Guatemala
Monterrico

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    • Day 367

      Monterrico, die Küste Guatemalas 🇬🇹🐢🏝️🌅

      February 9 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      Hola Compañeros! Wir sind nach Guatemala weiter gereist und haben uns hier die Küste angeschaut. Hier haben wir auch die 365 Tage überschritten und sind nun schon über ein Jahr unterwegs! Wahnsinn! In Monterrico, einem kleinen Küstenort umgeben von Mangroven auf der einen und kilometerlangem schwarzem Sandstrand auf der anderen Seite, haben wir Babyschildkröten ausgesetzt, eine Sonnenaufgangs-Tour in die Mangroven gemacht und sind surfen gegangen… Die Wellen waren klein aber haben Spaß gemacht und an einem Tag haben wir vom Surfbrett aus springende Rochen gesehen. Wirklich eindrucksvoll! Die restliche Zeit haben wir in der Hängematte oder bei Ausflügen den Strand entlang verbracht… das ging aber nur früh morgens oder zum (sehr schönen) Sonnenuntergang, weil es sonst einfach zu heiß war. Nun gehts wieder rauf in die Hochebene nach Antigua zu einem aktiven Vulkan… Hasta luego!Read more

    • Day 13

      Monterrico - Day 3

      March 21, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

      Another lazy morning here in monterrico. Slept in again. Then eventually got going and drove 20 minutes south to a resort called Maya Jade where we were told there was no undertow and surf boards and boogie boards could be rented.

      The resort was really nice, much bigger than the place we are staying at. But they only had one boogie board and many surf boards. So i decided to give surfing another go. Which didn't go all that great. I got up on the board a few times but couldn't maintain my balance to ride it into the beach. And fighting the waves with my long board to get deep enough to the bigger waves completely tired me out. And the kids played in the waves near the shore.

      Ron and Rachel stayed back at the resort and relaxed in the pool all afternoon and when we returned they had already made friends with some new guests that arrived. We all hung out by the pool and at dinner we put a bunch of tables together and all ate as one big family. I can't recall ever having a meal with all the guests of a hotel together like that haha. Really fun evening. And the last night in monterrico sadly. Will really miss the owners Cecelio and Cecelia who treated us like family.
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    • Day 31

      To Monterrico!

      February 20, 2021 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      We arrived in Monterrico in late afternoon. It was also just as hot and humid as Iztapa, but we were hoping to be able to relax and enjoy the swimming oriented beaches (opposed to surfing beaches of Iztapa). We were also hoping to be able to have access to better internet. Montericco is quite beautiful and picturesque, however, neither our internet problem, or desire for beach time were fulfilled. The beach has very hot black sand that is nearly impossible to handle during the peak swimming hours of the day. The accommodation prices in Montericco are also much higher than our budget, and most places do not have communal kitchens forcing us to eat out and spend more money. After much deliberation, we decided to go back to Antigua to escape the heat and capitalize off of the cheaper accommodation prices while we tried to decide where to go next. But first, we spent about three days in Monterrico to enjoy the beach!

      On our last night in Montericco we decided to stay at a very… rustic… hotel because it was amoungst the very very few options within our price range (60Q/night/person). The owners and workers of this hotel were wonderful, accommodating, and friendly people. But the hotel itself was definitely an experience to say the least. We stayed in a concrete room that resembled something of a jail cell, shared an incredibly run down comunal bathroom between other guests and restaurant patrons; it was primarily made of concrete with toilets that rarely had toilet paper, and did not flush, the showers were mearly cemente stalls with no shower curtains that contained a pvc pipe sticking through the wall that only spouted out cold water, and most of the lights did not work. Finally, the restaurant portion of the hotel was hosting many drunk locals that were listening to extremely loud music until about 12 am. This was amongst my least luxurious stays in my lifetime, but I wouldn’t change it for anything else because it was such a bizarre and authentic experience. The hostel owners were very generous in finding us a fan for our room and gave us free ice water which tremendously helped us cope with the heat. 🥰 We spent our evening talking, drinking, and I even hula hooped to the loud local music!

      LINK TO MY YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://youtu.be/b_ZbAdo4Smg
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    • Day 11

      Monterrico - Day 1

      March 19, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

      In the morning, Alexa still wasn't feeling well, so i let her sleep until 11am while i did a bit more shopping in antigua before the drive to the pacific coast. Abdel and family decided to stay in antigua for lunch and we would meet them in monterrico later that day.

      The roads south were not mountainous at all and much easier to navigate. A nice change. We were 10km from monterrico when we got stuck in a huge lineup of cars for about 20 minutes. I drove up to the front of the line to find out what was going on... road work and at least another 30 minute wait. So we crashed a nearby resort and had some food and beverages rather than waiting in the car.

      Eventually got to monterrico and followed google's directions and ended up at a run down property with a pool and nobody was there. We were all so dejected. But after a while i decided to ask a local across the street and we were in the wrong spot.

