Baby Sea Turtles! Monterricco, Guatemala

We never intended to make the trip to the pacific side of Guatemala. I knew my friends Nick and Kath loved this portion of their trip, but we did not think we had enough time so we were going to skip it. After talking to fellow travelers who had just come from there, they convinced us that it totally was worth the trip even if you were only going for a couple of days.  On their advice we stayed at an a awesome hostel/hotel called El Delfin....super cheap at only $35US/night, rooms were very simple, but the property was awesome, right on the beach with a sprawling restaurant that went on to the sand, hammocks a huge pool, volleyball net and a bar...all you need for a relaxing little holiday

     

The girls playing volleyball with Cas

As soon as we arrived we went straight to the pool and ordered an obligatory drink to cheers our new destination (a "thing" Johnny and I started doing a while back- every time we arrive at a new spot we order a drink and have a cheers).

Straight away we all LOVED Monterrico- not much of a town, seriously the entire place is two crossroads the main drag and the a long dirt road. But there was something very relaxing about it.
 Liv said "I know we are going to like it here".  I said, "Why?".
She said, "because its a beach town mom, and I love all beach towns".

ahhhh that's my girl!

Down to business, why we really made the 2 and half hour side trip from Antigua??? For the baby turtles of course! I have been trying since Costa Rica to see either a turtle laying its eggs or to help baby turtles be released back to the sea. For whatever reason timing was never on our side, but I had been told by the Amazing Grace who ran Hotel Delfin that the turtle hatchery in Monterrico releases baby turtles nightly, for  basically $1 a turtle!  That afternoon we walked over to Tortuga Monte Rico, the turtle hatchery about a 5 minute walk down the dirt road,

The walk on the way to the turtle Hatchery notice all the stray dogs :(

When we arrived we took a small tour of the sanctuary, they had several areas with crocs, caymans and iguanas. 

One of the biggest crocs at the sanctuary. 

We then paid for the baby turtles and they handed us a small bowl (basically the bottom of a pop bottle) we all walked down the beach where there was a roped off section. As we stood there a man came over with a huge basket full of baby turtles that had just hatched. He then put 3 in each of our bowls and we counted down just as the sun was setting... it really was magical!!!!!

look closely you can see all the turtles in the baskets

getting ready to put them down

Just as we released them

we just counted down and gently put them in the sand

We all sat and cheered the turtles on as they scurried to the sea...there were a few that were not moving very fast, (actually they were just kind of sitting there, we kind of thought they may be not doing too well). The man then asked the girls if they would like to help them out so they got to pick up the babies and take them directly to the water, it was pretty awesome. 

We met an amazing couple travelling for 6 months on their honeymoon (hi to Anna and Cas!)

we spent the next two days literally hanging out at the pool, in great company enjoying the amazing weather and good vibes. We went back the second night to release the bay turtles again and it was just as special. 

Enjoying the sunset our last night

Miles of black sand beach

Our new friends from Wales- Anna and Cas-we hope to see you again!

Me and Grace, a half Canadian (we will forgive her for her other half), running the Delfin in Monterrico

While travelling to Monterrico was about 5 hours out of the way, it was so worth it, I am so happy we made the trip and would happily come back here. On our last morning we headed from Monterrico in our own little shuttle to Antigua and then straight through to Lake Atitlan, (where I am right now (yay I am finally caught up!). 

so many beautiful places in Guatemala!

Nicaragua-San Juan Del sur

San Juan Del Sur

Once again we did a seemingly dodgy border crossing, between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We paid our hostel $175 for all of us to be taken from our hostel over the border and dropped off at our hotel in San Juan Del Sur. Went pretty smooth, only two different vehicles this time, an easy 5 minute walk across the border and we were in!

