting sands beneath our feet.

This morning we went out to Johnny´s Place for breakfast and had huevos rancheros - the Guatemalan version of a Mexican favorite. The difference is that the Guatemalan one is not one bit spicy. After breakfast we wandered over to their hammocks to lie in the shade under the palapas. Because of the gentle slope upwards of the beach, we could see only a long wide strip of dark sand (black sand is really dark grey) a thin strip of brilliant blue where the water stretches across the horizon and then the pale blue sky sweeping up and over us like a canopy of watered silk. Peaceful and exactly what we wanted to do right then.

As we were readying ourselves to leave three young women introduced themselves, by asking where we were from. They turned out to be from Victoria. As an aside, it´s amazing how many people think that Victoria is on Victoria Island, instead of Vancouver Island. I guess we need to do a little more tourist promotion as we go. I met a man yesterday as I was lying in the hammock at our place who told me he had been to Victoria Island and it happened just two days ago too. The man I met yesterday was Japanese, and was spending two months in Guatemala. He had already spent a month studying Spanish and insisted on speaking to me in that language, which was very good for both of us becuase we seemed to be in sync with our level of language. He was doing well, although I don´t think he once used the past tense - that´s the tense I think Spanish teachers should start with - really, we talk about what we did far more than what we are doing.

After our sojourn under the shade we went off to check out the turtle, caiman, iguana sanctuary. It´s a little ramshackle but they are doing their bit to protect the sea turtles, by digging up their eggs as soon as they are laid and taking them back to be buried in a safer spot. We are not sure how things are going though because as we looked at the pool where some of the hatched turtles are living it was obvious that some of the tiny creatures were quite dead and others were struggling. But last night apparently we missed an event because people who ate at Johnny´s Beach side restaurant saw a turtle come in to lay its eggs. Two groups told us about this - perhaps tonight we should go over there for a beer on the off chance.

Further back in the sanctuary we wandered through concrete enclosures with some very languid and indolent looking caimans slumbered in the heat. They are suck prehistoric looking animals, these alligators. Thy are not huge, maybe only 5 or 6 feet long, but they look like they would love to take bite out of a leg or two. In another enclosure were some big iguanas, also basking in the heat, while a third enclosure held a whole crew of green lizards, all one atop another in a great pile of green.

Last night we had dinner at a really good restaurant, where the food was not only tasty but also quite well priced. We ate with our friends from Mendocino county and enjoyed good story telling. They have recommended a place on Lake Atitlan where we are going to reserve a place. It sound quite idyllic, as it climbs the cliff above the lake with gorgeous views and even an opportunity to swim in the lake which is 1000 feet deep (yes, there are three zeroes in that number).

Tonight we will probably ate at the same place we ate last night but will go over for that goodnight drink at Johnny´s and hope for turtles. And if not we can still have a nice Cuba Libre (rum and coke) or a shot of ílegal mescal, three varieties available at higher and higher prices.

We are off tomorrow back to Antigua and another night at our lovely hotel there and then we will make our way to Lago de Atitlan. We have to figure out if we can get our ticket changed to the lake from Guatemala City which we had booked already. If not, I guess we suck that up too. We will take the opportunity to get more money, although I think we can use our bank card in Panajachel, the gringo town from which everything on the lake is accessible.