Black sand beaches of Monterrico

Can there be anything much better than eating fresh pineapple? Yes! Eating fresh pineapple (papaya, coconut and watermelon too) for lunch with friends on a black volcanic sand beach in Guatemala!

At the end of last week I decided (rather last minute) to head off for a week with my friend Tyler to the beach (even though I´d already paid to be in Xela) because I was feeling a little stagnated here, not really working, not really traveling, not taking classes...the change was fabulous! We had a great time just doing nothing for the week. It took about 7-8 hours to get ourselves down to the beach on Monday (via Chicken buses) but as far as public transport goes around here, the trip was really quite smooth. Then we just hung out the next three days, buying fresh fruits and veggies to eat for lunch, swimming in the ocean (getting sundburned...when will I learn!?). Also, two other past ICA students randomly checked into the same hotel as us Monday night and it was a lot of fun to have them there to hang out with also.

In case some aren´t aware, tomorrow is the begining of Semana Santa (easter week) which here is quite a large celebration. All of the kids are out of school, hardly anyone goes to work and there are celebration and religious processions galore. The saying is that all the gringos in the country go to Antigua for the week (reputed to have the best Semana Santa celebrations/processions etc) and all the Guatemaltecos go to the beach for the week...Actually, because of this, I think we picked the perfect time to hit up Monterrico. When we got there on Monday the town felt almost empty but when we left on Friday, there was already a lot more activity and people. We almost got to watch the town transform through the week from sleepy hot beach town to destination of the week. But, that means this next week the place is going to be packed and after that, the beach is going to be filthy dirty etc. So we timed it just right. The beach itself was pretty, but dangerous for swimming. The slope of the beach was quite steep and the ocean was quite greedy, if one isn´t careful, it would be easy to be swallowed up and sent out to see by the hungry rip-tides! Even so, it was fun to play in and we even fit in a few night time swims. (The moon was so bright! And in comparison to Xela, the stars so dim, but I think that must just be due the higher elevation here!) I do think I will likely be finding bits of black sand in my hair for the next week or so though from thrashing around with the surf. It´s a rough life.

So, now I´m back here in Xela which surprising feels a little like home. It was actually quite nice yesterday (after a full day of travel, 10 different forms of transport, a cultural museum on a sugar finca, a random side trip to Puerta San Jose, and a dinner of PBJs on a crowded chicken bus, and more ranchera music than I care to remember...)to get back into Xela and know there was a house with a hot shower waiting for me, being more sure of where we wanted to get dropped off than our (nearly too) helpful* microbus driver did. And then, after showering, Tyler and went out to grab some tacos and ran into a large group of our ICA friends who all greeted us with enthusiastic hugs and smiles. Yes, it´s a large city and I miss open spaces and green sometimes, but really, I think there are worse places to come back to.

As for the next step...? I´m planning on going to Lago Atitilan for 4 or 5 days with another ICA friend this weekend for the Semana Santa celebrations (plus, as a destination it´s relatively close to Xela, so transport won´t be too hectic). After that, I´m debating whether I want to try to stay here and actually volunteer or I may go on a 6 day trek organized by a group here called Queztaltrekers that would leave on the 11th. However it works out, it will be great I think! I´m also considering re-locating to the ¨Lake¨ (the same place I´m going for the weekend) because everyone raves about how great it is...maybe take another week of spanish classes, who knows... Well, I have to run and meet a friend for lunch!


*This is a characteristic of all public transport ayudantes and drivers, normally, its wonderful, you just have to know the name of where you want to end up and they´ll put you on the right bus and make sure you get off at the right time. Sometimes though, it throws them a bit when you aren´t a completely uninformed tourist...