We have been in Monterrico for 3 days - the beach side town in Guatemala. It has a lot of preserved nature in the area and is a hot spot for turtle rescue and habitation.
Yesterday was quite a day! Again, being in this smaller town, the locals know you pretty quickly and help you find what you need. I was asking all over the place for a bicycle to borrow for a couple hours, and was directed to a place. I got a bike after a few minutes and rode out to the town, Hawaii, to visit ARCAS, an NGO that was also in Flores. Here, they work with turtles. They rescue the eggs from the beach, and then have a whole system where they keep the temperatures three times a day. They release them after hatching.
On my way back into town, everyone was asking how I liked my bicycle. It was nice to have the wind blowing on my face, 8 km each way, and with the palm trees all around.
Then I went on a tour of the turtle hatchery, separate from ARCAS. Once again, doing God's work. That night at sunset I was able to hold a baby turtle in my hands, and release it in the sand. It flapped quickly towards the waves and the sun, and was swept into the waves along with 70 of its buddies. They hatch them in the same way. They buy eggs off the blackmarket, about 50Q for a dozen at peak season. Then, they keep them, hatch them. After hatching they feed them algae for one day, and then release them. This formula they find that 7% of the turtles survive, compared to 1% in nature due to prey, predators, and people. It was awesome to hold the little guy and watch how they instinctively run towards the ocean.
Leaving for Antigua today and then we decided to head up to Mexico instead of south. We will plan on going to Chiapas, at San Cristobal. Adios!
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