Monterrico

Sunday
We almost enjoyed church (teaching the primary to sing in Spanish and English is a challenge) and then talked brother Fillmore into taking us down to Avis to pick up our car for the week.  It gives one a rather nice sense of freedom to have ones own wheels.
Monday we started off on our journey at 7 am. with Hermano Ceballos in the back seat.  He is a security guard at the temple and he needed a ride home to San Lucas.  What a blessing he turned out to be.  We came to a standstill about an hour out of the city and he suggested a route around it.  We were fairly sure that the long windy route he took us on was probably longer than the traffic slow down would have been but when we got to his place his wife wondered how he had got there.  There had been a landslide on the highway and the heavy equipment was just arriving to start clearing it away.  So we went along our merry way thanking the Lord for that little favor.
We arrived at Monterrico and checked into the Dos Mundos.  It is muggy hot.

The road along the beach heading for Dos Mundos

One of the pools at Dos Mundos

Our little cabin at Dos Mundos

More grounds and another wading pool at Dos Mundos

Looking down the beach-Dos Mundos.  We found our turtle about at the thatch roof building.  More about that later in this blog.

An old lady (me:() ) enjoying crashing waves.

Standing by the infinity pool

The Ocean from the pool at Dos Mundos

The waves were thundering up on the beach.  As the drop off is not far off the waves rise and roll very quickly.  Not a great place for swimming.  The ocean is mesmerizing to watch and listen to.

We ate lunch at the hotel and went for a drive to Hawaii just down the road and came back for a swim in the pool.  The coolest place to be was in the water.  It was a perfect temperature. Made the hot weather most comfortable.

Ceiling lights in the restaurant.  The only closed side is the cooking area.

Swimming pool.  The covered area is a jetted pool

Eldon enjoying the water

More pool scenery.  They put cushions out to lay on 

We went over to the Tortugaria just up the street.  They hatch turtle eggs and then release them when they are the right age.  They release millions.  They say that for every hundred they release only 5 make it to adulthood.  We were there at the wrong time of year to see it.  August is the big month for releasing the turtles and they make a big party out of it. The Tortugaria also had iguanas and crocodiles of various sizes.

Cayman or Crocodiles

Iguana

Some weird fish they have down here.

More turtles

Snooty Turtle

One, two, three....

Some green lizards.  They were really fast!

For some insane reason we decided to take the 5 am. tour of the Mangrove swamps.  So we got up early and got into a largish pole canoe and headed out into the swamp.  There had been thunder and constant sheet lightning and rain most of the night but the morning proved quite refreshing.  The guide spoke very quietly and we listened to birds and animals that only "talk" at sunrise.  It was a cacophony of sounds.  The tour took 2 hours and we returned to our hotel at 7 in fine time for breakfast.

5 am. poling along in the mangrove swamps

Sun is rising but with all the rain and clouds of the previous night I didn't expect much.

Our guide and two other brave souls who went with us.

Fishermen out casting nets for shrimp

Well maybe a bit more spectacular than I expected.

Someones home in the swamp.  They have pigs, chickens, a cow etc on this tiny island in the swamp.  When the water gets too high they leave for awhile.

Heron

Mangroves.  The roots grow down from the upper branches.

Our room had finally cooled off early this morning so we left the AC running to keep it that way.  Since there was not a whole lot to do we played on the beach and walked up and down it.  Volcanic sand is hot by the way.  Then we drove into town to find a little different variety of food for lunch.  We parked in a parqueo and a young man who was manning the parqueo took us to a nice restaurant down by the beach.  I believe it was his friend.  We had some wonderful fried chicken, wandered the streets a bit and headed back to the hotel and the pool to cool off.

We had a tour scheduled for 7:30 pm. to go turtle hunting.  We would walk up and down the beach in the dark, looking for turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs.  The guide collects them and takes them to the university Tortugaria to be reburied and allowed to hatch safely.  Many people are hunting for eggs to make money and are damaging the turtle population.  Well thunder, lightening and a downpour dampened that idea-we thought- but at 8:30 the rain let up and the guide came knocking at our door to see if we still wanted to go.  Mistake.  I was doused with repellent so we decided to go.  We trudged along the beach with our flashlights.  Normally they use the moonlight but it was pitch black.  Low and behold the rains started again.  We had on rain jackets but our tennis shoes rapidly filled up with water.  We gave up finally and headed back to the hotel when our guide saw a turtle and instructed us to quickly turn off the lights.  The lights would make her turn back to the sea.  He picked her up and deposited her further on shore and she found a spot she liked and dug a nest.  At least I am guessing that is the score as I could see nothing.  Finally she began laying her eggs at which point it was OK to turn on our flashlights as she would not stop once started.  The guide dug out the sand from the back of her and began pulling out her eggs as fast as she deposited them.  We collected about 80 eggs all the size of bantam chicken eggs with leathery shells.  In the meantime, the rain that had been pelting my bare legs apparently had washed off all the deet because the mosquitoes attacked in force.  The turtle finished laying her eggs and with her big back flippers swiped the sand into the hole she had made and patted it down and then wandered off to the ocean again.

Inside our cabin

Guide reaching in to pull out the eggs

Stack of collected turtle eggs

Heading back to the sea.

We got back to the hotel dripping wet and mosquito bitten and wondering how we would dry out our shoes for tomorrow as they were our only tennis shoes and we were headed for the cool mountains the next day.  Thank goodness for hair dryers.