Monterrico

We just got back from spending the weeekend in Monterrico, at the beach. Let me tell you... it was HOT. Like, human-beings-cannot-survive-in-this hot. Too hot to do anything but jump in the pool and sleep in a hammock hot. Or keep as still as you possibly can while reading your book, because otherwise you start to sweat like mad hot.

But according to the owners of our hotel, who have lived there for about 8 years, it was the hottest day and night the whole time they'd been living there. It hadn't been raining all week like it usually does, so the night was almost as hot as the day. I went to bed early because it was too hot to do anything else, and I got up early because the sun was up and it was way to hot to stay in bed.

The beach was pretty impressive, but you can't swim in the ocean because it has massive undertow. They were the most threatening waves I've ever seen... but it was sort of raw and beautiful and mysterious because of that. (It's the Pacific Ocean, on Guatemala's southern coast). We were across the street from the ocean (and I use the term "street" here very liberally), so all night you could hear the ocean, and it was so powerful that it sounded like thunder.

Quasi-funny story... the first day there I went down to the town to buy some beach towels, and after buying bug repellant and water from a sparsely populated general store, I emerged to see a giant pig walking down the street. Yes, a 2-foot-tall pig. It didn't seem to belong to anyone nearby, and it was just walking along in the heat. Just me and the pig. It was pretty funny... I wished I'd had a camera.

All in all, it was probably one of the most relaxing mini-vacations I've ever had, because it was probably the least I've ever done. Ever. In my entire life. Seriously, it was too hot to do anything besides jump in the pool (and I don't really like pools typically, but I was in that thing within 2 hours of arrival) and fall asleep in the hammock under the coconut trees. We planned and did absolutely nothing other than watch the sunset on the beach and eat. I studied a little bit on Saturday night before going to bed, but since it involved writing and that brought on profuse sweating, I opted to change to reading a book, which apparently (I never would have thought about this before) requires much less body movement than writing.

So although the weekend "vacay" was quite relaxing, it was nice to get back to Antigua today... this place is so familiar to us now. I actually recognize people around town every now and then (the bartender from Reilley's, a teacher from the PLFM). AND, it's much cooler, since it's in the highlands.

(FYI, I didn't bring my camera cable with us since I knew I'd be using cafes, so none of the pics I post here are mine. Later I'll post the ones I took. The waves in the above picture are nowhere near as threatening as they were when we were there.)