Border Crossing from CR to Nicaragua

We arrived at our beautiful (but overpriced hotel), overlooking the bay of San Juan Del Sur. Quickly dropped off our bags and went for a walk. The strange thing was there was a small river that you had to cross to get into town 5 minutes away, the hotel had a small little boat and for .60 cents you climbed in and he pulled you across using a rope, sounds totally sketch- but it was quite entertaining. On the shuttle from CR we met some new friends from Australia, Germany and Switzerland. We all said farewell and promised to meet for lunch later that afternoon. Walking around the small community everyone was a little surprised at how dirty the beach was. The whole town all looked a little run down and remnants of the damage caused by the hurricane a few weeks ago was still present. 

The sunset from our hotel 

The view from our hotel

A boat washed up onshore, now beached 

This was a small river next to our hotel, every day we had to pay .60 to cross it to get into 10, only a 5 minute walk or so...made things very interesting

Originally we were going to stay for 3 days then head to Ometepe, but we had had enough after 1 and decided to leave the next day. We met our new friends for lunch and then again at a pub later that evening, (it was a Canadian pub called the Loose Moose-go figure!). They convinced us to give San Juan one more chance and stay an extra day to check out the nearby surf beaches that San Juan is famous for.

The "Loose Moose" in San Juan Del Sur- (best poutine ever!)

The next day we took another shuttle, torn between the two famous beaches (Hermosa and Madaras)..we went with Madaras because it was a little closer (and cheaper:). It was a nice beach with perfect waves, I can see why it's a surfers paradise. 

Playa Maderas

Shuttle to Playa Maderas

We left San Juan 1 day early as we heard that Ometepe was spectacular and worth the extra day, we were not all that impressed with San Juan, but I can see why 20 somethings would love it, great party atmosphere and cheap accommodations and restaurants. 

We arranged for a taxi to take us directly to the ferry, and arrived by lunch on the beautiful island of Ometepe. I can't really explain it, a combination of many things perhaps, but all of us felt an  instant connection to this place and knew we would love it.

We were staying in Moyogalpa at a guest house called Soma- it was so amazing, I highly recommend anyone heading to Ometepe to stay here (owners are lovely and CANADIAN:)

Arriving on the island our taxi was waiting with Johnny's name- his first "name on a sign" greeting

Our beautiful accommodations

\Hospedaje Soma

Our first tuk tuk

There is such a cool laid back vibe here- we were close enough into town we were able to easily walk every night to grab a bite to eat- food was amazing and quite cheap. We hired a driver for our first day to tour the island- we did the San Ramon waterfall hike- which we all loved- it was just challenging enough and the reward was a beautiful, cool waterfall to have a quick dip before we headed back down. We also visited Punta Jesus Maria, (the best place to watch the sunset) and Ojo de Agua (a spring fed natural pool in the middle of the jungle).

San Ramon Waterfall

Ojo de Agua

Sunset at Punta Jesus Maria

Vocano Conception

The hike up to the waterfall

Over the next few days we enjoyed the restaurants of Santa Domingo (normally where the nice beach is, but because of wet season the water was quite high so the beaches were almost non existent). Johnny and the girls did some more zip lining. and we went back to Ojo De Agua. The rest of the time was spent just bumming around. WE absolutely LOVED Ometepe and for sure want to come back....maybe even retire there:)

Punta Jesus Maria

Ziplining in Ometepe

the road goes right over the airport strip

Guatemala- Antigua

We survived the crazy long route to get to Antigua fairly easily. Our flight from San Jose left at 6:30am so we had to be up at 4....when we finally arrived in Guatemala we were all exhausted, our first day was kind of spent in a fog. For some reason I had this idea that Antigua would be very similar to Granada, I convinced Johnny to not book anything until we arrived figuring we could just wing it. What I did not anticipate is the sidewalks are so narrow they barely allow 1 person to pass let alone all of our luggage....the roads are all cobblestone which sounds quite charming and physically looks nice, but makes for very poor conditions when your trying to wheel anything!

Needless to say, we were all cranky and tired and sat around a cafe trying to find something cheap.

notice the narrow sidewalk, imagine trying to roll a million bags with 2 kids in tow...ugh!

