Monterrico

This weekend I went to Monterrico, the beach on the pacific coast.  It was a crazy weekend, with so much experiences!  First of all, I have never experienced heat like that!  It was suffocating.  It was well over 100 degrees, and felt like when you open the oven door to peer in at your turkey and the heat melts your face for a second?  It felt like that…only all over…all the time!   But, there was a nice breeze on the beach, and the hotel bar was happy and willing to serve you a nice cold drink, in a frosty cold mug!  Alchohol or not.  I had both, durring my weekend!  The gallo is just perfect!

The ocean here was violent, but breathtakingly beautiful.  The surf was so loud, it sounded like cannons going off.  It boomed, and crashed, so hard and so loud.  I was amazed.  I’m not new to the beach, but I’d not experienced it quite like this.  I waded on Saturday.  I’d never been in the Pacific Ocean!  The water was so warm, like a bath.  The black sand was so hot, it was almost unbearable, and I had crocs on!  There are little foot baths when you reached the hotel.  I assume to wash the sand off your feet, but for me, they were the main goal coming off the beach, as my feet were burning!  It was so different, so beautiful there.  This driftwood in the pic was my reading spot, and when I left there, I had black sand all over me!  The waves are so hard, they just throw the sand at ya.   You could see and feel the mist, it was great.  A quick shower was in order afterwards,  and the water here is cold…or colder.  LOL you don’t need it any other way, trust me! 

Mid afternoon it was so oppressively hot that people just stopped moving.  Every yard I walked past, there were people hanging in hamocks.  No one was moving.  Me?  I went in the pool, for about 4 hours durring the hottest time.  There was just no where else I’d rather be!  There was, what appeared to be a hot tub off the pool, but actually, it was like, an ice tub!  haha  I guess they know here that an ice tub, is just what is needed!  The water in the pool was nice and cool, refreshing.  But the water in the “ice tub” was WAY colder!  It was so funny.  So, when melting starts happening, a dip in the “ice tub” will save the day.  Funny cuz I was in the pool, and there were like 6 people in what I thought was a hot tub.  I could not wrap my mind around how they could tolerate that!  Little did I know!!

On Sunday morning, the rooster, and the surf, woke me up around 4:30.  I thought we were having a massive thunder storm or something!  When I realized it was the surf, I tried to lay back down, but between that and the rooster, sleep was not happening for me.  I ended up going out to the pool, at like, 5:30.  It was so peaceful.  No one was around, and when in the pool, I can see the ocean.  It was perfect!  And the crashing, booming surf was awe inspiring.  It was so loud, and relentless, that I finally had to go over and say hello to the ocean.  The walk to the beach only takes a few minutes, but the walk to the water is a bit farther still.  The sand was tolerable at this hour, and the beach was empty.  I stood there, in awe of this amazing place, the black sand, the wild surf and the mist of the morning.   The ocean claimed a life that day.  The rip tides and surf were wicked.  A crowd gathered..people were crying..lifeguards were searching.  They didn’t find him.  It was horribly sad.  I walked away from that, feeling sad to the core.  The ocean is magnificent, but oh so powerful, and sometimes unforgiving. 

When I got back to the hotel, I ordered some fries and an ice cold gallo, and ran into the german couple I’d met on the Semuc Champay trip!  We sat and chatted, and drank a beer together.  Then, it was time for me to go, back to Antigua.  The bus arrived, and my driver, Julio, took my bag and ushered me away.  All in all, it was a fabulous trip, but as we drove away, I looked back at the ocean, and said a little prayer for the life that was lost, and his loved ones  left behind.

By the time we picked up everyone else, the smell of hot sweaty people in one place got a bit overwhelming.  It made me smile though, another bit of this amazing journey.  I unrolled my window all the way, and dozed off, with the breeze and sun in my face.   This was my last weekend, next weekend I’ll be home!  I’m sad to leave, but ready, too.