      Finally arrived at the correct spot and its another slice of heaven. Lovely property, pool and huge beach. The sand here is volcanic black sand... very different than anywhere else i have been. There is a big undertow here so we just played at the water's edge. Then dinner and drinks, plus a few with the owner too. Everyone is so nice here.
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    • Day 12

      Monterrico - Day 2

      March 20, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

      Had a lazy morning in bed, which was a nice change from several early mornings. Alexa and I decided to head north up the coast to a surf town called El Paredon. And everyone else stayed back at the Monterrico resort.

      The drive took 2 hours and with our late start we didn't have a ton of time. Found a hotel/surf shop near the beach, rented some boogie boards and jumped into the ocean. Nice big rolling waves here and no undertow. Rode waves for about 90 minutes and then went back to that hotel and had some food and relaxed for a while.

      My plan to leave at 4:30pm to get us back before dark didn't quite work out as i hoped. Being a sunday, the roads were full of cars heading back to Guatemala city, which slowed us down quite a bit. And we got a little bit lost driving through Ixtapa. And once the sun went down, spotting speed bumps, pedestrians, dogs, and bicycles became really difficult. Most roads have very little shoulder and towns rarely have sidewalks so there's a lot to watch for in the streets. Including chickens, dogs, cats, pigs and the odd cow.

      Once we finally got back, played with the newborn kittens here, had an awesome paella for supper, and played cards with the kids.
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    • Day 82

      Fahrt nach Monterrico

      June 4, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      Nachdem der Besuch beim Zahnarzt so reibungslos verlaufen und auch unsere Wäsche pünktlich und duftend um 9 Uhr bereit stand, gab es für mich nicht viel zu tun als unseren freundlichen Fahrer zu begrüßen und den Wagen vollzuladen, der wie gewohnt zehn Minuten vor der geplanten Abfahrt auf dem Hotelparkplatz wartete.

      Die Fahrt nach Monterrico an die Pazifikküste führte uns zunächst erstmal wieder einige Serpentinen hoch bis sich Miss I meldete und um eine ruhigere Fahrt bat. Anders als ich nahm der Fahrer dann auch Rücksicht und so schlängelten wir uns gemütlich durch zunächst die Berge hoch und wieder hinunter bis wir im Regen in dem Küstenort Monterrico ankamen. Als Surfer-Spot Nicaraguas beschrieben, war es zunächst mal nur ein eher schmutziges und heruntergekommenes Kaff mit einem sehr lokalen Angebot an Speisen und Waren. Auch unser Hotel war sehr einfach, die grob verputzten Wände schon vom Blut einiger Moskitos gefärbt und insgesamt mal wieder auf der Charmeskala eher Backpacker-Hostel. Bier und Sprudelwasser gab es zur Selbstbedienung mit Anschreiben und Bestellungen im Restaurant benötigten eine Stunde Vorlauf. Dafür waren es aber auch nur 5 Meter bis zum gut 10 Meter langen Pool und knappe 30 Meter bis zum Strand. Die vermeintlich kurze Strecke über den schwarzen Lavastrand hatte es allerdings in sich. Zumindest wenn man versuchte diese barfüßig zu sprinten, dann zumindest bestand durchaus die Gefahr sich die Hornhaut von den Sohlen zu brennen. War man erstmal in dem wellenüberspülten Bereich, war der feine Sand dann allerdings sehr angenehm. Nur über die verschiedenen als Treibgut an Land gespülten Meeresbewohner inklusive Kofferfischen und großen Krabben musste man einen Bogen machen. Dafür waren die Wellen allerdings fantastisch.

      Die Zeit vor Ort verbrachten wir im Wesentlichen mit Lesen, Schwimmübungen und gelegentlichen kurzen Spaziergängen in den Ort (nicht wirklich sehenswert und lediglich für die Suche nach dem einzigen Geldautomaten notwendig) oder in das unmittelbar neben uns gelegene Luxusresort um etwas Abwechslung in den Speiseplan zu bekommen. Der Rest war Faullenzen at its best, wobei über uns der anstehende Flug nach Managua wie ein Damoklesschwert schwebte, war doch für die Einreise nach Nicaragua (als einzigem Land in Centralamerika) ein bis 72 Stunden vor Abreise erfolgter negativer PCR Test notwendig, was uns beziehungsweise das Reisebüro vor logistische Herausforderungen stellte, da die nächstgelegene Teststation erst in Guatemala City lag. Laut Planung sollten wir Montagmorgens sehr zeitig aus Monterrico aufbrechen um direkt den Test zu machen und unseren Flug am Dienstagmorgen um 6:30 Uhr antreten zu können. Auch nach den Thailand-Erfahrungen waren wir hinsichtlich des Tests recht entspannt, lediglich der Zeitplan erschien schon ambitioniert. Den Gedanken einen Tag früher abzureisen und den Test entsprechend vorzuziehen schrieben wir dennoch wieder ab, da nicht klar war, ob wir Sonntags getestet werden konnten. Wir schon alles gut gehen…… Und ansonsten: füge Dich den Dingen die Du nicht ändern kannst und bei allem anderen hilft ein Sprung in den Pool!
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