We were all so cranky in this pic, only Anneka showed how we all felt

We have been told by everyone how cheap Guatemala was so at the very least we were expecting to pay the same prices as in Nicaragua, I was a little surprised that everything we looked at was around $70US a night...(I know still sounds cheap, but we have been pretty consistent with $40-$60 a night all through Central America and we were hoping Guatemala would be the same). We ended up biting the bullet finding a really nice hotel, fairly central for $68USD. (I do want to point out, that if you are single or even just a couple you can get by super crazy cheap...once you add 4 people the cost drives up dramatically).

The view from our rooftop

Casa Mia Hotel- very lovely courtyard

This guy was guarding a parking lot next to our hotel he seriously looked about 12.

The next day we set of exploring....Antigua is much more laid out then Granada I was surprised how big it was. After wondering around for a while we  decided to take the girls to a small chocolate museum where you can actually make little chocolates. As we already visited a cacao farm in Costa Rica, I thought this would be a nice treat and a way to reiterate some of the stuff the girls had already learned, (homeschooling at its best!) What a "sweet" little place this was (I know, I know totally lame!)...we were given an interesting little lesson on how the Mayans made chocolate and then the girls got to pick out their molds and make their own using sprinkles, cookie crumbs and marshmallows  to decorate. It was such a fun way to spend an hour. 

 

We then went to a restaurant Rincon Tipico, that was recommended by our new friends Margee and Mike...  was very cheap and so delicious! For $20 we had a full chicken dinner, drinks and a beer.
(it was so delish we went back again another night!).

My fave restaurant in Antigua-where all the locals go.

Our hotel was right across the road from the outdoor market, I have heard this place is a must see so we decided to finish our day there. I have never been to Istanbul, but I imagine this is what a grand Bazaar looks like.  This place is HUGE!! While the street vendors on the outside surrounding the main market are interesting by themselves—the main attraction is entering into the main covered market!! Get ready to have your senses bombarded, with stall after stall of a massive variety of items. 

women in traditional clothing selling produce, we bought a bag of apples for $1

walking inside the covered market you can easily get lost

Right in the centre of the covered market

We had to take a pic of all the chicken buses waiting to pick up passengers

We walked around for ages and still didn't cover everything, as it was starting to get dark we decided to come back another day. The next morning we had another early rise and shine 6am pick up! This time we were hiking the very active volcano Pacaya. The drive took over an hour to get there, but we had heard that it was pretty strenuous so we wanted to get there early rather then later in the day when it was so hot. When we arrived our group went with the guide and he asked if anyone wanted to take the horses up. Johnny and I knew we would get one for the girls, but no one else in the group opted for one. We set off on a brisk pace and I was surprised to see a huge group of men following us on their horses. I asked the guide about this and he said that eventually some people would be so tired they would request a horse half way up...funny thing was the price got higher the closer to the top you were! He was right a few people from our group did cave and get a horse.

This was probably my favourite thing we did in Antigua, the views from the top were incredible. I couldn't believe that every now and then you could hear a loud rumble that sounded like thunder and you could see puffs of smoke coming from various vents throughout the lava fields. It made you very aware of how volatile Mother Nature can be. The coolest thing for the kids was when the got to "roast " marshmallows over one of these vents (I put quotes around roast as you really only heated the marshmallows, they never actually flamed up...it was still cool nonetheless). The hike down wasn't nearly as difficult, so we opted for the kids to ditch the horses and walk down....they were troupers as it was a little harder then we thought but we all persevered and in the end had a great morning. 

roasting the marshmallows 

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 That afternoon we went back to the market, and did a little more site seeing around town. We were leaving the next morning for Monterrico and we both feel we really could have used a couple more days here. Everyone I know that has traveled to Antigua has absolutely LOVED it... I liked it for sure, but I think a little of my heart was left in Nicaragua so I just couldn't muster up the love that I wanted to...that said I think I needed to explore Antigua more to really get a feeling for town...Unfortunately for us, we have to be in Belize in 11 days and I am desperate to see some baby turtles, so our time has been cut short hopefully I will be able to visit again some day.